Herakles the Archer - New York City, NY
Posted by: 
Metro2
N 40° 46.762 W 073° 57.762
18T E 587529 N 4514782
This sculpture is located at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Herakles is also known as Hercules.
Waymark Code: WMPVBB
Location: New York, United States
Date Posted: 10/23/2015
Views: 4
The Museum's website (
visit link) informs us:
"Herakles the Archer
Artist: Antoine-Émile Bourdelle (French, Montauban 1861–1929 Vésinet)
Founder: Cast by Alexis Rudier (French) , Paris
Date: 1909
Culture: French
Medium: Gilt bronze
Dimensions: 95 x 37 1/2 x 71 1/2 in. (241.3 x 95.3 x 181.6 cm)
Classification: Sculpture-Bronze
Credit Line: Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Stephen C. Millett, 1924
Accession Number: 24.232
On view in Gallery 548"
and Wikipedia (
visit link) informs us:
"Heracles ...was a divine hero in Greek mythology, the son of Zeus and Alcmene, foster son of Amphitryon and great-grandson (and half-brother) of Perseus. He was the greatest of the Greek heroes, a paragon of masculinity, the ancestor of royal clans who claimed to be Heracleidae ...and a champion of the Olympian order against chthonic monsters. In Rome and the modern West, he is known as Hercules, with whom the later Roman Emperors, in particular Commodus and Maximian, often identified themselves. The Romans adopted the Greek version of his life and works essentially unchanged, but added anecdotal detail of their own, some of it linking the hero with the geography of the Central Mediterranean. Details of his cult were adapted to Rome as well.
Extraordinary strength, courage, ingenuity, and sexual prowess with both males and females were among the characteristics commonly attributed to him. Heracles used his wits on several occasions when his strength did not suffice, such as when laboring for the king Augeas of Elis, wrestling the giant Antaeus, or tricking Atlas into taking the sky back onto his shoulders. Together with Hermes he was the patron and protector of gymnasia and palaestrae. His iconographic attributes are the lion skin and the club. These qualities did not prevent him from being regarded as a playful figure who used games to relax from his labors and played a great deal with children. By conquering dangerous archaic forces he is said to have "made the world safe for mankind" and to be its benefactor. Heracles was an extremely passionate and emotional individual, capable of doing both great deeds for his friends (such as wrestling with Thanatos on behalf of Prince Admetus, who had regaled Heracles with his hospitality, or restoring his friend Tyndareus to the throne of Sparta after he was overthrown) and being a terrible enemy who would wreak horrible vengeance on those who crossed him, as Augeas, Neleus and Laomedon all found out to their cost."