5143 Heracles & Heracles and Antaîos sculptural group - Vranov nad Dyjí (South Moravia)
N 48° 53.556 E 015° 48.694
33U E 559487 N 5415834
Asteroid 5143 bears name of divine hero of Greek mythology, Heracles. The given coordinates indicate the Baroque sculptural group Heracles and Antaîos located in Cour d'honneur of the Chateau Vranov nad Dyjí (zámek Vranov nad Dyjí).
Waymark Code: WM12EZQ
Location: Jihomoravský kraj, Czechia
Date Posted: 05/13/2020
Views: 14
Asteroid 5143 bears name of divine hero of Greek mythology, Heracles. The given coordinates indicate the Baroque sculptural group Heracles and Antaîos located in Cour d'honneur of the Chateau Vranov nad Dyjí (zámek Vranov nad Dyjí).
5143 Heracles is a highly eccentric, rare-type asteroid and synchronous binary system, classified as near-Earth object of the Apollo group, approximately 4.8 kilometers in diameter. The asteroid was discovered on 7 November 1991, by American astronomer Carolyn Shoemaker at Palomar Observatory in California, United States. It is named for the Greek divine hero Heracles.[2] It has an Earth minimum orbit intersection distance of 0.058 AU (8.7 million km) and is associated with the Beta Taurids daytime meteor shower. [wiki]
The exceptionally valuable Baroque sculptural group Heracles fighting Antaîos of sculptor Lorenzo Mattielli (ca 1730), together with the opposite sculptural group Aeneas and Anchises, forms a highly impressive unified unit that significantly enhances the architecturally demanding staircase and the entire environment of the Chateau's Cour d'honneur.
Heracles (Hercules in Latin), 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.
[excerpted from Wikipedia]