Hercules and Hercules Constellation - Versailles, France
Posted by: 
Metro2
N 48° 48.398 E 002° 06.835
31U E 434939 N 5406339
Hercules is usually portrayed with a lion skin and a club as he is here.
Waymark Code: WMD0ER
Location: Île-de-France, France
Date Posted: 11/02/2011
Views: 16
This 1685 marble sculpture depicts Hercules naked but for a lion skin wrapped around his neck. He holds an infant in his left arm and a club resting on the ground with his right.
The work is entitled "Hercule Commode" which I think means something like "Hercules Helping"
The artist is Noel Jouvenet.
Wikipedia (
visit link) informs us that:
"According to mythology, Hercules was the illegitimate son of Jupiter (Zeus) and Alcmene, the wisest and most beautiful of all mortal women. Juno (Hera) was enraged at Jupiter for his infidelity with Alcmene, and even more so that he placed the infant Hercules at her breast as she slept and allowed him to feed, which caused Hercules to be partially immortal, thus, allowing him to surpass all mortal men in strength, size and skill.
Juno held a spiteful grudge against Hercules and sent him into a blind frenzy, in which he killed all of his children and his wife. When Hercules regained his sanity, he sought out the Oracle at Delphi in the hope of making atonement. The Oracle ordered Hercules to serve Eurystheus, king of Mycenae, who sent him on a series of tasks known as the Labors of Hercules."
As for the Hercules Constellation, Wikipedia (
visit link) informs us:
"Hercules is a constellation. It is named after Hercules, the Roman mythological hero adapted from the Greek hero Heracles. Hercules was one of the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd century astronomer Ptolemy, and it remains one of the 88 modern constellations today. It is the fifth largest of the modern constellations."