Hercules Heracles - Greek Divine Hero - Antaeus of Libya - Wrestling Match - Part of the Labours - Cold Cast Bronze Resin

Item Specifics

Condition: New
Material: Cold Cast Bronze Resin
Height: 27 cm - 10,6 inches
Width: 12 cm - 4,7 inches
Length: 12 cm - 4,7 inches
Weight: 850 g

Heracles – or Hercules as he has been more popularly known ever since the Roman times – was the greatest of all Greek heroes, “one who surpassed all men of whom memory from the beginning of time has brought down an account.” A half-god of superhuman strength and violent passions, Heracles was the epitome of bravery and masculinity in the ancient world and the most notable champion of the Olympian order, which he staunchly protected from various chthonic monsters and earthly villains. Even though his short temper and lack of composure did cause both him and quite a few innocent mortals undeserved trouble, the magnitude of his labors was of such an order that it earned him the prize of immortality. The protagonist of hundreds of myths – the chronology of which is impossible to figure out – Heracles is undoubtedly one of the most iconic figures in all of Greek mythology.
Antaeus was a figure in Greek mythology. He was famed for his defeat by Heracles as part of the Labours of Hercules.
In Greek sources, he was the son of Poseidon and Gaia, who lived in the interior desert of Libya. His wife was the goddess Tinge, for whom it was claimed that the city of Tangier in Morocco was named (though it could be the other way around), and he had a daughter named Alceis or Barce. Another daughter, Iphinoe, consorted with Heracles.
Antaeus would challenge all passers-by to wrestling matches and remained invincible as long as he remained in contact with his mother, the earth. As Greek wrestling, like its modern equivalent, typically attempted to force opponents to the ground, he always won, killing his opponents. He built a temple to his father using their skulls. Antaeus fought Heracles as he was on his way to the Garden of Hesperides as his 11th Labour. Heracles realized that he could not beat Antaeus by throwing or pinning him. Instead, he held him aloft and then crushed him to death in a bear hug.
The contest between Heracles and Antaeus was a favored subject in ancientand Renaissance sculpture.