Archaeologists Discovered a 1,700-Year-Old Statue of Hercules—Without His Head
Archaeologists discovered a 1,700-year-old 20-inch statue of Hercules in Florence, Italy.
A student with a pickaxe discovered the miniature marble statue in three fragments.
The fragments all fit together, allowing the statue to piece together, minus that pesky head, of course.
Archaeologists excavating a private property in Florence, Italy, discovered a 20-inch statue of Hercules missing its head, though not altogether headless. Despite no cranium on the Greek hero, the statue included details from Hercules' mythic 12 labors, including the skin of the Nemean lion and the severed head of the Cretan bull.
Archaeologists from Valdelsa Fiorentina and the University of Florence discovered the statue in the town of Montaione in the province of Florence and has been dubbed the Hercules of Valdelsa.
'It's a discovery that excites us and reminds us how archaeology constantly surprises us with new objects and insights,' Antonella Ranaldi, superintendent of Archaeology, Fine Arts, and Landscape for the Metropolitan City of Florence, said in a statement provided by Cornell University.
The professional archaeologists got an assist from archaeology majors from Cornell, including senior Alexander Cooper-Bohler.
'Thankfully, I noticed the strange shape of the statue's abdomen before my pick could cleave it in half,' Cooper-Bohler said. 'I spent the rest of the day carefully removing the dirt from around the statue with dental tools. It is the first statue found in over a decade of excavations at the site and made the weeks of digging in the hot Tuscan summer worth it!'
The statue was dated to between the middle and late Imperial age from the third to fourth centuries, A.D., according to a translated report from Italian media, making it a roughly 1,700 find. The diminutive statue depicts a nude Hercules leaning to his right on his club, adorned with the trophies from his labors. According to Greek mythology, the Oracle of Delphi advised Hercules to travel to Tiryns to serve his cousin, King Eurystheus of Mycenae, for 12 years, for which he would be rewarded with immortality.
In addition to the two beasts included on the statue, other labors included retrieving a golden apple from the edge of the world, capturing the multi-headed dog Cerberus, cleaning the stables of King Augeas, and more. Hercules was often depicted with the Nemean lion skin in statues and art, along with a variety of his unique weapons, but experts said finding art showing him capturing the bull is rare.
'The statuette is nearly complete, made of three fitting pieces,' Ranaldi said, 'and the bull at Hercules' feet is an unusual and fascinating detail.'
'Uncovering this statue reminded me of one of the things that drew me to archaeology in the first place,' said Cooper-Bohler, 'which is the thrill of discovery and the excitement of never knowing what you'll find.'
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