From bowman to clubman: Herakles and Olympia

• Autores: Beth Cohen
• Localización: Art bulletin, ISSN 0004-3079, Vol. 76, Nº 4, 1994, págs. 695-715
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • This study reinterprets the arming of Herakles on the Labor metopes of the 460s B.C. from the Temple of Zeus at Olympia by contrasting it with the hero's typology in earlier Greek art. Herakles' standard image was formed by layering the animal skin and club of a hunter upon a Homeric sword-bearing archer hero. During the Archaic Period, with the emphasis in Greek warfare on the heavily armed hoplite phalanx, the finest archers were foreigners, preeminent among whom were the Scythians. In Archaic art, Herakles remained an archer but was shown employing Scythian equipment. On the Olympia metopes, however, Herakles' bow is suppressed, and the hero repeatedly employs his club. The strong association of archery with a defeated barbarian enemy after the Persian War underlies Olympia's special interpretation of Herakles. Thus, the metopes play a key in this Early Classical temple's representation of Hellenic pride after the Greek victory.