The "Apotheosis (Deification) of Herakles Pediment"

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Provision of image

Inventory number

Ακρ. 9

Category

Architectural sculpture

Period

Archaic Period

Date

Around 570 BC

Dimensions

Height: 0.94 m
Length: 1.74 m

Material

Limestone

Location

Archaic Acropolis Gallery

Description
Bibliography

Fragments of a pedimental sculpture reassembled and restored. They were located in 1888 east and southeast of the Parthenon. The pediment probably decorated one of the small buildings, referred to as "oikemata", on the Archaic Acropolis. Some scholars, however, suggest these remains were once part of the pediment of the Hekatompedon.

It depicts the deification (or apotheosis) of Herakles, his welcoming that is to Mt Olympus by its two leading gods, Zeus and his wife Hera. The hero is wearing his famous lion's skin, the head and pelt of the fearsome animal he killed at Nemea and a short chiton that preserves traces of red paint. The figure following the hero must be one of the two messengers of the gods – Hermes or Iris, dressed in a blue chiton and red animal's skin. The poorly preserved figure in front of Herakles may be Athena, his patron goddess. At the centre of the scene Zeus is seated on a thone on top of a red cushion. The back of his throne is decorated with engraved red and blue diamonds, while his sandals and the foot-stool are painted red. Next to Zeus is Hera, also seated. She is wearing a blue chiton with a meander pattern around the neck and a red himation whose edges are decorated with rosettes rendered in, once red and blue, squares. On the pediment's left side a bearded man approaches, dressed in chiton and himation decorated with a blue meander.

The pedimental sculpture is crowned by a cornice with relief bands and sculpted details highlighted with blue and red paint. However, according to some researchers this cornice does not belong to this pediment.

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