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Greek city of
Maeonia
in
Lydia Pseudo-Autnomous Issue
Bronze 15mm (3.32 grams) Stuck during the time of Hadrian 117-138 A.D.
Reference: SNG von Aulock 3008 var.
Laureate head of Hercules right, lion’s skin tied around neck.
MAIΩNΩN between club and bow in bow case.
You are bidding on the exact
item pictured, provided with a Certificate of Authenticity and Lifetime
Guarantee of Authenticity.
Lydia developed as a
Neo-Hittite
kingdom after the decline of the
Hittite Empire
in the 12th century BC. In
Hittite times, the name for the region had been
Arzawa
; it was a Luwian-speaking area.
According to Greek source, the original name of the Lydian kingdom was
Maionia (Μαιονία), or Maeonia:
Homer
(Iliad
ii. 865; v. 43, xi. 431) refers to the inhabitants of Lydia as Maiones (Μαίονες).
Homer describes their capital not as Sardis but as Hyde (Iliad xx.
385); Hyde may have been the name of the district in which Sardis was located.
Later, Herodotus
(Histories
i. 7) adds that the “Meiones” were renamed Lydians after their king
Lydus
(Λυδός), son of
Atys
, during the mythical epoch that preceded
the Heracleid dynasty. This
etiological
eponym
served to account for the
Greek
ethnic name Lydoi (Λυδοί). The
Hebrew
term for Lydians,
Lûḏîm
(לודים),
as found in the
Book of Jeremiah
(46.9), has been similarly
considered, beginning with
Flavius Josephus
, to be derived from
Lud son of Shem
; however
Hippolytus of Rome
(AD 234) offered an
alternative opinion that the Lydians were descended from Ludim, son of
Mizraim
. During Biblical times, the Lydian
warriors were famous archers. Some Maeones still existed during historical times
in the upland interior along the
River Hermus
, where a town named Maeonia
existed, according to
Pliny the Elder
(Natural History book
v:30) and
Hierocles
(author of Synecdemus).
Hercules is the Roman name for the Greek
divine
hero Heracles
, who was the son of
Zeus (Roman equivalent
Jupiter
) and the mortal
Alcmene
. In
classical mythology
, Hercules is famous for his
strength and for his numerous far-ranging adventures.
The
Romans adapted the Greek hero’s iconography and myths for their literature and
art under the name Hercules. In later
Western art
and literature and in
popular culture
, Hercules is more
commonly used than Heracles as the name of the hero. Hercules was a
multifaceted figure with contradictory characteristics, which enabled later
artists and writers to pick and choose how to represent him. This article
provides an introduction to representations of Hercules in the
later tradition
.
Labors of Hercules
Hercules is known for his many adventures, which took him to the far reaches
of the
Greco-Roman world
. One cycle of these
adventures became
canonical
as the “Twelve Labours,” but the list
has variations. One traditional order of the labours is found in the
Bibliotheca
as follows:
- Slay the
Nemean Lion
.
- Slay the nine-headed
Lernaean Hydra
.
- Capture the
Golden Hind of Artemis
.
- Capture the
Erymanthian Boar
.
- Clean the Augean
stables in a single day.
- Slay the
Stymphalian Birds
.
- Capture the
Cretan Bull
.
- Steal the
Mares of Diomedes
.
- Obtain the girdle of
Hippolyta
, Queen of the
Amazons
.
- Obtain the cattle of the monster
Geryon
.
- Steal the apples of the
Hesperides
.
- Capture and bring back
Cerberus
.
The Latin
name Hercules was borrowed through
Etruscan
, where it is represented variously as
Heracle
, Hercle, and other forms. Hercules was
a favorite subject for
Etruscan art
, and appears often on
bronze mirrors
. The Etruscan form Herceler
derives from the Greek Heracles via
syncope
. A mild oath invoking Hercules (Hercule!
or Mehercle!) was a common
interjection
in
Classical Latin
.
Baby Hercules strangling a
snake
sent to
kill him in his
cradle
(Roman marble, 2nd century CE)
Hercules had a number of
myths
that were distinctly Roman. One of these
is Hercules’ defeat of
Cacus
, who was terrorizing the countryside of
Rome. The hero was associated with the
Aventine Hill
through his son
Aventinus
.
Mark Antony
considered him a personal patron
god, as did the emperor
Commodus
. Hercules received various forms of
religious veneration
, including as a
deity concerned with children and childbirth
,
in part because of myths about his precocious infancy, and in part because he
fathered countless children. Roman brides wore a special belt tied with the “knot
of Hercules“, which was supposed to be hard to untie. The comic
playwright Plautus
presents the myth of Hercules’
conception as a sex comedy in his play
Amphitryon
;
Seneca
wrote the tragedy Hercules Furens
about his bout with madness. During the
Roman Imperial era
, Hercules was worshipped
locally from Hispania
through
Gaul.
Medieval mythography
After the Roman Empire became
Christianized
, mythological narratives were
often reinterpreted as
allegory
, influenced by the philosophy of
late antiquity
. In the 4th century,
Servius
had described Hercules’ return from the
underworld as representing his ability to overcome earthly desires and vices, or
the earth itself as a consumer of bodies. In medieval mythography, Hercules was
one of the heroes seen as a strong role model who demonstrated both valor and
wisdom, with the monsters he battles as moral obstacles. One
glossator
noted that when
Hercules became a constellation
, he showed that
strength was necessary to gain entrance to Heaven.
Medieval mythography was written almost entirely in Latin, and original Greek
texts were little used as sources for Hercules’ myths.
Renaissance
mythography
The Renaissance
and the invention of the
printing press
brought a renewed interest in
and publication of Greek literature. Renaissance mythography drew more
extensively on the Greek tradition of Heracles, typically under the Romanized
name Hercules, or the alternate name
Alcides
. In a chapter of his book
Mythologiae (1567), the influential mythographer
Natale Conti
collected and summarized an
extensive range of myths concerning the birth, adventures, and death of the hero
under his Roman name Hercules. Conti begins his lengthy chapter on Hercules with
an overview description that continues the moralizing impulse of the Middle
Ages:
Hercules, who subdued and destroyed monsters, bandits, and criminals, was
justly famous and renowned for his great courage. His great and glorious
reputation was worldwide, and so firmly entrenched that he’ll always be
remembered. In fact the ancients honored him with his own temples, altars,
ceremonies, and priests. But it was his wisdom and great soul that earned
those honors; noble blood, physical strength, and political power just
aren’t good enough.
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