Larger-than-life, 2,000-year-old Hercules statue discovered in Greece

• A 2,000-year-old statue of Hercules was found in an ancient Greek city.
• Experts say the finding is exciting and shows how these statues had lives beyond their initial purpose, centuries after their creation.
• The piece was used to decorate a building in the 8th or 9th centuries, researchers estimated.

Archeologists found a 2,000-year-old statue of mythical hero Hercules during a dig in Greece last month, according to the country’s Ministry of Culture and Sports.

Known for his superhuman strength, the hero is a famous figure in Roman and Greek mythology for embarking on a series of adventures such as strangling a lion to death, beheading an snake-like creature underwater, and capturing a man-eating, wild boar, according to History.com.

The piece, which the ministry calls supernatural and larger-than-life, depicts a young, nude Hercules, and accentuates the adventurer’s chiseled abs and wavy hair. The research team from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki found the statue Sept. 16 and identified it as Hercules when they found fragments of his club and a lion hanging from his left hand, the ministry said.

The researchers said it was excavated in the city of Philippi, and the piece was used to decorate a building in the 8th or 9th century AD.

People often used statues from the classical and Roman periods to decorate buildings and public spaces. This most recent find illustrates how public spaces were decorated in important cities during the Byzantine Empire, the ministry said.

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Elizabeth Thill, program director and associate professor in classical studies at Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis, wasn’t involved in the excavation but said the piece was likely serving some sort of decorative role.

She said Hercules statues are known for their huge size (usually around eight feet tall); that’s partially because he was believed to be very big himself. They also weigh quite a bit. They’re usually made out of marble, but they’ve also been made out of metal and limestone.

The statue was preserved well into the 9th century, likely a sign of power for those that possessed the piece.

“Hercules was associated with the ruling class and with emperors because he’s the big guy that smashes things,” she said. “This statue probably had a sense of cultural appropriation, saying ‘Well, now we’re the ones that control the narrative about who’s strong. We’re the ones that control the narrative about how these things are going to be used.'”