Ancient Greek Hero: Herakles

In Greek and Roman history, Herakles was a well-known Greek hero that had a great amount of strength, unlike anyone else. Greek heroes were often the children of immortal gods, which some, were great warriors. Herakles is Zeus and Alkmenes’ child, which caused problems because Zeus was married to his sister Hera. According to the Ancient History Encyclopedia, “Zeus was the king of the Olympian gods and the supreme deity in Greek religion.” Zeus was considered the most powerful god, and he could do anything he wanted. Hera was jealous that Zeus had a child with someone else which caused her to hate Herakles. Hera hated Herakles so much she ordered people to hurt him. Eventually, Hera caused Herakles to go crazy and he killed his wife and children.

Geometric art took place during the eighth century and is characterized by its design in vase painting. Human figure returned to Greek art during the eighth century. What inspired Geometric artists wasn’t sculptures of daily life and death, it was by the composite monsters from the Mesopotamia period. Geometric artists enjoyed making human-animal monsters. The sculpture of the Hero and Centaur from Olympia is believed to be Herakles and Nessos. This sculpture is one of the most impressive surviving Geometric sculpture. The sculpture is small and bronze that has two figures, which are locked together by their hands and arms. The sculptor wanted his audience to see Herakles as the hero and Nessos as his opponent. The hero is much larger than the centaur, which makes people believe the hero is the victor. Both the hero and centaur have helmets and beards, but the bodies are different. The art work of the centaur is a Greek invention. The centaur was made as a man in the front, but the forelegs and hind legs belong to a different species, which is a horse. The hero is shown with no clothes on which is similar to other geometric male figures. Greek youths exercised and completed Olympics Games