Iconography of Deities and Demons: Electronic Pre-Publication 1/4 Last Revision: 31 March 2010 Heracles vides only few images of H. The real prob- lem is to identify the character: is he the I. Introduction. Greek god–hero. The Greek hero who is well attested everywhere Greek myth of H. was broadly attested in or is he the interpretatio graeca of some the entire Eastern and Western Mediterra- local oriental god, especially →Melqart, the nean world since Homeric times (the name Tyrian →Baal who was assimilated with H. is lacking in the Mycaenean tablets). His in the 5th cent. or probably somewhat ear- diffusion was intensified after Alexander’s lier (Herodotus, Historiae 2.44; BONNET conquest of the Orient in Hellenistic and 1988; BONNET 1997: 830–834)? Roman times (BONNET 1992: 165–198). II. Typology The Heraclean myths, transported through II.1. Phenotypes different local cults, convey insights into the 1. CONTROLLING OR FIGHTING WITH A LION 1.1. relationship between human beings and Striding, brandishing a club, and holding a lion by one nature, between men and women, the chaos, or both hind legs (1–17) 1.2. Wrestling with a lion (18) 1.3. Carrying a lion on his shoulder (19) 2. man’s destiny after death, and the Greek STANDING OR RUNNING WITH LEONTE, BOW, OR CLUB colonial expansion in the Mediterranean for (20–29) 3. ATTACKING GERYON’S HERD (30) 4. which H. was a symbol and the standard FIGHTING A SERPENT (31) 5. POSSIBLE 6. UNLIKELY bearer of Hellenism (JOURDAIN–ANNEQUIN 1. CONTROLLING OR FIGHTING 1987). His iconography seems to appear at WITH A LION the beginning of the 1st mill. or slightly 1.1. Striding, brandishing a club, earlier, but the identity of a warrior (against and holding a lion by one or both animals or monsters) and the eventual hind legs. Striding H. brandishing a club mythological background of such images is in one hand and holding a lion by one leg hard to identify when he does not bear any with the other is attested in Near Eastern specific attributes (BONNET 1997: 830–834; glyptic from Palestine/Israel (1*–4) and AHLBERG–CORNELL 1992). The typical Syria (5–7), and by the Sidonian coinage of Heraclean iconography emerges progres- the Persian period under the reign of Baana sively in the Archaic period at the Oriental (8–9). Probably the same motif was also shores of the Mediterranean: an athletic man depicted on a fragmentary Phoenician name with a lion skin (leonte) and a bow and/or seal (LEMAIRE 1986: fig. 1a–b). H. grasping club who fights with traditional opponents a lion by both legs is represented as lime- such as the Nemean lion, the Hydra of stone statue from Syrian (10–12), Palestin- Lerna, or a three–headed giant and thus ian (13), and Cypriote (14–17) sites. The becomes one of the most expressive icono- model for this syncretistic image was the graphical medium of the Archaic and Clas- smiting god (→Smiting deities) typology, sic culture. During the 5th and 4th cent., which seems to have been used for different especially in Olympia and Thebes, rich gods especially in Cypriote contexts: first iconographic material is set in place through for H./→Melqart, but also for Apollo/→Re- a cycle known as the dodekathlon which is sheph (at Idalion) as Greek and Phoenician made up of twelve canonical episodes, also interpretatio of the local Cypriote god. attested by many local variants. During the 1.2. Wrestling with a lion. On a elaboration of the traditional Heraclean limestone statue from Pyrgos near Amat- iconography some Oriental models were hous, H. fights with a lion raised up on hind influential, e.g., the image of the god/king legs (18). It is unclear whether the hero who fights with a lion as a symbol of over- with a lion skin wrestling with a lion on the coming chaos or death that threatens order external border of the Idalion bowl from and life (especially documented in relation Cyprus (see 19*; BONNET 1997: no. 26) to “heroic” figures such as Gilgamesh); or should be identified with H. The same is the iconography of the smiting god (→Smit- true for a similar representation on a bulla ing deities), present in Syria, Phoenicia, and from Wadi ed–Daliyeh (LEITH 1997: pl. Palestine/Israel, particularly in the form of 6:WD42). the →storm god. Cyprus appears to have 1.3. Carrying a lion on his shoul- been the place where Greek iconographical der. In a scene on the Idalion silver bowl elements met traditional Oriental models, 19*, the hero with the lion skin is depicted leading to the new “syncretistic” Heraclean carrying the animal on his shoulders. image, attested since the 8th cent. (BON- 2. STANDING OR RUNNING WITH NET/JOURDAIN–ANNEQUIN 2001: 195–223), LEONTE, BOW, OR CLUB. This phenotype even if his name is not present in Cypriote is found in Cypriote statuary (20*–21) and inscriptions until the Hellenistic period. coinage (22–23; in addition see DESTROP- During the 1st mill. the Near Eastern region, PER–GEORGIADES 1995: pls. 11:39–12:44, which is the main focus of this article, pro- 48, 53–54). The god bears a short dress with a belt the leonte (for separated heads with a IDD website: http://www.religionswissenschaft.unizh.ch/idd Iconography of Deities and Demons: Electronic Pre-Publication 2/4 Last Revision: 31 March 2010 leonte see 24 from Lachish and 25 from 1.2. Dog, serpent. The →dog and the Cyprus), a bow with arrows in a quiver, and →serpent are also occasionally associated sometimes a club. In Palestine this pheno- with H. The dog sometimes appears helping type is known from bullae of Wadi ed– the hero in slaying a lion (1*, 3, →Dog § Daliyeh (26–28*) and a seal from Atlit II.2.1.3) or serpent (31). This association (29). However, in the context of Cypro– probably refers to a mythological account Phoenician culture it is also possible that (LUCE 2008) and has some echo in Sicily as this H. was regarded as →Melqart. The well, but it is hard to understand its meaning identification of a figure with Heracles on a except that H. acts as a hunter accompanied fragmentary seal from Al Mina is uncertain by a dog. In the Greek mythology H. is also (BUCHANAN/MOOREY 1988: no. 17: bow- a serpent slayer since his birth (see also § man; NUNN 2000: pl. 47:63: soldier; II.1.5). Since the serpent is considered as a BOARDMAN 2003: no. 32/11: Heracles). malefic animal, H. acts as a “cultural hero” 3. ATTACKING GERYON’S HERD. who purifies the earth from danger and Only one example from Cyprus shows H. in threat to the human collectivity. a smiting pose on a podium as he attacks III. Sources Eurytion, the keeper of Geryon’s herd, after III.1. Chronological range. Except killing the dog Orthros with an arrow (30). for the uncertain Palaipaphos plate (HER- 4. FIGHTING A SERPENT. Striding H. MARY 1990: no. 28; 11th cent.?), the brandishing a club in one hand and holding chronological range extends from the 8th a serpent with the other behind his back (19*) to 4th (18, 26–29) cent., with a occurs on a scarab allegedly coming from remarkable concentration of material during Sidon (31). Along the border of the seal a the 6th–5th cent. (1*–10, 12, 14–16, 18, running dog is depictedIn front of H. 20*–25, 29–31). This seems to be the 5. POSSIBLE. Two examples from Cy- period in which the Heraclean iconography prus may depict H. struggling with the Hy- was formed and defined. dra of Lerna: a White–Painted I plate III.2. Geographical distribution. (HERMARY 1990: no. 28) from Palaipaphos– The iconography of H. is especially attested Skales shows two persons (H. and Iolaos?) along the Levantine coastal region (1*–13, with bows and swords fighting with a great 29, 31) and in Cyprus (14–23, 25, 30), two–headed serpent, and limestone frag- rarely in the Levantine hinterland (24, 26– ments from Golgoi depict →serpents and a 28*). This region seems to have played a crab on H.’s foot (HERMARY 1990: no. 29). fundamental role in the elaboration of H.’s 6. UNLIKELY. On a bulla from Wadi iconography through the adaptation of Ori- ed–Daliyeh (LEITH 1997: pl. 12:WD47) a ental models in the Archaic period. There H. frontal nude figure holds two →lions by a and →Melqart meet, just as Greeks, leg in the pose of the Oriental iconography Aramaeans, Phoenicians, and Cypriotes met of the Master–of–lions. However, the sug- for commercial reasons. In this context a gested identification with H. seems very new mixed image was progressively in- hypothetical. vented, which was in some way a “bilin- II.2. Associations gual” image: “H.–Melqart”. In sacral Cyp- 1. ASSOCIATED WITH ANIMALS riot contexts (including rural cult places in 1.1. Lion. The →lion frequently ap- the central or Oriental part of the island), it pears with H.: the hero is slaying (1*–18), is possible that the same iconography was carrying (19*), or, more generally speak- used to “translate” other gods, such as ing, dominating the animal. This phenotype Apollo (assimilated to →Resheph) or the derives from the old Oriental perception that local Cypriote great god. the king is responsible for the cosmic order. III.3. Object types. H. is frequently The relationship with the lion illustrates the represented as a statue (10–18, 20*–21).