Farnese Hercules Inscription

A detail of the three-line Greek Inscription indicated that this statue was made by a sculptor named Glykon an Athenian copyist in the second or third century A.D.

ΓΛΥΚωΝ

ΑΦΗΝΑΙΟC

ΕΠΟΙΕΙ

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The original was a bronze statue that was created by the famous Lysippos in the fourth century B.C.

This 10.5 ft. tall statue of Hercules is often called Hercules at Rest.  This is because he holds in his right hand, behind his back, the apples of Hesperides— representing the last of his "twelve labors."  He is resting on his club, over which skin of the Nemean Lion that he vanquished in his first labor is draped.  The statue is now complete, except for his restored, in plaster, left forearm.  It was discovered in 1546 in the Baths of Caracalla in Rome, which were built in the early third century A.D.