“Unveiled After Centuries: The Tiny 1,700-Year-Old Hercules Statue That Rewrites History”
The Discovery Of A Miniature Hercules Statue Featuring A Rare Depiction Of His Seventh Labor
SAGAS Unifi/FacebookThe statuette features the head of the Cretan Bull beneath Hercules’ club.
This tiny Hercules statue was found broken into three pieces and missing its head. But although the hero himself is lacking a head, there is a different head lying at his feet — that of the Cretan Bull, the creature that Pasiphaë fell in love and sired the Minotaur with.
Capturing the bull was Hercules’ seventh labor, and one not often depicted in artworks featuring the legendary hero.
The Cretan Bull was originally sent to King Minos of Crete by Poseidon and intended for sacrifice. Minos, however, chose to keep the bull as he was ensnared by its beauty and sacrificed an inferior bull in its stead. This caused Poseidon to fly into a rage.
The god then asked Aphrodite to curse Minos’ wife Pasiphaë so that she would fall in love with the bull. At some point, the Cretan Bull impregnated her, and she gave birth to the half-man, half-bull creature known as the Minotaur.
Wikimedia CommonsHercules wrestling the Cretan Bull.
Meanwhile, the Cretan Bull went on a rampage, wreaking havoc across the island. Hercules was sent to Crete by King Eurystheus to capture the bull as his seventh labor, and Hercules wrestled the bull to the ground and returned it to the king in Mycenae.
King Eurystheus, however, chose to set the bull free and it continued its rampage until it reached Marathon and was slain by the hero Theseus.
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