DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18218#0322
308
CATALOGUE OF SCULPTURE.
lion's skin is twisted round his left arm, which is wanting
from the elbow. The hand appears to have held the
bridle, of which a part still hangs from the horse's mouth.
At his feet, in low relief, lies a third horse, felled to the
ground. In the background is the outline of a covered
structure with an arched opening, probably the stable of
Diomede.
On the extreme right, at the corner of the sarcophagus,
is Heracles, turned to the left, strangling the Nemean
lion, whose throat he presses with his left arm. The lion's
claws are mauling the left leg of the hero. Above is an
olive-tree.
On the end of the sarcophagus next to this group is
Heracles killing the Lernaean Hydra, whose body twiner
round his right leg and thigh. He draws back, about to
strike with his club at the heads, of which some are
attacking, while others have fallen. His ]ion's skin is
twisted round his left arm. Behind him is a tree. At the
opposite end of the sarcophagus Heracles is subduing the
Keryneian stag, which he seizes by the antler with his
right hand, drawing back the stag's head, and kneeling
with the left knee on his back. On each side are rocks.
On the rock on the left are the quiver and lion's skin of
Heracles.
In the four earlier labours, namely, with the lion, the
stag, the Hydra, and the boar, Heracles is represented
beardless, and rather slighter in form. In the remaining
groups, the bearded and more clumsy type of the hero is
adopted. The majority of the types here used for the
labours occur with great exactness on a series of Gaulish
coins of Postumus (258-267 a.d.), and this is probably
about the date of the sarcophagus. The groups, however,
are well composed, and the execution forcible.—Found, in
I860, in the ruins of an ancient tomb on the Via Appia, at
Genzano.
CATALOGUE OF SCULPTURE.
lion's skin is twisted round his left arm, which is wanting
from the elbow. The hand appears to have held the
bridle, of which a part still hangs from the horse's mouth.
At his feet, in low relief, lies a third horse, felled to the
ground. In the background is the outline of a covered
structure with an arched opening, probably the stable of
Diomede.
On the extreme right, at the corner of the sarcophagus,
is Heracles, turned to the left, strangling the Nemean
lion, whose throat he presses with his left arm. The lion's
claws are mauling the left leg of the hero. Above is an
olive-tree.
On the end of the sarcophagus next to this group is
Heracles killing the Lernaean Hydra, whose body twiner
round his right leg and thigh. He draws back, about to
strike with his club at the heads, of which some are
attacking, while others have fallen. His ]ion's skin is
twisted round his left arm. Behind him is a tree. At the
opposite end of the sarcophagus Heracles is subduing the
Keryneian stag, which he seizes by the antler with his
right hand, drawing back the stag's head, and kneeling
with the left knee on his back. On each side are rocks.
On the rock on the left are the quiver and lion's skin of
Heracles.
In the four earlier labours, namely, with the lion, the
stag, the Hydra, and the boar, Heracles is represented
beardless, and rather slighter in form. In the remaining
groups, the bearded and more clumsy type of the hero is
adopted. The majority of the types here used for the
labours occur with great exactness on a series of Gaulish
coins of Postumus (258-267 a.d.), and this is probably
about the date of the sarcophagus. The groups, however,
are well composed, and the execution forcible.—Found, in
I860, in the ruins of an ancient tomb on the Via Appia, at
Genzano.