Heracles of Antikythera

The Heracles of Antikythera (Greek: Ηρακλής των Αντικυθήρων) is a large ancient Greek marble sculpture of the Greek hero Heracles, found in the wreck of Antikythera among several other findings, and now housed in the National Archaeological Museum of Athens.

[1] After spending centuries at the bottom of the sea, the sculpture is eroded with fragments missing.

[2] It was retrieved gradually, its discovery made in several stages: the body was brought to light by divers who discovered the wreck of Antikythera in 1901, while his left hand was found in 2016 and his (presumed) head in 2022.

[1] The body is 2.50 m. tall and its unattached head is 65 cm, making it a larger-than-life statue.

[1] The sculpture represents Heracles at rest, leaning on his club; it is a Hellenistic copy of the Heracles of Lysippus (dated around 320 BC), of the same type as the Farnese Hercules.