Item: i35221
 
Authentic Ancient  Coin of:

Trebonianus Gallus - Roman Emperor: 251-253 A.D. -
 Bronze 23mm (7.83 grams) from a Roman provincial mint
Laureate head right.
Nude Hercules standing facing, leaning on club which is set atop rock.

This is the stance that Hercules takes when he is depicted as  having completed his labors.

You are bidding on the exact item pictured,  provided with a Certificate of Authenticity and Lifetime Guarantee of  Authenticity.

Hercules is the Roman name for  the Greek divine hero Heracles,  who was the son of Zeus (Roman  equivalent Jupiter)  and the mortal Alcmene.  In classical  mythology, Hercules is famous for his strength and for his numerous  far-ranging adventures.

The Romans adapted the Greek hero's iconography and myths for their literature  and art under the name Hercules.  In later Western  art and literature and in popular  culture, Hercules is  more commonly used than Heracles as  the name of the hero. Hercules was a multifaceted figure with contradictory  characteristics, which enabled later artists and writers to pick and choose how  to represent him. This  article provides an introduction to representations of Hercules in the later  tradition.

Labours

Hercules is known for his many adventures, which took him to the far reaches of  the Greco-Roman  world. One cycle of these adventures became canonical as  the "Twelve Labours," but the list has variations. One traditional order of the  labours is found in theBibliotheca as  follows:

1. Slay the Nemean  Lion.
2. Slay the nine-headed Lernaean  Hydra.
3. Capture the Golden  Hind of Artemis.
4. Capture the Erymanthian  Boar.
5. Clean the Augean stables  in a single day.
6. Slay the Stymphalian  Birds.
7. Capture the Cretan  Bull.
8. Steal the Mares  of Diomedes.
9. Obtain the girdle of Hippolyta,  Queen of the Amazons.
10. Obtain the cattle of the monster Geryon.
11. Steal the apples of the Hesperides.
12. Capture and bring back Cerberus.

Side adventures

Hercules had a greater number of "deeds  on the side" (parerga) that  have been popular subjects for art, including:

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  Killing a  fire-breathingCacus (Sebald  Beham, 1545)

   
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  Holding up  the world forAtlas (based  on Heinrich  Aldegrever, 1550)

   
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  Wrestling  with Achelous(16th-century  plaque)

   
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  Fighting the  giant Antaeus(Auguste  Couder, 1819)

   
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  Retrieving Alcestis from  the underworld (Paul  Cézanne, 1867)

   
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  Freeing Prometheus(Christian  Griepenkerl, 1878)

Roman era

The Latin name Hercules was  borrowed through Etruscan,  where it is represented variously as Heracle,  Hercle, and other forms. Hercules was a favorite subject for Etruscan  art, and appears often on bronze  mirrors. The Etruscan form Herceler derives  from the Greek Heracles via syncope.  A mild oath invoking Hercules (Hercule! or Mehercle!)  was a common interjection in Classical  Latin.

Hercules had a number of myths that  were distinctly Roman. One of these is Hercules' defeat of Cacus,  who was terrorizing the countryside of Rome. The hero was associated with the Aventine  Hill through his son Aventinus. Mark  Antony considered him a personal  patron god, as did the emperor Commodus.  Hercules received various forms of religious  veneration, including as a deity  concerned with children and childbirth, in part because of myths about his  precocious infancy, and in part because he fathered countless children. Roman  brides wore a special belt tied with the "knot  of Hercules", which was supposed to be hard to untie. The  comic playwright Plautus presents  the myth of Hercules' conception as a sex comedy in his play Amphitryon; Senecawrote  the tragedy Hercules Furens about  his bout with madness. During the Roman  Imperial era, Hercules was worshipped locally from Hispania through Gaul.

Germanic association

Tacitus records a special  affinity of the Germanic  peoples for Hercules. In chapter  3 of his Germania,  Tacitus states:

... they say that  Hercules, too, once visited them; and when going into battle, they sang of  him first of all heroes. They have also those songs of theirs, by the  recital of this barditus as  they call it, they rouse their courage, while from the note they augur the  result of the approaching conflict. For, as their line shouts, they inspire  or feel alarm.

In the Roman era Hercules'  Club amulets appear from the 2nd  to 3rd century, distributed over the empire (including Roman  Britain, c.f. Cool 1986), mostly made of gold, shaped like wooden clubs. A  specimen found in Köln-Nippes bears  the inscription "DEO HER[culi]",  confirming the association with Hercules.

In the 5th to 7th centuries, during the Migration  Period, the amulet is theorized to have rapidly spread from the Elbe  Germanic area across Europe.  These Germanic "Donar's  Clubs" were made from deer antler, bone or wood, more rarely also from bronze or  precious metals.They are found exclusively in female graves, apparently worn  either as a belt pendant, or as an ear pendant. The amulet type is replaced by  the Viking  Age Thor's  hammer pendants in the course of  the Christianization  of Scandinavia from the 8th to  9th century.

Medieval mythography

After the Roman Empire became Christianized,  mythological narratives were often reinterpreted as allegory,  influenced by the philosophy of late  antiquity. In the 4th century, Servius had  described Hercules' return from the underworld as representing his ability to  overcome earthly desires and vices, or the earth itself as a consumer of bodies. In  medieval mythography, Hercules was one of the heroes seen as a strong role model  who demonstrated both valor and wisdom, with the monsters he battles as moral  obstacles. One glossator noted  that when Hercules  became a constellation, he showed that strength was necessary to gain  entrance to Heaven.

Medieval mythography was written almost entirely in Latin, and original Greek  texts were little used as sources for Hercules' myths.

Renaissance mythography

The Renaissance and  the invention of the printing  press brought a renewed interest  in and publication of Greek literature. Renaissance mythography drew more  extensively on the Greek tradition of Heracles, typically under the Romanized  name Hercules, or the alternate name Alcides.  In a chapter of his book Mythologiae (1567),  the influential mythographer Natale  Conti collected and summarized an  extensive range of myths concerning the birth, adventures, and death of the hero  under his Roman name Hercules. Conti begins his lengthy chapter on Hercules with  an overview description that continues the moralizing impulse of the Middle  Ages:

Hercules, who  subdued and destroyed monsters, bandits, and criminals, was justly famous  and renowned for his great courage. His great and glorious reputation was  worldwide, and so firmly entrenched that he'll always be remembered. In fact  the ancients honored him with his own temples, altars, ceremonies, and  priests. But it was his wisdom and great soul that earned those honors;  noble blood, physical strength, and political power just aren't good enough.

In art

In Roman works of art and in Renaissance and post-Renaissance art, Hercules can  be identified by his attributes, the lion  skin and the gnarled club (his  favorite weapon); in mosaic he  is shown tanned bronze, a virile aspect.

Roman era

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  Hercules of the Forum Boarium (Hellenistic,  2nd century BCE)

   
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  Hercules and Iolaus (1st  century CE mosaic from the Anzio Nymphaeum, Rome)

   
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  Hercules (Hatra,  Iraq,Parthian  period, 1st-2nd century CE)

   
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  Hercules  bronze statuette, 2nd century CE (museum of Alanya, Turkey)

   
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  Hercules and  the Nemean  Lion (detail), silver plate,  6th century (Cabinet  des Médailles, Paris)

Modern era

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  The Giant  Hercules (1589) by Hendrik  Goltzius

   
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  The  Drunken Hercules(1612-1614) by Rubens

   
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  Hercules in  the Augean  stable (1842, Honoré  Daumier)

   
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  Comic book cover  (c.1958)

   
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  Hercules, Deianira and  the Centaur Nessus, byBartholomäus  Spranger, 1580 - 1582

   
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  Henry IV of France, as Hercules vanquishing theLernaean  Hydra (i.e. theCatholic  League), byToussaint  Dubreuil, circa 1600. Louvre  Museum

In numismatics

Hercules was among the earliest figures on ancient Roman coinage, and has been  the main motif of many collector coins and medals since. One example is the 20  euro Baroque Silver coin issued  on September 11, 2002. The obverse side of the coin shows the Grand Staircase in  the town palace of Prince  Eugene of Savoy in Vienna,  currently the Austrian Ministry of Finance. Gods and demi-gods hold  its flights, while Hercules stands at the turn of the stairs.

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  Juno, with Hercules fighting a Centaur on  reverse (Roman, 215-15 BCE)

   
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  Club over  his shoulder on a Roman denarius (ca.  100 BCE)

   
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  Maximinus II and  Hercules with club and lionskin (Roman, 313 CE)

   
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  Commemorative 5-francpiece  (1996), Hercules in center

Other cultural  references

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  Pillars of Hercules, representing the Strait  of Gibraltar (19th-century  conjecture of the Tabula  Peutingeriana)

   
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  The Cudgel of Hercules, a tall limestone rock  formation, with Pieskowa  Skała Castle in the  background

   
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  Hercules as heraldic  supporters in the royal  arms of Greece,  in use 1863-1973. The phrase "Ηρακλείς του στέμματος" ("Defenders of  the Crown") has pejorative connotations ("chief henchmen") in Greek.

In films

A series of nineteen Italian Hercules movies were made in the late 1950s and  early 1960s. The actors who played Hercules in these films were Steve  Reeves, Gordon  Scott, Kirk Morris, Mickey  Hargitay, Mark Forest, Alan Steel, Dan  Vadis, Brad  Harris, Reg  Park, Peter  Lupus (billed as Rock  Stevens) and Michael Lane. A number of English-dubbed Italian films that  featured the name of Hercules in their title were not intended to be movies  about Hercules.

See also

• Hercules (comics)
• Hercules in popular culture of  the 20th and 21st centuries
• Sword-and-sandal
• Hercules: The Legendary Journeys

Gaius  Vibius Trebonianus Gallus (206 - August, 253), was Roman  Emperor from 251 to 253, in a joint rule with his son Volusianus .

Gallus was born in Italy, in a family with respected ancestry  of Etruscan senatorial background. He had two children in his marriage with Afinia Gemina Baebiana : Gaius Vibius Volusianus, later Emperor, and a  daughter, Vibia Galla. His early career was a typical cursus honorum , with several appointments, both political and military.  He was suffect consul and in 250 was nominated governor of the Roman province of Moesia Superior ,  an appointment that showed the confidence of emperor Trajan Decius in him. In Moesia, Gallus was a key figure in repelling the  frequent invasion attacks by the Gothic tribes of  the Danube and  became popular with the army, catered to during his brief Imperial rule by his  official image: military haircut, gladiatorial physique, intimidating stance (illustration,  left).^[1]

In June 251, Decius and his co-emperor and son Herennius Etruscus died in the Battle of Abrittus , at the hands of the Goths they were supposed to punish  for raids into the empire, largely owing to the failure of Gallus to attack  aggressively. When the army heard the news, the soldiers proclaimed Gallus  emperor, despite Hostilian ,  Decius' surviving son, ascending the imperial throne in Rome. Gallus did not  back down from his intention to become emperor, but accepted Hostilian as  co-emperor, perhaps to avoid the damage of another civil war. While Gallus  marched on Rome, an outbreak of plague struck the city and killed young Hostilian. With absolute power now  in his hands, Gallus nominated his son Volusianus co-emperor.

Eager to show himself competent and gain popularity with the  citizens, Gallus swiftly dealt with the epidemic, providing burial for the  victims. Gallus is often accused of persecuting the Christians , but the only solid evidence of this allegation is the  imprisoning of Pope Cornelius in 252.

Like his predecessors, Gallus did not have an easy reign. In  the East, Persian Emperor Shapur I   invaded and conquered the province of Syria , without any response from Rome. On the Danube, the Gothic tribes were  once again on the loose, despite the peace treaty signed in 251. The army was  not long pleased with the emperor, and when Aemilianus ,  governor of Moesia Superior and Pannonia, took the initiative of battle and  defeated the Goths, the soldiers proclaimed him emperor. With a usurper threatening the throne, Gallus prepared for a fight. He recalled  several legions and ordered reinforcements to return to Rome from the Rhine frontier.  Despite these dispositions, Aemilianus marched onto Italy ready to fight for his  claim. Gallus did not have the chance to face him in battle: he and Volusianus   were murdered by their own troops in August 253, in Interamna (modern  Terni) .

Bronze of Gallus dating from the time of his reign as  Roman Emperor, the only surviving near-complete full-size 3rd century Roman  bronze (Metropolitan  Museum of Art)^[2]

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