Hercules in Galilee

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Sometimes nature is a better archaeological excavator than humans.

So it was a year ago at our excavation of Hippos/Sussita overlooking the Sea of Galilee.^a Our 2010 summer excavation season was followed by the torrential rains of an Israeli winter. Surveying a bathhouse from about 150 B.C.E. that we had been excavating, Nissim Mazig, director of the Sussita National Park, noticed a sculpted head sticking out of the muddy debris.

Clearing away some of the debris, we saw that it was a man with flowing hair and a straggly beard. The face bore an expression of power, rage and resolution. Who was it? Or, even before that, what was it?

At first it appeared to be a statue, but closer examination disclosed that it was not a statue but a relief that decorated a wall of the bathhouse. It was made of stucco (a sort of molded plaster), which is sensitive to dampness, so the relief most probably did not decorate a wall of a room that contained water but rather was placed in the entrance hall (vestibulum) or dressing room (apodyterium). It was nearly 6 feet tall.¹

Who it was was soon revealed. Within a half hour of the discovery of the head, further examination produced a few fragments that identified the subject. A section of the bust included the remains of a cape. This was no ordinary cape, however; it was made of a lion’s skin. And the cape was fastened with what is known as a Hercules knot. Now we knew who it was.

In Greek mythology Hercules was born after 051 Zeus impregnated Alcmene, a mortal woman who succumbed to the courtship of the lusty Father of the Gods. In the Greco-Roman world, Hercules served as a symbol of power, heroism and especially superhuman strength. He was also characterized by his unruly temper and often acted upon sudden and even cruel impulse. Because of this fault, the gods punished him and commanded him to perform 12 tasks, known as the Labors of Hercules. The performance of these tasks is one of the most popular and widespread themes in ancient art. His first task was to kill the fearsome Nemean lion, and, once done, he wore its skin as a cape. It became an inseparable part of his costume together with a club, his most favored weapon .

Our Hercules is clearly the work of a talented and inspired artist who rendered his fearsome subject full of expression. Working with stucco, he used his fingers as well as a spatula. He needed to shape the face rapidly while the stucco was still soft.

Hercules’ mouth is slightly agape, his nose is straight, his eyes protrude and a headband circles his forehead. The head was apparently fashioned first, with the later addition of long flowing hair and a long scraggly beard.

Although Hercules’ face as we found it is white, traces of color can be seen in some of the remains. In ancient times, it was the practice to color statues and reliefs, even those made of marble. (See Strata.)

Stucco reliefs are extremely rare, especially in Israel. To the best of our knowledge no reliefs of such size and artistic quality have ever been found in Israel. But this relief of Hercules also has a broader significance. The Greek, Hellenistic culture, reflected in the sculpture (as in much else in our Sussita excavation) existed cheek by jowl with, and in contrast to, the Jewish culture that flourished on the other side of the Sea of Galilee.^b

The somewhat terrifying beauty of this Hercules in the bathhouse can serve as the symbol of Hellenistic Sussita overlooking the Sea of Galilee from a great height. On the other side of the sea, nestling on the shore, lay Jewish Tiberias. One is a polis and the center of Greek culture. The other, home to the Sanhedrin, which regulated the spiritual and religious life of the Jews in the Land of Israel. The contrast could not be more stark.

The great Rabban Gamliel was once asked why he was bathing in a bathhouse with a statue of Aphrodite. He waited until he left the bathhouse to reply: “I did not enter her domain; but she entered mine.”²

Sometimes nature is a better archaeological excavator than humans.