Headless Hercules Statue Found in Excavated Bathhouse Pool in Israel

Posted on August 18, 2011

A rare headless statue of Hercules, the son of Zeus and Alcmene, was found in an excavated bathhouse pool in Israel. The white marble statue had been part of the decoration of the bathhouse pool. The statue was found at Horvat Tabernet, which is located in Israel's Jezreel Valley.

Here is a description of the statue from the Israel Antiquities Authority:

"This is a rare discovery. The statue, which probably stood in a niche, was part of the decoration of a bathhouse pool that was exposed during the course of the excavations. It is c. 0.5 m tall, is made of smoothed white marble and is of exceptional artistic quality. Hercules is depicted in three dimension, as a naked figure standing on a base. His bulging muscles stand out prominently, he is leaning on a club to his left, on the upper part of which hangs the skin of the Nemean lion, which according to Greek mythology Hercules slew as the first of his twelve labors."

History.com reports that the excavation underway at Horvat Tabernet is part of a project to rebuild the historic Jezreel Valley railway.

ARCHAEOLOGY