Hercules - Toronto, Ontario, Canada
N 43° 37.949 W 079° 25.368
17T E 627229 N 4832263
One of the 20 statues at the Garden of the Greek Gods on the Canadian National Exhibition (CNE) grounds in Toronto.
Waymark Code: WM7Z7Y
Location: Ontario, Canada
Date Posted: 12/27/2009
Views: 12
This Limestone statue is sculpted by Elford Bradley Cox in 1979
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Text from the plaque:
HERCULES
The mighty hero of ancient Greece, The Gods tested him with 12 labours. He is seen here after slaying the Nemean lion.
Heracles
Heracles in Greek mythology, Heracles or Herakles, a compound of the goddess 'Hera' and the Greek word 'kleos', meaning "glory of Hera", or "glorious through Hera", Alcides or Alcaeus (original name), was a divine hero, the son of Zeus and Alcmene, foster son of Amphitryon and great-grandson (and half-brother) of Perseus. He was the greatest of the Greek heroes, a paragon of masculinity, the ancestor of royal clans who claimed to be Heracleidae and a champion of the Olympian order against chthonic monsters. In Rome and the modern West, he is known as Hercules, with whom the later Roman Emperors, in particular Commodus and Maximian, often identified themselves. The Romans adopted the Greek version of his life and works essentially unchanged, but added anecdotal detail of their own, some of it linking the hero with the geography of the Central Mediterranean. Details of his cult were adapted to Rome as well.
Extraordinary strength, courage, ingenuity, and sexual prowess with both males and females were among his characteristic attributes. Although he was not as clever as the likes of Odysseus or Nestor, Heracles used his wits on several occasions when his strength did not suffice, such as when laboring for the king Augeas of Elis, wrestling the giant Antaeus, or tricking Atlas into taking the sky back onto his shoulders. Together with Hermes he was the patron and protector of gymnasia and palaestrae. His iconographic attributes are the lion skin and the club. These qualities did not prevent him from being regarded as a playful figure who used games to relax from his labors and played a great deal with children. By conquering dangerous archaic forces he is said to have "made the world safe for mankind" and to be its benefactor. Heracles was an extremely passionate and emotional individual, capable of doing both great deeds for his friends (such as wrestling with Thanatos on behalf of Prince Admetus, who had regaled Heracles with his hospitality, or restoring his friend Tyndareus to the throne of Sparta after he was overthrown) and being a terrible enemy who would wreak horrible vengeance on those who crossed him, as Augeas, Neleus and Laomedon all found out to their cost.
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