Art Institute of Chicago

Tetradrachm (Coin) Depicting Head of Herakles

Greek, minted in Tyre, Phoenicia

Date

74-73 BCE

Medium

Silver

Culture

Tyre

Department

Arts of Greece, Rome, and Byzantium

Institution

Art Institute of Chicago

Herakles was the consummate hero. Temples across Greece and South Italy were dedicated to him, the son of Zeus, and Romans, who knew him as Hercules, celebrated him as a role model. With brute force, determination, and just enough cleverness, Herakles completed his famous Twelve Labors to become immortal. Herakles is readily identifiable by his knobby club and lion’s skin. The latter refers to his First Labor, in which he killed a magical beast who was ravaging the town of Nemea. The lion’s invincible hide made him immune to weapons, so Herakles strangled him and took his pelt. As Greeks and then Romans swept through Phoenicia (modern Lebanon), deities were assimilated into the local pantheon. The city of Tyre issued this coin showing its god Melqart in the form of Herakles, identified by the tiny knotted lion’s paws under his chin.

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