Modern pop culture has ensured that Heracles / Hercules is one of the most familiar heroes of the ancient world. In antiquity too Heracles was widely celebrated. Through stories, plays and images of the hero, the Greeks and Romans related the numerous adventures that Heracles undertook, such as his famous Twelve Labours or how he accompanied the Argonauts to capture the Golden Fleece. The reward for his superhuman achievements was his elevation from man to god, an honour that of all Greek heroes Heracles alone received.
The scene on this amphora illustrates Heracles battling the fearsome giant Geryon to fulfil his Tenth Labour. Geryon was a three-bodied giant who kept a herd of cattle on an island in the western Mediterranean. Here he is depicted as three conjoined hoplite warriors, two of them with drooping heads to show Heracles had already wounded them. Eurytion, Geryon’s herdsman, sits wounded on the ground. The star on Geryon’s shield was a symbol in Greek art that portended something dangerous and threatening.
