Hercules at Rest

This statue of Hercules (late 1st c. BC) once adorned the pronaos of the Temple of Hercules in Ostia. The hero leans on his club, draped with the Nemean lion’s skin, his body relaxed after labor. The cult of Hercules in Ostia blended heroic myth with commercial and military symbolism, underscoring the god’s protective and economic roles.