Head of Hercules

**Head of Hercules** *Roman*, A.D. ~70 Marble. The first of Hercules's "Twelve Labors" was to kill a lion that was terrorizing the city of Nemea. The Lion's hide was impenetrable, so weapons were useless against it. Hercules wrestled and choked the lion, then skinned the animal with its own razor-sharp claw (the only blade capable of piercing its skin). In his subsequent labors, Hercules would wear the pelt of the Nemean Lion as his armor and its head as a helmet. This marble bust, which shows a bearded Hercules wearing the head of the Nemean Lion, is at the Art Institute in Chicago.