LYSIMACHOS King of Thrace 323BC Alexander the Great Lion Greek Coin i57642

Greek coin of the Kingdom of Thrace Lysimachos - King: 323-281 B.C. - Bronze 20mm (5.37 grams) Struck in the Kingdom of Thrace 323-321 B.C. Reference: Sear 6819; Mueller 113; Forrer/Weber 2731 Head of Alexander the Great right, in crested Athenian helmet. BAΣΙΛΕΩΣ / ΛΥΣΙΜΑΧΟΥ above and beneath lion leaping right; spear head below.

One of the most remarkable of the 'Successors' of Alexander, Lysimachos was of Thessalian stock and was a bodyguard of the great Macedonian King. In the confused period following Alexander's death he obtained the government of Thrace, and in 309 B.C. founded his capital city of Lysimacheia where many of his coins were struck. In 305 B.C. he took the title of King, and four years later extended his rule over much of Asia Minor following the defeat of Antigonos the One-eyed at Ipos. His later years were marred by domestic tragedy and his harsh rule made him unpopular with his subjects. In 281 B.C. Lysimachos, now aged 80, was attacked by Seleukos of Syria who was only two years his junior. Lysimachos died fighting at the battle of Korupedion and his kingdom disappeared with him. But his memory lived on and generations later a number of mints in the Black Sea area restored his coin types for their autonomous issues.

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Hercules is the Roman name for the Greek divine hero Heracles , who was the son of Zeus (Roman equivalent Jupiter ) and the mortal Alcmene . In classical mythology , Hercules is famous for his strength and for his numerous far-ranging adventures.

The Romans adapted the Greek hero's iconography and myths for their literature and art under the name Hercules . In later Western art and literature and in popular culture , Hercules is more commonly used than Heracles as the name of the hero. Hercules was a multifaceted figure with contradictory characteristics, which enabled later artists and writers to pick and choose how to represent him. This article provides an introduction to representations of Hercules in the later tradition .

Labours

Hercules is known for his many adventures, which took him to the far reaches of the Greco-Roman world . One cycle of these adventures became canonical as the "Twelve Labours," but the list has variations. One traditional order of the labours is found in the Bibliotheca as follows:

1. Slay the Nemean Lion .
2. Slay the nine-headed Lernaean Hydra .
3. Capture the Golden Hind of Artemis .
4. Capture the Erymanthian Boar .
5. Clean the Augean stables in a single day.
6. Slay the Stymphalian Birds .
7. Capture the Cretan Bull .
8. Steal the Mares of Diomedes .
9. Obtain the girdle of Hippolyta , Queen of the Amazons .
10. Obtain the cattle of the monster Geryon .
11. Steal the apples of the Hesperides .
12. Capture and bring back Cerberus .

The Latin name Hercules was borrowed through Etruscan , where it is represented variously as Heracle , Hercle, and other forms. Hercules was a favorite subject for Etruscan art , and appears often on bronze mirrors . The Etruscan form Herceler derives from the Greek Heracles via syncope . A mild oath invoking Hercules (Hercule! or Mehercle! ) was a common interjection in Classical Latin .

Baby Hercules strangling a snake sent to kill him in his cradle (Roman marble, 2nd century CE)

Hercules had a number of myths Cacus, who was terrorizing the countryside of Rome. The hero was associated with the Aventine Hill through his son Aventinus . Mark Antony considered him a personal patron god, as did the emperor Commodus . Hercules received various forms of religious veneration , including as a deity concerned with children and childbirth , in part because of myths about his precocious infancy, and in part because he fathered countless children. Roman brides wore a special belt tied with the "knot of Hercules", which was supposed to be hard to untie.[4] The comic playwright Plautus presents the myth of Hercules' conception as a sex comedy in his play Amphitryon ; Seneca wrote the tragedy Hercules Furens about his bout with madness. During the Roman Imperial era , Hercules was worshipped locally from Hispania through Gaul.

Medieval mythography

After the Roman Empire became Christianized , mythological narratives were often reinterpreted as allegory , influenced by the philosophy of late antiquity . In the 4th century, Servius had described Hercules' return from the underworld as representing his ability to overcome earthly desires and vices, or the earth itself as a consumer of bodies. In medieval mythography, Hercules was one of the heroes seen as a strong role model who demonstrated both valor and wisdom, with the monsters he battles as moral obstacles. One glossatorr noted that when Hercules became a constellation , he showed that strength was necessary to gain entrance to Heaven.

Medieval mythography was written almost entirely in Latin, and original Greek texts were little used as sources for Hercules' myths.

Renaissance mythography

The Renaissance and the invention of the printing press brought a renewed interest in and publication of Greek literature. Renaissance mythography drew more extensively on the Greek tradition of Heracles, typically under the Romanized name Hercules, or the alternate name Alcides . In a chapter of his book Mythologiae (1567), the influential mythographer Natale Conti collected and summarized an extensive range of myths concerning the birth, adventures, and death of the hero under his Roman name Hercules. Conti begins his lengthy chapter on Hercules with an overview description that continues the moralizing impulse of the Middle Ages:

Hercules, who subdued and destroyed monsters, bandits, and criminals, was justly famous and renowned for his great courage. His great and glorious reputation was worldwide, and so firmly entrenched that he'll always be remembered. In fact the ancients honored him with his own temples, altars, ceremonies, and priests. But it was his wisdom and great soul that earned those honors; noble blood, physical strength, and political power just aren't good enough.

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Lysimachus (Greek: Λυσίμαχος, Lysimachos ; 360 BCE - 281 BCE) was a Macedonian officer and diadochus (i.e. "successor") of Alexander the Great , who became a basileus ("king") in 306 BCE, ruling Thrace , Asia Minor and Macedonia .

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 Early career

Lysimachus was born in 362/361 BC, the son of the Thessalian Agathocles from Crannon . He was granted citizenship in Macedon and was educated at the court in Pella . He was probably appointed Somatophylax during the reign of Philip II.[1] During Alexander's Persian campaigns, he was one of his immediate bodyguards. In 324 BCE , in Susa, he was crowned in recognition for his actions in India.[2] After Alexander’s death in 323 BCE, he was appointed to the government of Thrace as strategos .

 Diadochi

In 315 BCE, he joined Cassander , Ptolemy and Seleucus against Antigonus , who, however, diverted his attention by stirring up Thracian and Scythian tribes against him. In 309 BCE, he founded Lysimachia in a commanding situation on the neck connecting the Chersonese with the mainland. He followed the example of Antigonus in taking the title of king.[4]

In 306 or 305, he assumed the title of "King", which he held until his death at Corupedium in 282/1.[5]

In 302, when the second affiance between Cassander, Ptolemy and Seleucus was made, Lysimachus, reinforced by troops from Cassander, entered Asia Minor, where he met with little resistance. On the approach of Antigonus he retired into winter quarters near Heraclea , marrying its widowed queen Amastris , a Persian princess. Seleucus joined him in 301 BCE, and at the battle of Ipsus Antigonus was defeated and slain. His dominions were divided among the victors. Lysimachus share was Lydia , Ionia , Phrygia and the north coast of Asia Minor.[4]

      Kingdom of Lysimachus Other diadochi       Kingdom of Cassander       Kingdom of Seleucus_I_Nicator       Kingdom of Ptolemy       Epirus Other       Carthage       Rome       Greek colonies

Feeling that Seleucus was becoming dangerously great, Lysimachus now allied himself with Ptolemy, marrying his daughter Arsinoe II of Egypt . Amastris, who had divorced herself from him, returned to Heraclea. When Antigonus’s son Demetrius I of Macedon renewed hostilities (297 BCE), during his absence in Greece , Lysimachus seized his towns in Asia Minor, but in 294 BCE concluded a peace whereby Demetrius was recognized as ruler of Macedonia . He tried to carry his power beyond the Danube , but was defeated and taken prisoner by the Getae king Dromichaetes (Dromihete), who, however, set him free on amicable terms. Demetrius subsequently threatened Thrace, but had to retire due to a sudden uprising in Boeotia , and an attack from the king Pyrrhus of Epirus .

In 288 BCE, Lysimachus and Pyrrhus in turn invaded Macedonia , and drove Demetrius out of the country. Lysimachus left Pyrrhus in possession of Macedonia with the title of king for around seven months before Lysimachus invaded. For a short while the two ruled jointly but in 285 BCE Lysimachus expelled Pyrrhus.[6]

 Later years

Domestic troubles embittered the last years of Lysimachus’s life. Amastris had been murdered by her two sons; Lysimachus treacherously put them to death. On his return Arsinoe asked the gift of Heraclea, and he granted her request, though he had promised to free the city. In 284 BCE Arsinoe, desirous of gaining the succession for her sons in preference to Agathocles (the eldest son of Lysimachus), intrigued against him with the help of her brother Ptolemy Keraunos ; they accused him of conspiring with Seleucus to seize the throne, and he was put to death.

This atrocious deed of Lysimachus aroused great indignation. Many of the cities of Asia revolted, and his most trusted friends deserted him. The widow of Agathocles fled to Seleucus, who at once invaded the territory of Lysimachus in Asia. In 281 BCE, Lysimachus crossed the Hellespont into Lydia , and at the decisive Battle of Corupedium was killed. After some days his body was found on the field, protected from birds of prey by his faithful dog.[7] Lysimachus's body was given over to his son Alexander , by whom it was interred at Lysymachia .

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Thrace (demonym Thracian / ən θ r eɪ ʃ ⁱ ˈ / ; Bulgarian : Тракия, Trakiya , Greek : Θράκη, Thráki , Turkish : Trakya ) is a historical and geographic area in southeast Europe . As a geographical concept, Thrace designates a region bounded by the Balkan Mountains on the north, Rhodope Mountains and the Aegean Sea on the south, and by the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara on the east. The areas it comprises are southeastern Bulgaria (Northern Thrace), northeastern Greece (Western Thrace), and the European part of Turkey (Eastern Thrace). The biggest part of Thrace is part of present-day Bulgaria. In Turkey, it is also called Rumelia . The name comes from the Thracians , an ancient Indo-European people inhabiting Southeastern Europe.

The historical boundaries of Thrace have varied. Noteworthy is the fact that, at an early date, the ancient Greeks employed the term "Thrace" to refer to all of the territory which lay north of Thessaly inhabited by the Thracians ,[1] a region which "had no definite boundaries" and to which other regions (like Macedonia and even Scythia ) were added.[2] In one ancient Greek source, the very Earth is divided into "Asia, Libya, Europa and Thracia".[2] As the knowledge of world geography of the Greeks broadened, the term came to be more restricted in its application: Thrace designated the lands bordered by the Danube on the north, by the Euxine Sea (Black Sea) on the east, by northern Macedonia in the south and by the Illyrian lands (i.e. Illyria ) to the west.[2] This largely coincided with the Thracian Odrysian kingdom , whose borders varied in time. During this time, specifically after the Macedonian conquest, the region's old border with Macedonia was shifted from the Struma River to the Mesta River .[3][4] This usage lasted until the Roman conquest. Henceforth, (classical) Thrace referred only to the tract of land largely covering the same extent of space as the modern geographical region. In its early period, the Roman province of Thrace was of this extent, but after the administrative reforms of the late 3rd century, Thracia's much reduced territory became the six small provinces which constituted the Diocese of Thrace . The medieval Byzantine theme of Thrace contained only what today is Eastern Thrace .

The largest cities of Thrace are: İstanbul (European side), Plovdiv , Burgas , Stara Zagora , Haskovo , Edirne , Çorlu and Tekirdag .

Most of the Bulgarian and Greek population are Christians, while most of the Turkish inhabitants of Thrace are Muslims.

Thrace in ancient Greek mythology

Ancient Greek mythology provides them with a mythical ancestor, named Thrax , son of the war-god Ares, who was said to reside in Thrace. The Thracians appear in Homer 's Iliad as Trojan allies, led by Acamas and Peiros . Later in the Iliad , Rhesus , another Thracian king, makes an appearance. Cisseus , father-in-law to the Trojan elder Antenor , is also given as a Thracian king. Homeric Thrace was vaguely defined, and stretched from the River Axios in the west to the Hellespont and Black Sea in the east. The Catalogue of Ships mentions three separate contingents from Thrace: Thracians led by Acamas and Peiros, from Aenus ; Cicones led by Euphemus , from southern Thrace, near Ismaros ; and from the city of Sestus , on the Thracian (northern) side of the Hellespont, which formed part of the contingent led by Asius . Greek mythology is replete with Thracian kings, including Diomedes , Tereus , Lycurgus , Phineus , Tegyrius , Eumolpus , Polymnestor , Poltys , and Oeagrus (father of Orpheus ). In addition to the tribe that Homer calls Thracians, ancient Thrace was home to numerous other tribes, such as the Edones , Bisaltae , Cicones , and Bistones .

Thrace is also mentioned in Ovid's Metamorphoses in the episode of Philomela , Procne, and Tereus . Tereus, the King of Thrace, lusts after his sister-in-law, Philomela. He kidnaps her, holds her captive, rapes her, and cuts out her tongue. Philomela manages to get free, however. She and her sister, Procne, plot to get revenge, by killing Itys (son of Tereus and Procne) and serving him to his father for dinner. At the end of the myth, all three turn into birds—Procne, a swallow; Philomela, a nightingale; and Tereus, a hoopoe .

 History

Ancient history Thracian Tomb of Kazanlak  

The indigenous population of Thrace was a people called the Thracians , divided into numerous tribal groups. Thracian troops were known to accompany neighboring ruler Alexander the Great when he crossed the Hellespont which abuts Thrace, and took on the Persian Empire of the day.

The Thracians did not describe themselves as such and Thrace and Thracians are simply the names given them by the Greeks.[5]

Divided into separate tribes, the Thracians did not manage to form a lasting political organization until the Odrysian state was founded in the 4th century BC. Like Illyrians , Thracian tribes of the mountainous regions fostered a locally ruled warrior tradition, while the tribes based in the plains were purportedly more peaceable. Recently discovered funeral mounds in Bulgaria suggest that Thracian kings did rule regions of Thrace with distinct Thracian national identity.

During this period, a subculture of celibate ascetics called the Ctistae lived in Thrace, where they served as philosophers, priests and prophets.

Medieval history

By the mid 5th century, as the Roman Empire began to crumble, Thracia fell from the authority of Rome and into the hands of Germanic tribal rulers. With the fall of Rome, Thracia turned into a battleground territory for the better part of the next 1,000 years. The eastern successor of the Roman Empire in the Balkans, the Byzantine Empire , retained control over Thrace until the 8th century when the northern half of the entire region was incorporated into the First Bulgarian Empire . Byzantium regained Thrace in the late 10th century and administered it as a theme , until the Bulgarians regained control of the northern half at the end of the 12th century. Throughout the 13th century and the first half of the 14th century, the region was changing in the hands of the Bulgarian and the Byzantine Empire(excl. Constantinopole). In 1265 the area suffered a Mongol raid from the Golden Horde , led by Nogai Khan . In 1352, the Ottoman Turks conducted their first incursion into the region subduing it completely within a matter of two decades and occupying it for five centuries.

Modern history

With the Congress of Berlin in 1878, Northern Thrace was incorporated into the semi-autonomous Ottoman province of Eastern Rumelia , which united with Bulgaria in 1885. The rest of Thrace was divided among Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey at the beginning of the 20th century, following the Balkan Wars , World War I and the Greco-Turkish War . Today Thracian is a strong regional identity in Greece, Turkey, Bulgaria and other neighbouring countries.

Famous Thracians and people from Thrace

• Mehmed II Ottoman Sultan, born at Edirne in Thrace; he was the Sultan who conquered Constantinople, marking the end of the Middle Ages.
• Bayezid II Ottoman Sultan
• Spartacus was a Thracian auxiliary soldier in the Roman army who deserted but was captured and then enslaved by the Romans. He led a large slave uprising in what is now Italy in 73–71 BC. His army of escaped gladiators and slaves defeated several Roman legions in what is known as the Third Servile War .
• Belisaurius , one of the most successful Generals of the Roman Empire , was born in the borderlands between Thrace and Illyria .
• In Ancient Greek mythology , Orpheus was the chief representative of the art of song and playing the lyre .
• Democritus was a Greek philosopher and mathematician from Abdera, Thrace (c. 460–370 BC.) His main contribution is the atomic theory , the belief that all matter is made up of various imperishable indivisible elements which he called atoms .
• Herodicus was a Greek physician of the fifth century BC who is considered the founder of sports medicine . He is believed to have been one of Hippocrates' tutors.
• Protagoras was a Greek philosopher from Abdera, Thrace (c. 490–420 BC.) An expert in rhetorics and subjects connected to virtue and political life, often regarded as the first sophist . He is known primarily for three claims (1) that man is the measure of all things, often interpreted as a sort of moral relativism , (2) that he could make the "worse (or weaker) argument appear the better (or stronger)" (see Sophism ) and (3) that one could not tell if the gods existed or not (see Agnosticism ).

• A number of Roman emperors of the 3rd-5th century were of Thraco-Roman backgrounds (Maximinus Thrax, Licinius , Galerius , Aureolus , Leo the Thracian , etc.). These emperors were elevated via a military career, from the condition of common soldiers in one of the Roman legions to the foremost positions of political power .

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Hercules and the  Hydra   (ca. 1475) byAntonio del Pollaiuolo  the hero wears his characteristic lionskin and wields a club

Hercules   is the Roman name for the Greek  divine  hero  Heracles, who was the son of  Zeus  (Roman equivalent  Jupiter) and the mortal  Alcmene. In  classical mythology, Hercules is famous for his strength and for his numerous far-ranging adventures.

The Romans adapted the Greek hero's iconography and myths for their literature and art under the name  Hercules . In later  Western art  and literature and in  popular culture,  Hercules   is more commonly used than  Heracles   as the name of the hero. Hercules was a multifaceted figure with contradictory characteristics, which enabled later artists and writers to pick and choose how to represent him.  This article provides an introduction to representations of Hercules in the  later tradition.

Labours Hercules capturing theErymanthian Boar, by  J.M. Félix Magdalena  (b. 1941) Main article:  Labours of Hercules

Hercules is known for his many adventures, which took him to the far reaches of the  Greco-Roman world. One cycle of these adventures became  canonical  as the "Twelve Labours," but the list has variations. One traditional order of the labours is found in theBibliotheca   as follows:

1. Slay the  Nemean Lion.
2. Slay the nine-headed  Lernaean Hydra.
3. Capture the  Golden Hind of Artemis.
4. Capture the  Erymanthian Boar.
5. Clean the  Augean  stables in a single day.
6. Slay the  Stymphalian Birds.
7. Capture the  Cretan Bull.
8. Steal the  Mares of Diomedes.
9. Obtain the girdle of  Hippolyta, Queen of the  Amazons.
10. Obtain the cattle of the monster  Geryon.
11. Steal the apples of the  Hesperides.
12. Capture and bring back  Cerberus.

Side adventures

Hercules had a greater number of "deeds on the side"  (parerga)   that have been popular subjects for art, including:

• Killing a fire-breathingCacus  (Sebald Beham, 1545)

   

• Holding up the world forAtlas  (based on  Heinrich Aldegrever, 1550)

   

• Wrestling with  Achelous(16th-century plaque)

   

• Fighting the giant  Antaeus(Auguste Couder, 1819)

   

• Retrieving  Alcestis  from the underworld (Paul Cézanne, 1867)

   

• Freeing  Prometheus(Christian Griepenkerl, 1878)

Roman era Main article:  Hercules in ancient Rome

The  Latin  name  Hercules   was borrowed through  Etruscan, where it is represented variously as  Heracle, Hercle, and other forms. Hercules was a favorite subject for  Etruscan art, and appears often on  bronze mirrors. The Etruscan form  Herceler   derives from the Greek  Heracles   via  syncope. A mild oath invoking Hercules (Hercule!   or  Mehercle! ) was a common  interjection  in  Classical Latin.

Baby Hercules strangling asnake  sent to kill him in his  cradle(Roman marble, 2nd century CE)

Hercules had a number of  myths  that were distinctly Roman. One of these is Hercules' defeat of  Cacus, who was terrorizing the countryside of Rome. The hero was associated with the  Aventine Hill  through his son  Aventinus.  Mark Antony  considered him a personal patron god, as did the emperor  Commodus. Hercules received various forms of  religious veneration, including as a  deity concerned with children and childbirth, in part because of myths about his precocious infancy, and in part because he fathered countless children. Roman brides wore a special belt tied with the "knot of Hercules", which was supposed to be hard to untie.  The comic playwright  Plautus  presents the myth of Hercules' conception as a sex comedy in his play  Amphitryon ;  Senecawrote the tragedy  Hercules Furens   about his bout with madness. During the  Roman Imperial era, Hercules was worshipped locally from  Hispania  through  Gaul.

Germanic association

Tacitus  records a special affinity of the  Germanic peoples  for Hercules. In chapter 3 of his  Germania , Tacitus states:

... they say that Hercules, too, once visited them; and when going into battle, they sang of him first of all heroes. They have also those songs of theirs, by the recital of this   barditus  as they call it, they rouse their courage, while from the note they augur the result of the approaching conflict. For, as their line shouts, they inspire or feel alarm.

In the Roman era  Hercules' Club  amulets appear from the 2nd to 3rd century, distributed over the empire (including  Roman Britain, c.f. Cool 1986), mostly made of gold, shaped like wooden clubs. A specimen found in  Köln-Nippes  bears the inscription  "DEO HER [culi]", confirming the association with Hercules.

In the 5th to 7th centuries, during the  Migration Period, the amulet is theorized to have rapidly spread from the  Elbe Germanic  area across Europe. These Germanic "Donar's Clubs" were made from deer antler, bone or wood, more rarely also from bronze or precious metals.They are found exclusively in female graves, apparently worn either as a belt pendant, or as an ear pendant. The amulet type is replaced by the  Viking Age  Thor's hammer  pendants in the course of the  Christianization of Scandinavia  from the 8th to 9th century.

Medieval mythography Hercules and the  Nemean lionin the 15th-century  Histoires de Troyes

After the Roman Empire became  Christianized, mythological narratives were often reinterpreted as  allegory, influenced by the philosophy of  late antiquity. In the 4th century,  Servius  had described Hercules' return from the underworld as representing his ability to overcome earthly desires and vices, or the earth itself as a consumer of bodies.  In medieval mythography, Hercules was one of the heroes seen as a strong role model who demonstrated both valor and wisdom, with the monsters he battles as moral obstacles.  One  glossator  noted that when  Hercules became a constellation, he showed that strength was necessary to gain entrance to Heaven.

Medieval mythography was written almost entirely in Latin, and original Greek texts were little used as sources for Hercules' myths.

Renaissance mythography

The  Renaissance  and the invention of the  printing press  brought a renewed interest in and publication of Greek literature. Renaissance mythography drew more extensively on the Greek tradition of Heracles, typically under the Romanized name Hercules, or the alternate name  Alcides. In a chapter of his book  Mythologiae   (1567), the influential mythographer  Natale Conti  collected and summarized an extensive range of myths concerning the birth, adventures, and death of the hero under his Roman name Hercules. Conti begins his lengthy chapter on Hercules with an overview description that continues the moralizing impulse of the Middle Ages:

Hercules, who subdued and destroyed monsters, bandits, and criminals, was justly famous and renowned for his great courage. His great and glorious reputation was worldwide, and so firmly entrenched that he'll always be remembered. In fact the ancients honored him with his own temples, altars, ceremonies, and priests. But it was his wisdom and great soul that earned those honors; noble blood, physical strength, and political power just aren't good enough.

In art

In Roman works of art and in Renaissance and post-Renaissance art, Hercules can be identified by his attributes, the  lion skin  and the gnarled  club  (his favorite weapon); in  mosaic  he is shown tanned bronze, a virile aspect.

Roman era

• Hercules of the Forum Boarium   (Hellenistic, 2nd century BCE)

   

• Hercules and  Iolaus  (1st century CE mosaic from the Anzio Nymphaeum, Rome)

   

• Hercules (Hatra, Iraq,Parthian period, 1st-2nd century CE)

   

• Hercules bronze statuette, 2nd century CE (museum of  Alanya,  Turkey)

   

• Hercules and the  Nemean Lion  (detail),  silver  plate, 6th century (Cabinet des Médailles,  Paris)

Modern era

• The Giant Hercules   (1589) by  Hendrik Goltzius

   

• The Drunken Hercules (1612-1614) by  Rubens

   

• Hercules in the  Augean stable  (1842,  Honoré Daumier)

   

• Comic book  cover (c.1958)

   

• Hercules,  Deianira  and the Centaur Nessus , byBartholomäus Spranger, 1580 - 1582

   

• Henry IV of France, as Hercules vanquishing theLernaean Hydra  (i.e. theCatholic League), byToussaint Dubreuil, circa 1600.  Louvre Museum

In numismatics

Hercules was among the earliest figures on ancient Roman coinage, and has been the main motif of many collector coins and medals since. One example is the  20 euro Baroque Silver coin  issued on September 11, 2002. The obverse side of the coin shows the Grand Staircase in the town palace of  Prince Eugene of Savoy  in  Vienna, currently the Austrian Ministry of Finance. Gods and  demi-gods  hold its flights, while Hercules stands at the turn of the stairs.

• Juno, with Hercules fighting a  Centaur  on reverse (Roman, 215–15 BCE)

   

• Club over his shoulder on a Roman  denarius  (ca. 100 BCE)

   

• Maximinus II  and Hercules with club and lionskin (Roman, 313 CE)

   

• Commemorative  5-francpiece (1996), Hercules in center

 

Other cultural references

• Pillars of Hercules, representing the  Strait of Gibraltar  (19th-century conjecture of the  Tabula Peutingeriana )

   

• The Cudgel of Hercules , a tall  limestone  rock formation, with  Pieskowa Skała Castle  in the background

   

• Hercules as  heraldic supporters  in the  royal arms  of  Greece, in use 1863–1973. The phrase "Ηρακλείς του στέμματος" ("Defenders of the Crown") has pejorative connotations ("chief henchmen") in Greek.

In films For a list of films featuring Hercules, see  Hercules in popular culture#Filmography.

A series of nineteen Italian Hercules movies were made in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The actors who played Hercules in these films were  Steve Reeves,  Gordon Scott, Kirk Morris,  Mickey Hargitay, Mark Forest, Alan Steel,  Dan Vadis,  Brad Harris,  Reg Park,  Peter Lupus  (billed as  Rock Stevens) and Michael Lane. A number of English-dubbed Italian films that featured the name of Hercules in their title were not intended to be movies about Hercules.

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