Commodus As Hercules

The bust is one of the most famous masterpieces of Roman portrait style sculpture and depicts the emperor in the aspect of Hercules. Commodus has been given all of hercules’s characteristics that are found in sculptures of him ,the lion's skin over his head, the club in this right hand, and the golden apples of in his left hand. THis sculpture is a symbol of status, as most god depicted rulers, they are pictured as a god-like figure. This means that they are graced with the male standard of beauty, which is what rulers want in the sense of being pictured as a praised figure, a holy soul, a god. For a ruler this guise was important to keep any community from turning against them, because the community sees them as holy.

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