The metopes around the exterior of the temple of Zeus were left blank, but those within the two porticos of the temple were decorated with the Labors of Herakles. Herakles was a good choice of subject for the temple decoration at Olympia, since he was the son of Zeus and great-grandson of Pelops, the founder of the Olympic Games, and had marked out the boundaries of the Altis. He also exemplified the ideal athlete, who should be determined, courageous, and self-disciplined (Ashmole, p. 22). In addition, several of the labors were performed in the Peloponnese, including the cleaning of the stables of King Augeias, which took place right in the spot where the temple was built. By the time the temple was constructed the canon of labors was set. It is difficult to determine which sources the designer used, but there are accounts of the twelve labors in the writings of several authors, including Pseudo-Apollodoros. There was also a long tradition of the depiction of the stories on vases and relief sculptures. Because of the shape and size of the metopes at Olympia, only two or three figures appear in each scene. With this number of figures, there were a limited number of possible arrangements, so the compositions at Olympia are based on simple geometric designs, like the X, the triangle, and the three verticals (Ashmole, p. 23). As Polygnotos did in his murals, the designer of the metopes frequently broke with the archaic tradition of representing the climax of the action (Stewart, p. 144). Although Pausanias only describes eleven of the scenes, excavators have reconstructed all twelve Labors from the fragments found at Olympia. Starting on the west end of the temple, the stories depicted are the Nemean Lion, the Hydra of Lerna, the Birds of Stymphalos, the Cretan Bull, the Keryneian Hind, and the Girdle of the Amazon. On the east end of the temple the stories of the Erymanthian Boar, the Mares of Diomedes, Geryon, the Apples of the Hesperides, Kerberos, and the Augeian Stables are represented. To begin with the first scene, archaic artists had traditionally depicted the actual struggle with the Lion of Nemea, but at Olympia the fight is over and the lion is shown dead. An exhausted Herakles rests his head in his hand, and seems to take no notice of Athena and Hermes who accompany him. The artist does not depict the traditional story of Herakles flaying the lion and carrying the skin with him on his other adventures. In the second scene Herakles is shown battling the Hydra. This many-headed water snake had the ability to grow new heads each time one was cut off. Here, following the legend, Herakles burns the severed necks of the Hydra to prevent it from regenerating. In the depiction of the story the Stymphalian birds, the action is over and Herakles comes to thank Athena and show his spoils. Athena is seated on a rock and look approvingly at the gift that Herakles brings her. In the fourth metope Herakles is shown in the process of capturing the Cretan bull. The subject is awkward both technically and artistically because of the scale and size of the animal and the depth of modelling necessary to show the two figures overlapping. The overall design is chiastic, and the animal is set diagonally with its head turned back to allow for its maximum size, (Ashmole, p. 26). Only a few fragments remain of the scene of Herakles and the Keryneian Hind. The animal belonged to Artemis and was to be taken alive rather than killed. Apparently the design of this metope was triangular, depicting Herakles kneeling on the animal's back. The last scene on the west side was that of Herakles taking the magic girdle from the Amazon. This metope shows a violent version of the legend, where Herakles kills the Amazon before ripping off the girdle. The first metope on the east end of the temple shows the story of the Erymanthian boar. This labor had a long artistic tradition, and the designer copied the scheme usually used by vase-painters. King Eurystheus of Tiryns is shown taking refuge in a storage jar, only part of which is depicted, while Herakles prepares to dump the boar on top of him (Ashmole, p. 27). The next metope represents the story of the man-eating mares of King Diomedes of Thrace, which became tame after Herakles fed them their master's flesh. Only one of the mares was depicted, and only a fragment of the head survives. The body of Herakles crossed that of the animal in a composition similar to but less dynamic than that of the Cretan bull metope. As his ninth labor Herakles killed the three-bodied giant Geryon and the herdsman and dog who tended Geryon's great herds of cattle. In this metope only the fight with Geryon is depicted. Although the composition cannot be completely reconstructed, it seems that two of Geryon's bodies are dead and Herakles raises his club to finish off the last one.
The task of retrieving the Apples of the Hesperides from the Tree of Life was probably the last of Herakles' labors. The golden apples were symbols of the immortality promised to Herakles, and they grew in the gardens of the Hesperides in North Africa. There are a couple of variations of the legend, but the version followed at Olympia is the one in which Atlas fetches the apples for Herakles while Herakles bears the burdens of the heavens. In several versions of the story, Atlas refuses to resume his burden, but this is not the case here. Athena intervenes to support the load so that Herakles can exchange the heavens for the apples. For some reason Pausanias does not mention the metope which shows Herakles' capture of Kerberos. This was one of the least dramatic labors, but it is the only one mentioned by Homer. It is probably the relic of an older tradition in which Herakles defeated both the guardian Kerberos and Hades himself to attain immortality (Ashmole, p. 28). Herakles is shown dressed in a light garment and accompanied by Hermes, who guides the way to the entrance of the Underworld. The last of the metopes mentioned by Pausanias represents Herakles cleaning the Augeian stables. According to legend, Elis was becoming overwhelmed with the dung of the vast herds of oxen owned by King Augeias, and Herakles had to clean the stables in one day. Herakles succeeded by letting the waters of the Alpheios and the Peneios flow through the stables with great force. In this metope a frontal Athena indicates a place in the wall for Herakles to break down. It was after completing this task that Herakles marked out the sacred precinct and instituted the Olympic festival (Ashmole, p. 29).
The Metopes | Analysis of the Sculptural Program This document was written by Rebecca Furer Check out the bibliography |
