Fragments of Herakles' head, back view
Herakles' lower body
Fragments of the mares' head, side view
Herakles' lower body, frontal view
Fragments of the mares' head, side view
Herakles' lower body
| Collection: | Olympia Archaeological Museum |
| Title: | Olympia Horses of Diomedes Metope |
| Context: | From Olympia |
| Findspot: | Excavated at Olympia |
| Summary: | Herakles and the Horses of Diomedes |
| Material: | Marble |
| Sculpture Type: | Architectural |
| Category: | Statuary group |
| Placement: | East Metope 2 |
| Style: | Early Classical |
| Technique: | High relief |
| Original or Copy: | Original |
| Date: | ca. 470 BC - ca. 457 BC |
| Dimensions: | H 1.60 m (approximately square) |
| Scale: | Under life-size |
| Region: | Elis |
| Period: | Early Classical |
| In Group: | Olympia Metopes |
Subject Description:
The eighth metope in the series (second on the East side) illustrates the taming of the horses of Diomedes of Thrace. Pictorial sources can be traced at least as for back as the archaic period, though examples are few. In the earlier representations Herakles is always shown with a multitude of horses. On the Olympia metope, the number of characters has been reduced to Herakles and a single horse. The compositional scheme is similar to that of the Cretan Bull Metope, with the hero and the animal forming an X. The design appears to have been influential, for it was repeated almost verbatum on a metope of the Hephaisteion and on another Late Classical relief from Sounion mentioned by Brommer. The image depicts only the essense of the deed, i.e. the taming of the horses. It makes no reference to Diomedes himself, to the chariot to which Herakles harnessed them to drive home or to the man-eating quality of the horses prior to their taming. A fragment of Pindar mentioned the horses of Diomedes (reference in Brommer). The earliest full reference occurs in Euripides' Alcestis of 438 BC (
Condition: Fragmentary
Condition Description:
Heads are in Paris. Herakles: both thighs with knees, right hip, right arm. Horse: jaws with left hand of Herakles, chest, left foreleg, tip of tail.
Associated Building: Olympia, Temple of Zeus
Sources Used: