The Farnese Hercules is a marble statue signed by Glykon, an Athenian who is otherwise unknown. It is an enlarged copy of a bronze from the 4th century BC, linked to Lysippos or his circle. The copy was made in the early 3rd century AD and dedicated in 216 for the Baths of Caracalla in Rome.
The statue is 10.5 feet (3.17 meters) tall. A weary Hercules leans on a club draped with the Nemean lion's pelt. He hides the apples of the Hesperides behind his back, as if he has just finished one of his Twelve Labors.
It was recovered at the Baths of Caracalla in 1546. The head was found separately in a well in Trastevere, and the original legs turned up later. Michelangelo advised keeping the replacement legs by Guglielmo della Porta until 1787. The statue then moved from Palazzo Farnese to Naples, where it stands in the National Archaeological Museum.
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