Lot Essay
C.C. Vermeule (op. cit.) believed this fragment depicted Hercules endeavoring to tame the horses of Diomedes and compared it to a sarcophagus once in the Villa Ludovisi showing the complete Labors of the hero (see C. Robert, Die antiken Sarkophag-Releifs, vol. III, pt. 1, pl. 29, no. 103). However, because neither the facial features of the figure nor the chlamys correspond to typical depictions of the hero, another identification is possible; for instance, a similar bearded, although unidentified, man stands next to a horse and in front of a sacrificial altar on a fragment in the Vatican (see Arachne Online Database no. 1081511).
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