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An ancient artifact has been uncovered that could finally unlock answers around the myth of Hercules.
The small stone seal that depicts Hercules - known in Greek and Roman mythology as the god of strength and heroes - dates all the way back to around 800-750 BCE.
There are some slight differences in his early depictions - according to the Romans, Hercules is the son of god Jupiter and mortal Alcmena, while in Greek Mythology, Hercules is known as the son of Zeus.
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But one common image is of the god battling against a snake.
This image is carved into the recently-found seal, showing what appears to be a battle between a human, who is holding a spear, and a seven-headed serpent.
There is also a griffin, a scarab, and two monkeys drawn into the edges of the stone.
This is an exciting find for the archeological team who discovered the artifact in Tel Hazor, Israel, in 2022.
Christoph Uehlinger, professor of comparative religion at the University of Zurich, said that the ‘spectacular’ piece “occupies a special place in this long and largely unknown history of myth transmission.”
Hercules has left many researchers stumped for years as they have tried to understand the common motif spread across the centuries.
Hundreds of years after first appearing around 2,500 BC in Mesopotamia, part of modern-day Iraq, the image of a mythical serpent battling with an angel cropped in the Christian Bible, with a similar one also being included in the Hebrew Bible.
People have worked to try to understand how the image has spread across the first and second millennia BCE and this latest discovery could prove vital.
The item in question is around 4 cm long and is believed to have been crafted by either an Israelite or a Phoenician.
Speaking to McClatchy News, Uehlinger went on to say that this newly found seal “provides a tangible link from Phoenicia to Israel.”
This means that the motif could have traveled from Ugarity in northern Syria and through Phoenicia to Israel.
The professor added: “Phoenician scribes/scholars probably preserved and transmitted the tradition they may have inherited from Ugarit (an ancient city in Syria) since the Late Bronze age.”
How the motif spread remains unknown and research is still underway to learn more about what this means for the popular myth.
Despite the mystery, Hercules is one of the most commonly portrayed figures from classical mythology in popular culture through the 20th and 21st centuries.
