Figurines Data

Search again | Database help

ID	816
Images
Grid Ref	TQ3279
Project type	Excavation
County	Greater London
Site	Southwark
Site Name	Old Sorting Office, Swan Street
Site Type	Large town
Location Type	Ritual?
Context	Ditch 1431
Context Quality	3
Site Date	C1-3
Context Date	C1
Object Date	C1?
Object Period	1
Material	Bronze
Other finds from site	Ritually deposited pottery
Import	Yes
Place of manufacture	Gaul?
Location	Museum of London
Ref No	SWN98 [1277] <70>
M/F	Male
Age	Mature
Form	Figurine
Type	Deity
Name	Hercules
Bearded	Yes
Standing/Seated	Standing
Attributes	Yes
Attribute description	Lionskin, ?club missing
Clothed	No
Drapery	Yes
Drapery description	over left arm
Condition	Missing right arm and lower left leg
Classical	1
Quality	Classical 3
Photo	Yes
Illustration	Yes
Height	59.00
Length	0.00
Parallels	South Shields (297)
References	Beasley 2006, 33, fig. 9.11 (Wardle unpublished report) [Link to Bibliography]
Description	Male figure, nude with a well muscled body, and drapery over his left arm. The right arm is also outstretched and broken below the elbow. The head is bearded and the eyes and mouth deeply indented, making the features distinctive, despite corrosion. The right knee is bent as if leaping, the other broken below the knee stretches downwards. A circular-sectioned bar projecting from the underside of the left leg appears to be an attachment, perhaps joining the figure to others in a group or to a support. The reverse is well-modelled, suggesting that the figure was intended to be seen in the round, but there are many corroded raised lumps which obscure the detail. The back of the head bulges out but is quite smooth, perhaps representing a head dress rather than hair and although the detail is lost, the general profile resembles a lion's head. There is, however, no obvious indication that the paws are tied under the chin in the conventional way. The drapery on the outstretched arm could also be a lion skin, particularly in view of the projections on the lower edge, which although indistinct, may be claws (Wardle) Ritual nature of site, early agricultural then wells/shafts and ditches.