Capitoline Museums

Bust of Commodus as Hercules from the Esquiline Hill, Horti Lamiani. The bust is one of the most famous masterpieces of Roman portraiture and depicts the emperor in the guise of Hercules, whose attributes he has been given: the lion's skin over his head, the club in this right hand, and the golden apples in his left hand as a reminder of the Greek hero's feats. The group was recovered in an underground room of the Horti Lamiani complex, where it had probably been hidden.
180-193 AD,
Marble, cm 133.
Rome, Italy.