{"id":3462,"date":"2014-10-08T15:41:52","date_gmt":"2014-10-08T15:41:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/latin\/?p=3462"},"modified":"2014-10-08T15:41:52","modified_gmt":"2014-10-08T15:41:52","slug":"emperor-commodus-vladmir-putin-and-hercules","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/latin\/emperor-commodus-vladmir-putin-and-hercules\/","title":{"rendered":"Emperor Commodus, Vladmir Putin and Hercules"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Salvete Omnes,<\/p>\n<p>This week I was torn on what to write about until yesterday. Yesterday was Putin&#8217;s birthday and with it an interesting art exhibit in his honor. Thus, this post will be a news jacking post. I do hope you enjoy.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Hercules also known as Herakles was a renowned and famous demigod that was originally a Greek hero and later migrated to Roman myth and cults. He was famous for his portrayals within myth as a force of purification, rebirth, and the guardian. He is most famously known for his 12 labors which include feats of struggle via a monster(s), clever opponent, dire situations, or simply him using his logic to outwit an enemy.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_3463\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter post-item__attachment\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/latin\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2014\/10\/Twelve_Labours_Altemps_Inv8642.jpg\" aria-label=\"Twelve Labours Altemps Inv8642 300x94\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3463\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-3463\"  alt=\"Roman relief (3rd century AD) depicting a sequence of the Labours of Hercules, representing from left to right the Nemean lion, the Lernaean Hydra, the Erymanthian Boar, the Ceryneian Hind, the Stymphalian birds, the Girdle of Hippolyta, the Augean stables, the Cretan Bull and the Mares of Diomedes.Courtesy of Wikicommons &amp; Marie-Lan- Nguyen.\" width=\"300\" height=\"94\" \/ src=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/latin\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2014\/10\/Twelve_Labours_Altemps_Inv8642-300x94.jpg\"><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-3463\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Roman relief (3rd century AD) depicting a sequence of the Labours of Hercules, representing from left to right the Nemean lion, the Lernaean Hydra, the Erymanthian Boar, the Ceryneian Hind, the Stymphalian birds, the Girdle of Hippolyta, the Augean stables, the Cretan Bull and the Mares of Diomedes.Courtesy of Wikicommons &amp; Marie-Lan- Nguyen.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Heracles was so popular in antiquity for his feats that cults were established in his honor in both Greece and Rome. One of the most famous followers of his cult would have to be Emperor Commodus.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_3464\" style=\"width: 206px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter post-item__attachment\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/latin\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2014\/10\/640px-Commodus_Musei_Capitolini_MC1120.jpg\" aria-label=\"640px Commodus Musei Capitolini MC1120 196x300\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3464\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-3464\"  alt=\"Commodus as Hercules, Capitoline Museums. Courtesy of WikiCommons and Marie-Lan-Nguyen.\" width=\"196\" height=\"300\" \/ src=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/latin\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2014\/10\/640px-Commodus_Musei_Capitolini_MC1120-196x300.jpg\"><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-3464\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Commodus as Hercules,<br \/>Capitoline Museums. Courtesy of WikiCommons and Marie-Lan-Nguyen.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Commodus was extremely proud of his physical prowess and his good looks; thus, he has many statues and busts commissioned (like the one above in the lion skin with a club).\u00a0 He truly felt that he was a reincarnation of Hercules since he was a leader, skilled warrior and hunter, and being proud of who he was (i.e. that he was proud to be left handed).<\/p>\n<p>Just like Commodus and modern day leader has taken on the approach of identifying and perhaps even propaganda of being a modern day\u00a0Hercules.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Vladimir Putin depicted as Hercules - BBC News\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Iy2dvJDy9eA?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>It is an interesting political stance to take for a modern Russian Leader.\u00a0 More so, I wonder what it invokes in historians and viewers to see a modern leader compare himself\u00a0 to an ancient mythical figure.\u00a0 Perhaps more than this being a comparison between Hercules and Putin- it is one of Putin and the prolific leaders of Ancient Rome. Thereby, it is a comparison between Russia and Ancient Rome.<\/p>\n<p>While I am still unsure what the full implications are, I am hopeful to have some awesome comments on your thoughts!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<img width=\"230\" height=\"350\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/latin\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2014\/10\/640px-Commodus_Musei_Capitolini_MC1120-230x350.jpg\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image tmp-hide-img\" alt=\"\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/latin\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2014\/10\/640px-Commodus_Musei_Capitolini_MC1120-230x350.jpg 230w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/latin\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2014\/10\/640px-Commodus_Musei_Capitolini_MC1120.jpg 640w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 230px) 100vw, 230px\" \/><p>Salvete Omnes, This week I was torn on what to write about until yesterday. Yesterday was Putin&#8217;s birthday and with it an interesting art exhibit in his honor. Thus, this post will be a news jacking post. I do hope you enjoy. &nbsp; Hercules also known as Herakles was a renowned and famous demigod that&hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"post-item__readmore\"><a class=\"btn btn--md\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/latin\/emperor-commodus-vladmir-putin-and-hercules\/\">Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":101,"featured_media":3464,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[60854],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3462","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-roman-culture"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/latin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3462","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/latin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/latin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/latin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/101"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/latin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3462"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/latin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3462\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3465,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/latin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3462\/revisions\/3465"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/latin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3464"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/latin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3462"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/latin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3462"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/latin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3462"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}