Sculpture of the bust of Hercules Hercules is a perfect hero, first of all, close to a person. He is simple, courageous and kind, he is furious and generous, prudent and reckless, as well as stubborn and tireless. He is a magnificent husband, primarily due to his heroic deeds and magnificent virtues. Much suffering and persecution fell to his lot, but he laughed in the face of his persecutors and never stopped acting. In the sculpture presented in our collection, we see a hero in the skin of a Nemean lion, the victory over which was one of his twelve exploits. Hercules began to shoot the lion with a bow, but without success. Then, threatening the lion with his club, he forced him to climb into the cave, which served as his refuge, heaped stones on one of the exits of the cave. When the lion appeared from another exit of the cave, he grabbed him by the head and strangled him. Hercules removed the skin from the beast, and his head began to serve as a helmet for him. According to Theocritus, the hero could not understand for a long time how to cut this skin, which neither iron nor fire took. In the end, the idea came to him to use the tooth of the lion himself, and in this way he was able to achieve his goal.