Hercules Fighting Achelous Transformed into a Snake

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Hercules Fighting Achelous Transformed into a Snake

April 25th, 2018

Awake Goy

François-Joseph Bosio’s Hercules fighting Achelous transformed into a snake (Hercule combattant Achéloüs métamorphosé en serpent) draws its subject from Ovid’s Metamorphoses. Achelous, the patron deity of the Acheloos River, the largest river of Greece, was Heracles’ rival suitor for the love of Deïaneira, daughter of Oeneus king of Calydon. Depending on the telling, Acehlous transformed either into a snake or a serpent to battle, but he loses in both versions. This bronze version was cast by Carbonneaux in 1824 and commissioned by King Charles X of France. A plaster model was exhibited at the Salon of 1814.