THE HOPE HERAKLES RECONSIDERED

Summary. The Hope Herakles, hitherto thought to be a Roman copy of a statue by Skopas, is here shown to be a pastiche. The head is tentatively recognised as a classicising portrait, while the body type, having come down to us in a variety of reproductions carrying a different head, is associated with the Argive School of the late 5th c BC. A dating of the latter's prototype close to the plague of 429 as well as the Attic provenance of some of the copies suggest a possible connection with Hageladas'Herakles Alexikakos at Melite.