Two Sculptures Summarize the Triumph of Zeus-Religion over the Authority of Noah's Sons
These two sculptures, restored in color by Holmes Bryant based on the physical evidence, appeared over the main entrance to the temple of Zeus at Olympia. They, too, provide a simple summary of the great celebration of Zeus-religion. On the one on the left, the great hero Herakles kills a three-bodied man named Geryon. Nereus, the Greek Noah, was referred to often as Halios Geron, the Salt Sea Old Man, and sometimes simply as Geron, the Old Man. The written word Geryon itself suggests the outspring (or offspring) of Geron, the Old Man. The three-bodied Geryon represents the authority of the three sons of Noah, and Herakles by force of arms is figuratively overcoming that authority. On Geryon's shield is painted the tripod from the prophetic temple of Apollo at Delphi, symbolizing the future. Herakles the rebel, not the sons of Noah, will control mankind's future.
In the second sculpture, with the help of Athena, Herakles pushes away the heavens and with them, the God of the heavens, receiving from Atlas the golden apples from the serpent's tree in the Garden of the Hesperides.
Together, the sculptures present a very clear message: after overcoming the authority of the three sons of Noah, Herakles is able to get back to the serpent's tree in the Garden of the Hesperides and obtain the precious fruit which symbolizes the enlightenment of the serpent. The God of Noah is no longer the measure of all things, man is.
This vase depicts Herakles as getting the serpent's apples directly from the Garden instead of from the intermediary, Atlas. Getting to the apples is the twelfth and final labor of Herakles, and what the eleven others ultimately pointed to. Note that the vase-artist has depicted the serpent with a beard, a symbol of age. The Book of Revelation refers to the beast as "the ancient serpent."
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