Although the subject is tried and true (boy meets girl, war-torn romance, the allure of the Amazons, yada yada yada) this relief is groundbreaking in all the best ways. The metope was one of a dozen relief panels (one of four that survive) that once wrapped around the Temple of Hera (Temple E) at Selinunte in Sicily, high above the colonnade.
Herakles is shown (signature snail-shell coiffure neatly in place, but beardless – one of the very earliest depictions without his tidy beard) about to deliver the fatal blow to Hippolyte, queen of the mythical Amazons. In his quest (his ninth labour to abscond with her girdle (ooh la la), he incited a pitched battle between Greeks and Amazons – a vignette to be featured in artistic programs across the Greek world.
Sicily was rich in many natural resources, but good marble was not one of them and the stone used for the temple and most of the sculptural program was the shelly local limestone. The exception was a splurge of white marble, imported for the Cyclades for exposed female skin. And here it is used to great effect for Hippolyte’s face, hands and feet – everything else would have been covered by her tight-fitting tunic and leggings (an exciting, if demure, Eastern style).
Herakles’ physical dominance is on full display. He grasps Hippolyte by the peak of her Phrygian cap (an early example of the icky hair-/helmet-grab…I have lots more to say on THAT subject at some point…) and lunges forward on the diagonal with right arm cocked back, presumably bearing club or sword. Most unusually, the feet play an outsized role in the narrative: his left forcefully traps her right, toes splayed out. It’s a weird detail and while one wonders about its visibility to visitors below, there is no question in terms of the gesture’s bodily effectiveness….
