It was a bright sunny day and we went to the Getty Villa. The Getty Villa was built in 1968 by J Paul Getty to hold his growing art collection. The villa is modeled after the Villa dei Papiri, a Roman century country house in Herculanium (modern day Italy) buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. Today, the Villa has many Greek, Roman, and Etruscan antiquities (old or ancient) which include Gods and Goddesses and vessels.
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| Inner Peristyle (a space surrounded by columns) |
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| Outer Peristyle |
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| Hercules |
The docent showed us a famous statue of Hercules holding the lion skin. The story behind this statue is very interesting. Hercules was a Demigod and very strong. His father was Zeus, the king of all Gods and his mother was a mortal (human). There was a lion that bothered the people in the town of Nemea and so King Eurystheus decided Hercules' should kill the Nemean lion and take his skin. The lion was no ordinary lion. The lion's skin could never be broken. When Hercules got to Nemea he tried to shoot the lion with his arrows but it was useless against the lion. Hercules also tried his club but it was still useless against the lion. He soon discovered he had nothing to kill the lion with so he decided to kill the lion with his strong hands. He wrestled the lion down to ground and chocked him. With the lions claws, he peeled off the skin and brought it to the king.
Did you like the story?
Have you ever been to the Getty Villa?
