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Pavlock t1_ir22hur wrote

My Greek mythology loving daughter would like to point out that if it was found in Greece, it would be Heracles.

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smittythehoneybadger t1_ir257ni wrote

Unless it was built by Roman’s which makes sense as they would have been occupying Greece right at that time

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AeonsOfStrife t1_ir29qn0 wrote

It would still have been referred to most often as Heracles, as Greek was the dominant language of the eastern portions of the empire. Latin never took hold as the lingua franca of the area, so along it Heracles is more accurate to what locals (and later Romans themselves in the area) would have called it.

But I digress, it is mostly a matter of which perspective you find most personally valid.

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TwoPercentTokes t1_ir2e4me wrote

The article also says Byzantine Era, and at the point they were firmly Greek Romans.

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AeonsOfStrife t1_ir2fe5x wrote

Well, the early "Byzantine" era (It's just late antiquity Roman, Eastern Roman if you must) did still have Latin usage for much of it until Heraclius at an official state level. So I couldn't quite go that far as I didn't catch the exact date. Maybe you're right though, if it's post Heraclius than it would be Greek Romans.

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HermanCainsGhost t1_ir2hkac wrote

It'd have to be super early Byzantine era, as Christianity was pretty solidly established after not too long - I can't imagine much support after 450, or maybe 550 at the absolute latest for a Hercules/Heracles statue.

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John_Hunyadi t1_ir34vg1 wrote

It estimates around 200AD. Ya coulda just read the article…

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HermanCainsGhost t1_ir3djtx wrote

Then that's not Byzantine era at all.

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snkn179 t1_ir48818 wrote

Bunch of people misreading the article. It says the statue dates back to the 2nd century CE (100-200 CE), the peak of the Roman Empire. It is not stated where in the Empire the statue was originally built, as this is not known. However it was later used to adorn a Greek building during the Byzantine period around the 8th or 9th century. During this time, the locals would have referred to it as Heracles.

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ieatpickleswithmilk t1_ir2mewc wrote

The article states that the statue was sculpted during the Roman era, around the 2nd century AD but last adorned buildings during the Byzantine era in the 8th or 9th century. I believe Latin was at least spoken by some people during the 2nd century since many inscriptions in Latin have been found in the city from that time period.

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Ypnos666 t1_ir53ya0 wrote

The lingua franca of the East Roman Empire was Greek, throughout its history with Latin only used for administrative purposes. It would have been Herakles, son of Dias.

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NordWithaSword t1_ir4ks8o wrote

2nd century AD was Peak empire, we're talking Trajan/Hadrian times.

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Kichae t1_ir2af0e wrote

Eh. Even then, they spoke Greek in Greece.

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cchiu23 t1_ir2lzbi wrote

Hell, they spoke greek in rome

That famous "et tu brutus" was actually said in Greek (if actually spoken at all)

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ezrs158 t1_ir39frv wrote

Unfortunately, I recently learned that line was popularized by Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar and there's zero minimal evidence it was ever actually said.

The series Rome apparently has a very accurate (from what we know) portrayal of Caesar's asssassination. He doesn't say anything.

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LateInTheAfternoon t1_ir819an wrote

Suetonius reports two traditions. According to one Caesar says nothing, according to the other he says "and you, son" in Greek. Suetonius doesn't elaborate on these traditions nor does he show preference for one over the other. One might note the similarity with the quote "the die is cast" (when Caesar crossed the Rubicon) which Plutarch claims Caesar uttered in Greek and not in Latin (it seems Caesar choose the quote from a play by the Greek playwright Menander).

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_KatetheGreat35_ t1_ir32n3h wrote

Greeks continued to exist and continued to speak Greek for the most part.

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Anxiety_Friendly t1_ir3dgj7 wrote

Yea but what have the Romans ever done for us?

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Bravefan21 t1_ir45smk wrote

Alright but apart from the sanitation, the medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, the fresh water system and public health, what have the Romans ever done for us?!?!

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beerdrew t1_ir2a5ih wrote

The article does say it’s a Roman statue…

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Fendibull t1_ir4x0av wrote

ELI5 I thought Heracles supposed to be bearded? All I know about youth looking gods supposed to be Apollo.

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smittythehoneybadger t1_ir4ysr2 wrote

I apologize for confusion, I didn’t mean it in that the Greeks spoke Latin so much as that if a Latin speaking artist sculpted it, would we not use his terms? I know the two are essentially the same, but wouldn’t the distinction matter? Or did they recognize that Ares and Mars were the same entity?

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dumbidoo t1_ir55jzm wrote

This is just some dumb reasoning. If an American went to Finland and made a statue of Santa Claus there, complete with a name plate referring to it as such, at least 99% of Finnish people would still refer to it as Joulupukki (the Finnish word for Santa Claus), because that's their name for the character and has been for longer than America has existed as a country in its current state. You will pretty much never change people's use of a word like that when they've already been using their own word for them for centuries. If the creation was an original, sure, they would probably respect the foreign name enough to at least try and pronounce it, but they're not going to stop using a name they've been using forever for the newer, foreign version. Especially so in the case of Herakles which is originally a Greek creation in the first place.

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Initial_E t1_ir35qt0 wrote

Named after Hera, lifelong enemies?

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Pavlock t1_ir3m9qt wrote

Yes, actually. He was renamed in an attempt to placate Hera. It didn't work.

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popupideas t1_ir3nxfg wrote

My son does the same. Every…single…time. Not sure how old she is but if young check out the podcast Greeking out by National Geographic kids. He was obsessed.

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JosseCoupe t1_ir5690l wrote

Flex on him by saying his name before Heracles was Alcides.

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Jordan_the_Hutt t1_ir51mku wrote

Except it's a Roman made statue apparently so it might well have been Hercules.

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