Mosaic of the Four Seasons at the House of the Labors of Hercules
Growing up, I was given a book on Greek Mythology. Of course, I didn’t know anything about it but it turned out that the stories behind them were very interesting. I was hooked. A lot of the stories behind these gods and goddesses were probably way beyond what a kid would understand but they were very enjoyable for me even if I didn’t know what some parts meant. For me, one of the most fascinating characters in Greek mythology is Hercules. He was not god but not fully human either. He had this superhero character that appealed to a kid like me. How does this relate to Volubilis?
House of the Labors of Hercules
Turns out one of the largest houses here in the archeological site of Volubilis had mosaics depicting the labors of Hercules. The 12 labors of Hercules is a well known part of the story of Hercules as penance for unintentionally killing his wife and children. Maybe the owner of the house was also fascinated by his story and decided to make a mosaic out of it since he would have the space for it. I have long forgotten what the individual labors were and I can’t identify them even if I saw them. Nevertheless, it was still fascinating to see this kind of this here all the way in Africa.
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