As the first of his twelve labors, the Greek mythic hero Herakles was ordered to slay the monstrous Nemean lion. Since the beast’s skin was impervious to spears and arrows, Herakles strangled him. He then skinned the lion, taking the pelt as a cloak and the head as a helmet. The lion skin slung over his left arm suggest that the figure on this weight is Herakles, although there is no obvious explanation for the charmingly tame lion that accompanies him. Two half-moon shaped indentations for gripping at the back (not visible) indicate that this object is an athlete’s weight. Wrestler’s Weight with Hercules and the Nemean Lion; Wrestling Scene (reverse).
I know I post a lot from Gandahara, but in my defense I have no defense
Imagine your dumbbells having art on them and ending up in a museum lol.
In the larger scale of things, it’s probably not that odd when compared to chamber pots, jugs, shoes, coins, combs, buckles etc. Some of the joy in a museum comes from seeing historical versions of familiar everyday stuff - and this is a particularly cool and interesting lifting weight.
This just makes me think that contemporary exercise equipment is boring and poorly decorated.
Yeah that was my point as well actually. Just didn’t go into detail.
An object like a weight has art engraved upon it.