Unchanged by any teller — how the centuries since have seen Iolaus.
The gallery
Hercules and Iolaus (Fountain Mosaic from the Anzio Nymphaeum)
Unknown, 1st century BC
This Roman wall mosaic, recovered in 1930–31 from the villa Sarsina Aldobrandini at Anzio (ancient Antium) and now in the Museo Nazionale Romano (Palazzo Massimo alle Terme, Rome), pairs Heracles with his nephew and faithful companion Iolaus. The two blond, nude heroes are set side by side in the polychrome glass-tessera style favoured for nymphaeum fountain decoration, an image of the inseparable bond between the hero and the charioteer who drove him to Lerna and seared the Hydra's severed necks. The mosaic is a rare monumental depiction in which Iolaus stands as Heracles' equal rather than a background attendant.
Heracles, Iolaus and Eros (relief on the foot of the Ficoroni Cista)
Novios Plautios (engraver, signed), 4th century BC
A repoussé and engraved bronze relief from the foot of the Ficoroni Cista, the celebrated 4th-century BC Praenestine (Etrusco-Latin) toilet box now in the Villa Giulia, Rome. The vignette shows three figures: Hercules at the right, a winged Eros at the centre, and Iolaus at the left. As Heracles' nephew and constant companion, Iolaus is here drawn into the hero's intimate circle, the small-scale metalwork demonstrating how the pairing of the two Theban kinsmen passed from Greek myth into the decorative repertoire of central Italy.
Heracles, Iolaus and the Lernaean Hydra
Prometheus Painter, 560–555 BC
Side A of an Attic black-figure amphora in the Louvre (E 851) shows Iolaus at his most essential labour: beside Heracles as the hero grapples the many-headed Lernaean Hydra. The charioteer who will sear each stump with a brand is already present in the Archaic visual formula — Iolaus as the indispensable second hand of the second labour.
Bronze medallion of Heracles and Iolaus (Ephesos)
Unknown (Roman Imperial), 138–161 AD (reign of Antoninus Pius)
A bronze medallion issued by the city of Ephesos under Antoninus Pius, now in the Cabinet des Médailles, Paris, pairs Heracles and Iolaus on the reverse. The civic coinage keeps the nephew-charioteer in the public face of Heraclean cult — proof that Iolaus travelled with his uncle not only through myth but through the mints of Asia Minor.