Quote:
Originally Posted by Rupert
That's why Herakles, in earlier representations, is shown with his bow, a symbol of cunning and wit. It's only later that he's always shown with a club, to symbolise his great strength. Basically he got flanderised into 'the strong guy' over time.
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It's not just flanderization. Apparently the Persian invasions gave the Persians a bad image as the prototypical "barbar" people, and also as natural slaves who crawled before their kings. And the characteristic Persian weapon was the bow, which came to be seen as the weapon of barbarians and snipers afraid of a fair fight. So images of Herakles carrying that sissy weaponi weren't cool any more.