A rare marble statue of Hercules from the second century CE was uncovered during excavations conducted by the Israel Antiquities Authority at Horvat Tarbenet in the Jezreel Valley. Horvat Tarbenet, located about four kilometers northwest of Afula, was a Jewish settlement in the third century CE, which is mentioned in the Jerusalem Talmud (Megilla 4, 5).

According to Dr. Walid Atrash of the Israel Antiquities Authority, “This is a rare discovery. The statue, which probably stood in a niche, was part of the decoration of a bathhouse pool that was exposed during the course of the excavations. It is 0.5 m tall, is made of smoothed white marble and is of exceptional artistic quality. Hercules is depicted in three dimensions, as a naked figure standing on a base; his bulging muscles stand out prominently, leaning on a club to his left, on the upper part of which hangs the skin of the Nemean lion, which according to Greek mythology Hercules slew as the first of his twelve labors”.  

The hero Hercules, of Greek and Roman mythology, is considered the strongest man in the world, a symbol of power, courage and superhuman strength; one of the most famous legendary heroes of ancient Greece who battled the forces of the netherworld on behalf of the Olympian gods.

In an archaeological excavation conducted at the site, additional remains were discovered, among them dwellings, a well and an installation that included a large pool thought to be a Roman bathhouse. Benches were found on two sides of the pools. The complex that was discovered apparently underwent a number of changes and it is dated to the Roman and Byzantine periods, until the beginning of the Early Islamic period.