Researchers have been speculating for centuries about the meaning and origin of a gigantic 180-foot (55-meter) human figure carved into a chalky hillside near the village of Cerne Abbas in Dorset, England. While many explanations have been offered purporting to explain who this man really is, a new study published in the medieval history journal Speculum asserts that the mystery has been solved. The answer to this timeworn question appears to be that the individual carved into the hillside is none other than Hercules, the Greek behemoth who was the world’s first superhero.
Hercules and the Hydra by Antonio del Pollaiuolo. (Public domain)
Decades of Speculation on Cerne Abbas Hercules
The distinctive white outline of Cerne Abbas figure reveals a powerful man wielding a heavy club in his right hand, with his left arm extended and his phallus fully erect. Since the remarkable chalk figure known as the Cerne Abbas giant was first discovered, researchers and historians have been debating its true identity.
Some suggested it portrayed an ancient British sky god named Helith, who was supposedly worshipped in Britain during prehistoric times. Others believed the figure was carved much more recently, and that it was actually a tribute to the legendary Oliver Cromwell. Another theory claimed that the figure portrayed Saint Eadwold, a pious ninth-century prince who lived modestly as a hermit in the region and was chosen as the patron saint of Cerne sometime after his death.
In the new study, historians…
