The Longmen Grottoes Statues Of Hercules

There are a large number of buddha statues left over in Longmen grottoes with the largest scale in central China, which makes it occupy an important position in the grotto art of our country. In recent years,researches on buddha statues of longmen grottoes have come to a rather deep stage, these researches are mainly concentrated in the style, origin and categories of buddha statues. However, the study of Hercules statues still stays in its infancy,and the reference materials are far from complete.This article attempts to sort out the basic situation of Hercules statues in longmen grottoes,make comparisons about images with Hercules statues in Dunhuang and central China, apply the knowledge of various disciplines to analyze and understand, and make much further study from every aspect, only such study makes a difference. Firstly,we overview the development and formation of buddha statues of longmen grottoes. Secondly, we integrally study the concepts of Hercules and the records about them in the Buddhist classic works.After that,we study the image features and sources of Hercules statues in longmen grottoes by comparison with those in Dunhuang and central China.Lastly, we collect and sift the fundamental states(image and literal data)of Hercules statues in longmen grottoes, and we introduce them in terms of their locations, so that we can describe them clearly and objectively. This paper utilizes the methods of history, artistic archeology and iconology to study the Hercules statues of longmen grottoes. To analyse the origin and background of the Hercules statues, we consult many historical documents. Besides, we comb the Hercules statues of longmen grottoes by means of iconology. Furthermore, to make a comparison, we introduce the Hercules of other places in the same period using the methods of culturology and archaeology. In the end, we make a summary and textual research of some materials according to historical documents and archaeological reports, so as to make a more clear understanding.