INTRODUCTION: THE LABORS OF PUTIN

As noted in the two preceding chapters, 2014 saw several new instantiations of Hercules on screen. In the same year, on October 6, an extraordinary exhibition was unveiled in Moscow to celebrate the Russian president's sixty-second birthday: The Twelve Labors of Putin consisted of a series of paintings by anonymous artists depicting a Herculean Putin:

• 1 wrestling the Nemean lion of terrorism;

• 2 fighting the many-headed Lernaean hydra of Western sanctions;

• 3 shooting down the Stymphalian birds/warplanes of Western intervention in Syria;

• 4 capturing the Ceryneian hind of the Sochi Olympics;

• 5 restraining an oligarchic Erymanthian boar;

• 6 clearing the Augean stables (here imagined as those of horses rather than the traditional cattle) of corruption;

• 7 taming the Cretan bull of Crimea;

• 8 leading home the Diomedean horses of the Mistral warship contract with France;

• 9 holding the Amazonian belt of the South Stream gas pipeline;

• 10 bringing back the Geryon's cattle of a trade deal with China;

• 11 holding up the world on his shoulders, Atlas-style, as champion of peace in Ukraine;

• 12 holding the leash of a straining Cerberus/United States.

Stylistically, they fell into four groups of three: two groups were in a modern realist style; the other two emphasized continuity with ancient Greek mythology by adopting the style of an Attic red-figure vase, the figures in red against a black background, with a border of meander patterns. In most cases Putin was depicted in classical dress, wearing a short tunic that sometimes covered just one shoulder, leaving half his chest bare; this was sometimes complemented by leather armbands, and often revealed bare thighs; in three cases (labors 4–6) the upper part of the tunic was replaced by a golden corselet, above knee-high greaves. The exhibition was organized by Mikhail Antonov, leader of a Putin supporters group on Facebook, so this was a popular expression of enthusiasm rather than state propaganda. However, it was quite in keeping with the steady stream of official news-reports and photos promoting an image of Putin as a macho, hunting and fishing, outdoors hero – as I write the Kremlin has released a 46-minute video of the bare-chested president swimming, diving, and spear-fishing on his annual August holiday in the Siberian lakes.