Unlike standard herm figures, which have a head surmounting a rectangular shaft, the hip herm has the figure fully modeled to the hips, the shaft emerging below. Here the hero is swathed in the lion skin, its head at his right shoulder. His right arm is bent acutely, his hand held to his chest, clutching one of the legs, while his left arm is lowered and bent forward, a lion’s paw covering his hand. Original red pigment is preserved on Herakles’ lips.
Hip herms in the form of Herakles similar to the present example were popular from the 3rd century B.C. through to the later Roman period, ranging in scale from miniature to over life size (see Boardman, op. cit., p. 781, with a list of nearly sixty examples). Versions in the round, as here, may have served to signpost a gymnasium or palestra.