Dating back to the 153 BC, the historical 'Hercules Statue' sits on a cliff in Bistoun Mountain, Kermanshah province.

All visitors to Zagros Mountains have seen the historical ’Hercules Statue’ and have written materials to describe this ancient artwork, Iran Daily reported.

The unique relic has been carved out of the boulder some 300 meters from the east of the inscriptions of the Achaemeinid King Darius on a cliff in Bisotoun Mountain, Kermanshah province.

Western archeologists and tourists who have visited the monument believe that the relic dates back to 153 BC, coinciding with the reign of Mehrdad I of the Arsacides dynasty.

Following the commissioning of Silk Road in 1958, the valuable artifact was located along the road in full view of all travelers. Of course, the relic has suffered a lot of damage due to numerous visits to the area.

In addition to this, the theft of the statue’s head in 1977, which was recovered after a while, as well as destruction of its hand and body in 1979 are among the other damages inflicted on the monument.

In 1977, the then cultural officials took some measures to restore the historical statue.

One of the undertakings was to create a molage of the head of Hercules and install it in place of the original one but unfortunately it was vandalized several times so that the number of the molages made for the purpose reached eight.

In an interview with Iran Daily, head of Bisotoun Cultural Heritage and Tourism Research Center said that the monument depicts a strong and completely unclothed image of a person with curling hair and beard who is reclining on a pedestal measuring 214 centimeters by 76 centimeters under the shade of a tree.

Shokoufeh Mehdiabadi added that Ira Alex or Heraklis is the most famous hero in ancient Greece stories. He was the son of Zeus, the ancient Greek god of gods.