The Statue of Hubris

Excerpt from the Book of Shadows of Sapphire Circe

I have reached a large lobby in the underground complex which I am hoping is the lost labyrinth of the minotaur. The dirt-filled channels I had thought were air vents now appear to me to have been channels for sunlight to illuminate the rooms down here. Technology is great when it works, other times, not so valuable. Speaking of which, cell-phone-flash-light is sufficing for now.
So anyway, I presume this makeshift lobby would have allowed the construction workers living here to go about their business relatively safely while tricking raiders and other unescorted visitors to their doom. There are several twisting hallways exiting this room, some requiring climbing imbedded ladders to reach. I discovered the pupose of the room while examining the large statues in the center, when I heard a near deafening rush of seawater under the floor and noticed that the statues were turning slightly and several doors were opening and several openings were closing. I entered the room from a low hallway which is sealed off now. The air somehow seems fresh enough, so the bad news is that I am lugging this scuba tank around for nothing, but the good news is that I won't run out of air any time soon.

So, the Statue(s).

The statue of three people is carved from a few different types of stone probably assembled with a pin-in-socket design. At first glance, it appears a wealthy woman is leading a demure male slave one direction while a happy free man is walking the opposite, or nearly the opposite direction. The figures rotate in the room and rotate slightly relative to each other every time a major ocean wave passes through the pipes underneath the floor.
So the question is, "What would this mobile statue mean to the workers who live here versus the raiders?"
The walking man is similar to Heracles at first glance, but in this case the white-marble bearded-muscle-dad has a shorter beard, apparently copious hair on his chest and forearms, even more muscle then Heracles, and he's obviously happy to see me. He's got a look I'm going to call, "punchably sexy", because my first reaction is that he doesn't deserve to look that good, for whatever reason. He's proudly walking forward - no, strutting forward - like he owns the place and he's about to show me his collection of Arabian stallions. He's not completely naked; he is wearing sandals, sandals made of rose petals, judging by the texture. Oh, and on his head is a headband that looks pretty darn similar to the Diadem of Medea, which is what I'm here to take. Weird. I guess that's a good sign if it means the sculptor had seen the quarry I now hunt.
Hubris' most defining feature, aside from having been endowed by the gods with every body feature that makes men proud of themselves, was a crown. The 13 misadventure stories of Hubris are called , "The Thirteen Crowns of Hubris" because every time he heard of a crown more extravagant than his current one, he had to go on another quest to have it. And hilarity ensued.
So if Hubris commissioned a statue of himself, it would point visitors to his palace or throne room or treasure display room or something. But he wouldn't put it here with the hired hands.
No, this must have been made by Daedalus or made by the laborers and repurposed by Daedalus. And either of them would have seen "king" Hubris as a fool wasting his money, so the statue would point to a deathtrap or at least an embarrassment. Maybe it would drop you into the Minotaur's lair?

And the other part of the Statue

What I took to be a wealthy woman, on closer look, seems to be just a woman of means, not a peasant, not a princess. She walks with dignity taking little steps. Her one hand is wrapped in a vine of ivy which also wraps around one hand of the man following her. Wait, ivy used to be used in hand-fasting marriage ceremonies. I know who these people are!
In the legends, Hubris had a fraternal twin brother named, "Humble", who got the short end of the stick genetically. While Hubris never married because he couldn't deny all the other women in the world of his physical beauty and give himself to just one, Humble (as always) chose the wiser course and gave himself in wedlock to a woman of wisdom beyond her years, named, ... I think she was named, "Humility", or something like that. In all of the stories, Hubris fights to get himself glory and gets his crown but not the respect he thought it would bring, and Humble takes the safer route and winds up with a wise and frugal wife and a decent plot of land and several good kids. The moral is to aim for what you really want, not what you think you want.
So this couple represent Humility and Humble. She is leading the way immediately after their marriage, and Humble is taking the loose end of the ivy and wrapping it around his manhood, so she is not just taking him by the hand. Hmm. If Hera did that to Zeus early on, a lot of hurricanes and natural disasters would have been avoided. It's the old Greco-Roman idea that it is in a man's nature to be unfaithful and a woman's duty to keep him in line. But in this case the wiser man is willingly taking the more profitable path.
And the more foolish man is following his physical desire wherever it leads him.

Decision Made

So the wise woman leads the way to the living quarters of the common people.
And the proud fool leads to the minotaur's lair.
Unfortunately, if I'm going to get the treasure I seek, I need to search the Minotaur's Lair.
Fortunately, Theseus killed the minotaur ages ago. At least I hope that part of the story is true.
So, following the path of the Fool is where I'm headed next.

Hercules and Omphale by Charles Gleyre (1806-1874)

(Isn't it wierd that all the depictions of Heracles are the same guy? It makes me think the bearded-muscle-daddy was an actual person, not just a collection of myths.)

Type

Statue