In all these figures the prevailing impression is one of a perfect
harmony, an absence of all exaggeration. Beauty of line is not
exaggerated into softness, nor strength into coarseness. There is, too,
a graceful ease of movement and of action which tells of an education in
which music goes hand in hand with gymnastic. Musical drill and dances
formed an important part of Greek education; even at the great festivals
the competitors in the pentathlon performed to the accompaniment of the
flute. The influence of music is especially suggested by the rhythmic
movement and poise of the Diadumenos. Hence these harmonious shapes
produce an effect deeper than that of mere physical beauty, they seem to
be the outward expression of the spirit within. καλὸς καὶ ἀγαθός—beauty
and goodness—are inseparable to the Greek. The heads, too, are in
perfect harmony with the body; somewhat passionless perhaps, they seem
to denote a mind well ordered as the body. They are not the heads of
students or philosophers, much less of mere athletes, but the heads of
healthy, vigorous youths, to whom all activity whether of mind or body
is a joy. In the clear-cut, strong features we read courage and
resolution, endurance and self-control. The expression is calm and
dignified, yet without a trace of arrogance or pride. The face is often
turned slightly downwards, and the downcast eyes produce an impression
of modesty which is most marked in those statues which, like the
Diadumenos binding the victor’s fillet round his head, expressly
represent victory. Such is the beautiful bronze head of the ephebos
shown in Fig. 16. This combination of dignity and modesty is part of
what the Greeks called αἰδώς,[111] a word which we shall see is the
keynote of Pindar’s athletic ideal, and which expresses more than any
other the spirit of these statues.
[Illustration: Fig. 16. Bronze head of ephebos. Munich, Glyptothek, 457.
(From a photograph by Bruckmann.)]
The influence of athletics is equally plain in the lesser arts. On coins
and gems it is seen chiefly in the nude figures of gods and heroes.
Sometimes, however, we find a purely athletic type. On the coins of
Aspendus in Pamphylia we have a long series of wrestling groups (Fig.
109), and on the other side a naked slinger, a punning allusion it seems
to the name Aspendus. On the coins of Cos occurs a most interesting
figure of the diskobolos, a crude attempt to represent the very moment
selected by Myron (Fig. 86). Both series date from the early fifth
century. On gems of a later date we have frequent copies of the actual
work of Myron. In Sicily we find no representations of the athlete
proper, but the close connexion of Sicily with Olympia, and the
successes of its cities and tyrants in the chariot and horse races are
commemorated by numerous coins bearing a horseman or a chariot.[112]
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