Olympic Victor Monuments and Greek Athletic ArtHyde, Walter Woodburn
History
Olympic Victor Monuments and Greek Athletic Art
Hyde, Walter Woodburn
Olympics; Sculpture, Greek; Sports -- Greece
C.) as the _floruit_ of this sculptor, which was probably the date of
the erection of his most famous work, the colossal bronze _Tyche_,
as tutelary deity of the city of Antioch on the Orontes, which was
founded by Seleukos I in Ol. 119.3 (= 302 B. C.).[945] This shows that
Eutychides was already by that date a famed sculptor, having begun his
career by 330-320 B. C. Kantharos, the pupil of Eutychides, made the
statues of the two boy wrestlers Kratinos of Aigira and Alexinikos of
Elis, who won their victories some time between Ols. 120 and 130 (= 300
and 260 B. C.).[946]
ÆGINETAN SCULPTORS.
We have but little left of the prominent early Aeginetan school of
bronze sculptors. Of Kallon, the earliest historical sculptor of the
school, the reputed pupil of Tektaios and Angelion (who in turn were
the pupils of Dipoinos and Skyllis), we have only literary evidence. He
was typical of archaic severity just prior to the era of transition,
and therefore should be compared with Hegias of Athens and Kanachos of
Sikyon. For Onatas, the most famous of the Aeginetan sculptors, whose
_floruit_ was in the first half of the fifth century B. C., we have
evidence of many monuments at Olympia. Besides the colossal _Herakles_
dedicated by the Thasians,[947] a _Hermes_ dedicated by the people
of Pheneus,[948] and a large group of nine statues of Greek heroes
standing on a curved base faced by a statue of Nestor on another, the
group being dedicated by the Achaians,[949] he made a chariot and
charioteer to commemorate the victory of Hiero of Syracuse at Olympia
in 468 B. C., for which monument Kalamis furnished two horses.[950]
Glaukias made a bronze chariot for Hiero’s brother Gelo of Gela, who
later became tyrant of Syracuse, and who won a chariot victory in
Ol. 73 (= 488 B. C.).[951] This sculptor also excelled in fashioning
statues of boxers and pancratiasts, making the monuments of the boxers
Philon of Kerkyra and Glaukos of Karystos, and that of the renowned
boxer and pancratiast Theagenes of Thasos.[952] The statue of Glaukos
was represented in the schema of one “sparring” (σκιαμαχῶν),[953] and
so was in movement and not at rest. We have athlete statues by three
other Aeginetan sculptors at Olympia. Thus Ptolichos, the pupil of the
Sikyonian Aristokles, set up statues of the Aeginetan boy wrestler
Theognetos, who won in Ol. 76 (= 476 B. C.), and of the boy boxer
Epikradios of Mantinea, who won between Ols. (?) 72 and 74 (= 492 and
484 B. C.);[954] Serambos made the statue of the boy boxer Agiadas of
Elis, who won between Ols. (?) 72 and 74;[955] Philotimos made the
horse for the horse-racing victory of Xenombrotos of Kos, who won in
Ol. (?) 83 (= 448 B. C.).[956] All of these sculptors appear to have
used bronze exclusively, and their art, though independent, showed a
bias toward Peloponnesian work. There are few examples left of this
art. The bronze head of a bearded warrior or hoplite victor found on
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account