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
However, against this exclusive interpretation doubts have been
raised with ever-increasing precision, until now we can predicate
with certainty what Loeschke long ago assumed, that the more statues
of the series there are found, the less probable will it become that
they should all be ascribed to Apollo.[2270] Conze and Michaelis
first argued on the basis of Pausanias’ description of Arrhachion’s
statue that this type was employed for victor statues.[2271] Koerte’s
objection to their view on the ground of the long hair was refuted
by Waldstein, who demonstrated that athletes were not represented
with short hair until after the Persian wars; he pointed out that the
archaic grave-figures of the mortals Dermys and Kitylos discovered at
Tanagra, which were sculptured in a constrained attitude analogous
to that of the “Apollos,” had long hair.[2272] We now know that the
hair of some of the “Apollos” is short, which shows the irrelevancy of
this argument,[2273] and we also know that nudity characterizes many
archaic statues of mortals. Nor do we learn much from dedications,
for we have examples of statues of gods dedicated to other gods and
even to goddesses.[2274] _Ex votos_ were often more concerned with the
dedicator than with the god to whom the statue was dedicated. Doubtless
the cult statues portrayed on vase-paintings are actually those of
Apollo, for at this epoch other gods, such as Hermes and Dionysos, are
bearded.[2275]
Moreover, that a more advanced _schema_ for representing the god Apollo
had already become fixed toward the end of the sixth century B. C., we
know from ancient descriptions of the statue of the god made for the
Delians by Tektaios and Angelion, which represented him in the usual
archaic attitude, _i. e._, of the statue of Arrhachion, but with the
notable difference that the forearms were outstretched.[2276] That
this was the recognized type in the early years of the fifth century
B. C., is attested by the bronze statue of the god fashioned by the
elder Kanachos of Sikyon for Branchidai, the pose of which is known
from several statuettes and from a long series of Milesian coins.[2277]
For conservative reasons this favorite pose was kept for cult statues
even into the fourth century B. C., as we learn from representations
on coins of the golden statue of the god set up in the inmost shrine
of the temple at Delphi.[2278] But that many of the earlier examples
of the “Apollo” series do represent the god, should not be denied. We
agree with Homolle that the old appellation “Apollo,” after having
received too much favor, has now by reaction become censured too
severely, and in general should still be applied to those statues
of the series which have been discovered in or near sanctuaries of
the god, and in the absence of any other indication to the contrary,
also to those which stand upon bases inscribed with dedications to
him.[2279] Such a statue was found on the island of Thasos at the
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