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
In another section[421] we show that the overwhelming majority of the
statues in the Altis were of bronze, though other materials, stone and
wood, were also used in some cases. As to the size of these statues,
no hard and fast rule seems to have been followed, but we may assume
from the evidence at hand that they were in general life-size.[422]
Lucian would have us believe that the Hellanodikai did not allow
victors to set up statues larger than life.[423] We know, however, that
there were exceptions to such a rule. In all probability the statue
of Polydamas of Skotoussa by Lysippos, which Pausanias says stood on
a high pedestal, was larger than life-size, if we may conjecture from
its elevated position and the probable source of Pausanias’ remark that
he “was the tallest of men, if we except the so-called heroes and the
mortal race which preceded the heroes.”[424] The traces of footprints
on the recovered pedestal of the statue of the Athenian pancratiast
Kallias by the sculptor Mikon show that the statue was larger than
life-size.[425] The footprints on the base of the statue of the Rhodian
boxer Eukles by the Argive Naukydes are about 33 cm. long, and so the
statue was slightly over life-size.[426] We know the actual size of
at least two of these Olympic statues. The scholiast on Pindar, _Ol._
VII, Argum., on the basis of a fragment from Aristotle’s lost work
on the Olympic victors and one from the little-known writer Apollas
Ponticus,[427] says that the statue of the Rhodian boxer Diagoras was
4 cubits and 5 fingers tall,[428] _i. e._, about 6 feet 4.5 inches,
somewhat over life-size.[429] From the same scholiast we learn that the
statue of the son of Diagoras, the pancratiast Damagetos, was 4 cubits
high, or less than that of the father by 5 fingers, and consequently
just under 6 feet.[430] The footprints on the base of the statue of
the boxer Aristion by the elder Polykleitos are 29 cm. long, and so
the statue was just life-size.[431] There are several examples of such
life-size statues,[432] while others are slightly below life-size.[433]
The Polykleitan statue of a boxer in Kassel is under life-size.[434]
The marble head of a statue found at Olympia, which we ascribe to
Philandridas, the Akarnanian pancratiast, by Lysippos, (Frontispiece
and Fig. 69) is also under life-size,[435] as is also that of the
pancratiast Agias found at Delphi (Pl. 27 and Fig. 68). These two are
in harmony with Pliny’s statement that Lysippos made the heads of his
statues relatively small.[436] Perhaps this statement of Pliny was the
basis of the opinion of Mueller recorded above that “comparatively
small heads” characterize the whole _genre_ of victor statues. We
have in the preceding chapter mentioned the marble fragments of the
statues of boy victors, two-fifths to two-thirds life-size, found at
Olympia.[437] The two marble helmeted heads of the archaic period
found there, which we shall later ascribe to hoplite victors (Fig.
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