DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5253#0418
CHAPTER XXI.
SCULPTURES OF THE SECOND HALF OF THF FIFTH CENTURY B.C., OUTSIDE
OF ATTICA. —POLYCLEITOS.
Polycleitos. — Argos as his Field of Activity. — His Doryphoros. — Trace of the Original in Existing
Works. — Relief from Argos. — Head from Herculaneum. — Changes in Types to represent Gods.—
Polvcleitos' Diadumenos. — Polycleitos distinguished from a Later Sculptor of the Same Name.—
Other Athletes, Canephorx, etc., by this Master. — Boys playing at Knuckle-bones.— Polycleitos'
Heracles. — His Amazons. — His Gods. — Hera. — Polycleitos as Architect. — Works at Epidau-
ros.— Sculptural Remains from that Place. — Reputed Skill as Bronze-caster, etc. — His Great
Care in his Work. — His Treatise on Art. — His Canon. — Compared with Pheidias. — Polycleitos'
Scholars. — Other Argive Masters. — Pausanias1 Account of the Temple of Hera at Argos. — Its
Remains. — Reliefs from Argos.
Contemporaneously with the great age of sculpture in Attica, in the latter
part of the fifth century B.C., the old traditional art of Argos culminated in
the person of Polycleitos. In antiquity he was no less celebrated than his
Athenian neighbor Pheidias, and is said, in some minor respects, even to have
surpassed him."11 Although a native of Sikyon, an old centre of artistic ac-
tivity in the Northern Peloponnesos, Polycleitos seems to have spent the most
of his life in Argos, the time-honored seat of working in metal. Inscriptions
recently discovered enable us to sunder him sharply from a younger sculptor
of the same name with whom he has been confounded. Of the exact date of
his birth we know quite as little as of that of Pheidias. Like Myron and Phei-
dias, Polycleitos studied with old Ageladas of Argos ; and from the fact that
he was active as late as 423, and perhaps even 404, B.C., it is conjectured
that he may have been the junior of these masters, and that the main part of
his activity must have fallen in the latter half of the fifth century.
But quiet Argos, where his lot was cast, was less rich in great opportuni-
ties for the artist than progressive and ambitious Athens. Exhausted by a
terrible massacre but a few decades before the Persian war, Argos had little
share in the struggle against Persia. Failing to take part with her sister
states against the Persian invader, she did not participate in the triumphs
and awakening which quickened Attica with new life after the great national
deliverance. Matters went on quietly as before in Argos, and it is not strange
that we find the activity of Polycleitos moving in a narrower sphere than that
opened up by Athens to her sons. His fame was consequently not due princi-
3S4
SCULPTURES OF THE SECOND HALF OF THF FIFTH CENTURY B.C., OUTSIDE
OF ATTICA. —POLYCLEITOS.
Polycleitos. — Argos as his Field of Activity. — His Doryphoros. — Trace of the Original in Existing
Works. — Relief from Argos. — Head from Herculaneum. — Changes in Types to represent Gods.—
Polvcleitos' Diadumenos. — Polycleitos distinguished from a Later Sculptor of the Same Name.—
Other Athletes, Canephorx, etc., by this Master. — Boys playing at Knuckle-bones.— Polycleitos'
Heracles. — His Amazons. — His Gods. — Hera. — Polycleitos as Architect. — Works at Epidau-
ros.— Sculptural Remains from that Place. — Reputed Skill as Bronze-caster, etc. — His Great
Care in his Work. — His Treatise on Art. — His Canon. — Compared with Pheidias. — Polycleitos'
Scholars. — Other Argive Masters. — Pausanias1 Account of the Temple of Hera at Argos. — Its
Remains. — Reliefs from Argos.
Contemporaneously with the great age of sculpture in Attica, in the latter
part of the fifth century B.C., the old traditional art of Argos culminated in
the person of Polycleitos. In antiquity he was no less celebrated than his
Athenian neighbor Pheidias, and is said, in some minor respects, even to have
surpassed him."11 Although a native of Sikyon, an old centre of artistic ac-
tivity in the Northern Peloponnesos, Polycleitos seems to have spent the most
of his life in Argos, the time-honored seat of working in metal. Inscriptions
recently discovered enable us to sunder him sharply from a younger sculptor
of the same name with whom he has been confounded. Of the exact date of
his birth we know quite as little as of that of Pheidias. Like Myron and Phei-
dias, Polycleitos studied with old Ageladas of Argos ; and from the fact that
he was active as late as 423, and perhaps even 404, B.C., it is conjectured
that he may have been the junior of these masters, and that the main part of
his activity must have fallen in the latter half of the fifth century.
But quiet Argos, where his lot was cast, was less rich in great opportuni-
ties for the artist than progressive and ambitious Athens. Exhausted by a
terrible massacre but a few decades before the Persian war, Argos had little
share in the struggle against Persia. Failing to take part with her sister
states against the Persian invader, she did not participate in the triumphs
and awakening which quickened Attica with new life after the great national
deliverance. Matters went on quietly as before in Argos, and it is not strange
that we find the activity of Polycleitos moving in a narrower sphere than that
opened up by Athens to her sons. His fame was consequently not due princi-
3S4