DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5253#0423
OTHER WORKS BY POLYCLEITOS. 389
Until the recent excavations at Olympia, it was supposed that Polycleitos
executed, besides his Diadumenos and Doryphoros, five other statues, athletes,
seen by Pausanias at Olympia. It is now proved, however, from the character
of the inscriptions, that four of these were the work of a countryman of the
same name, but of a later day; and that the fifth alone, representing a boy-
victor, Kyniscos by name, from Mantineia, was probably by the celebrated
master himself. Of this work the pedestal, with a simple moulding, and bear-
ing an inscription, has been found."21 On it the footprints of bronze feet
prove the interesting fact, that the statue of the boy Kyniscos was about life-
size : and, judging from the space between these footprints, we may infer that
the victor stood, like both the Doryphoros and Diadumenos, with one foot
planted firmly on the ground, bearing" the weight of the body; while the other,
somewhat farther back, lightly touched the ground with the toes. Of
other athletes by Polycleitos, we have only the short notice by Pliny, that one
was cleaning himself of the oil used in the wrestling-games (destringens sc),
and that another was nude, and striking with his heel (jiudus talo incessens).i22-
Besides these robust forms of nude youth, the master is said to have
executed two canepJwm in bronze, described by Cicero in a speech against
Verres, who had extorted them from the Mamertine Heius723 They were not
large, but of great beauty, and in the garb and pose of Athenian maidens,
carrying sacred utensils on their heads with raised hands. Since similar
maiden priestesses officiated in the ceremonies held in honor of Hera in Doric
Argos, it is probable that Polycleitos' bronze cancpJiortz were originally votive
offerings from some pious worshipper to her temple.
One portrait alone by him is mentioned, that of Artemon, who, on account
of lameness, had to be borne about while superintending his work, as con-
structor of machines for Pericles in the war against Samos.?24
Two nude boys playing at knuckle-bones (astragalizontcs) were seen in
Pliny's time in the atrium of Titus' palace, and were considered by some the
most perfect works of antiquity."2* But the spirit of this group seems more
like that of the age of Polycleitos' younger countryman of the same name.
Its composition must have been more complicated than that of the majority
of the works of the sterner, older master, depending, necessarily, for its
charms upon an intricate interplay of lines, and not alone upon the high,
formal beauty of the human shape. A marble boy in the British Museum,
from a group of two quarrelling over their game of knuckle-bones, and biting
one another, is so thoroughly realistic, and like works of the time after Alex-
ander, at least a century and a half later than the older Polycleitos, that it is
absolutely impossible to associate the work with his name.
Leaving the sphere of purely human representations, we find that Poly-
cleitos also represented heroes, and even gods ; although his fame did not rest
on works of this higher ideal range. Heracles, a hero of athletic character,
Until the recent excavations at Olympia, it was supposed that Polycleitos
executed, besides his Diadumenos and Doryphoros, five other statues, athletes,
seen by Pausanias at Olympia. It is now proved, however, from the character
of the inscriptions, that four of these were the work of a countryman of the
same name, but of a later day; and that the fifth alone, representing a boy-
victor, Kyniscos by name, from Mantineia, was probably by the celebrated
master himself. Of this work the pedestal, with a simple moulding, and bear-
ing an inscription, has been found."21 On it the footprints of bronze feet
prove the interesting fact, that the statue of the boy Kyniscos was about life-
size : and, judging from the space between these footprints, we may infer that
the victor stood, like both the Doryphoros and Diadumenos, with one foot
planted firmly on the ground, bearing" the weight of the body; while the other,
somewhat farther back, lightly touched the ground with the toes. Of
other athletes by Polycleitos, we have only the short notice by Pliny, that one
was cleaning himself of the oil used in the wrestling-games (destringens sc),
and that another was nude, and striking with his heel (jiudus talo incessens).i22-
Besides these robust forms of nude youth, the master is said to have
executed two canepJwm in bronze, described by Cicero in a speech against
Verres, who had extorted them from the Mamertine Heius723 They were not
large, but of great beauty, and in the garb and pose of Athenian maidens,
carrying sacred utensils on their heads with raised hands. Since similar
maiden priestesses officiated in the ceremonies held in honor of Hera in Doric
Argos, it is probable that Polycleitos' bronze cancpJiortz were originally votive
offerings from some pious worshipper to her temple.
One portrait alone by him is mentioned, that of Artemon, who, on account
of lameness, had to be borne about while superintending his work, as con-
structor of machines for Pericles in the war against Samos.?24
Two nude boys playing at knuckle-bones (astragalizontcs) were seen in
Pliny's time in the atrium of Titus' palace, and were considered by some the
most perfect works of antiquity."2* But the spirit of this group seems more
like that of the age of Polycleitos' younger countryman of the same name.
Its composition must have been more complicated than that of the majority
of the works of the sterner, older master, depending, necessarily, for its
charms upon an intricate interplay of lines, and not alone upon the high,
formal beauty of the human shape. A marble boy in the British Museum,
from a group of two quarrelling over their game of knuckle-bones, and biting
one another, is so thoroughly realistic, and like works of the time after Alex-
ander, at least a century and a half later than the older Polycleitos, that it is
absolutely impossible to associate the work with his name.
Leaving the sphere of purely human representations, we find that Poly-
cleitos also represented heroes, and even gods ; although his fame did not rest
on works of this higher ideal range. Heracles, a hero of athletic character,