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Agias, Ancient Greek Athlete

Statue of an athlete from Delphi, Greece

 

Agias, one of a set of commemorative statues dedicated to Apollo by Daochus II of Thessaly, a prominent politician, c. 335 BCE. Each statue shows one of Daohus' illustrious ancestors -- or an idealized version of them. His grandfather Agias was a famous wrestler and boxer, victor at all four Panhellenic Games (Olympic, Delphic, Nemean and Isthmian). All these statues are marble copies of bronzes that Daochus commissioned back home, and the originals were cast by Lysippus, the official sculptor of Alexander the Great.

 

The shift of weight onto one leg, with hips and shoulders tilted in opposite directions, is called chiastic after the Greek letter Chi. It was invented by Polykleitos the sculptor of the Diadoumenos, and imitated ever after.

 

Illustration for Ancient Greece Odyssey Part Four: Delphi.

 

Delphi Museum, Greece ©2005 Ellen Brundige

 

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Uploaded on September 5, 2007
Taken on September 4, 2007