Discobolos

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The so-called Diskobolos Lancelotti , the famous marble copy from the National Museum in Rome, which was found on the Esquiline in 1781
Discobolos. Roman marble copy from Villa Adriana . British Museum, London
Roman bronze copy, 2nd century Glyptothek, Munich

The Diskobolos ( discus thrower ) of the Greek ore caster Myron (Δισκοβόλος του Μύρωνα), also Diskobol of Myron, is one of the most famous Greek statues. He is believed to be a winner of the decathlon discus throwing discipline.

plant

This from Myron approx. 460-450 BC. BC created. Statue of bronze belongs to the ancient classical high . It shows a rhythmically moving, powerful and proud athlete in action. In this action, Myron chooses the only moment of calm, the dead point, so to speak.

The sculpture completely abandons the archaic principle of frontality in favor of a movement and spatial design of the sculpture , which was only taken up again in the Baroque ( David von Bernini ) and in the 19th century by Auguste Rodin . The previously common axiality also seems to have been completely abolished.

The Diskobolos is handed down through a 1.55 m high Roman marble copy in the National Museum in Rome , which was found on the Esquiline in 1781 . The bronze original has not been found, it was probably in Delphi or Olympia . Shortly after finding this copy, the Italian archaeologist Carlo Fea was able to identify this copy as the Myron's discobolos based on ancient descriptions. Another marble copy was found in the Villa Adriana (Villa of the Emperor Hadrian ) in Tivoli . A total of six Roman copies have been preserved in fragments. Next to it a small bronze figure and a gem that is in London. The gem bears the inscription Hyakinthos next to the discobol . Therefore, some experts suspect that the sculpture of Myron is not a representation of an athlete, but the statue of Hyakinthos, who, according to Greek mythology , competed with Apollo in discus throwing.

reception

Greek postage stamp to mark the first modern Olympic Games in 1896
Illustration of the Discobolus from Sui Jianguo

Already copied many times in antiquity, the figure became known to a broad (professional) public interested in antiquity from 1806 onwards due to the "Letter Discussions on the Figure of the Discobol" published by Francesco Cencellieri . In 1816 there was a first parody of the sculpture in the wall paintings in the Roman Palazzo Altieri, showing a group of putti in athletic poses. European monarchs endeavored to acquire the work for their collections. In the course of the revival of the Olympic idea through the modern Olympic Games at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century, whose disciplines included discus throwing, the discus was often chosen as an emblematic ornament for posters, front pages and postage stamps. The Nazi propaganda film Olympia by the director Leni Riefenstahl from 1938 endeavored to appropriate the iconic figure by fading the ancient discobolo with living athletes.

At the same time, Adolf Hitler asked the Italian government to hand over the famous copy, found in 1781, which was initially declared inalienable by the Supreme Council for Roman antiquities, but was finally sold in May 1938 with the approval of the Italian Foreign Minister for five million lire and brought to Munich has been. There the Diskobolos was exhibited in the Glyptothek and only returned to Rome in 1948, where it has been exhibited in the Thermenmuseum since 1953 .

The pose of the discobolo and the tension and concentration it embodies before the throw has been received many times in the 21st century as the ideal of male beauty and physical fitness. For example, in an advertising campaign by the sporting goods manufacturer Reebok or the "Discobolus" statue by Chinese artist Sui Jianguo from 2003.

Copied countless times, it still appears in many souvenir shops or in gardens such as the Copenhagen Botanical Gardens .

Another famous ancient discus thrower figure is that of Naukydes .

literature

Web links

Commons : Diskobolos  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ See the description on the website of the Skulpturhalle Basel .
  2. ↑ Francesca Bonazzoli / Michele Robecchi: Da Vinci with the Simpsons . Munich, 2014, pp. 22–25.
  3. ↑ Francesca Bonazzoli, Michele Robecchi: Da Vinci with the Simpsons. Munich 2014, pp. 22–25; Index card of the Central Collecting Point Munich .
  4. ↑ Francesca Bonazzoli, Michele Robecchi: Da Vinci with the Simpsons. Munich 2014, pp. 22-25.