Pugilers from the Quirinal
The Quirinal pugilist (often also called the Quirinal boxer ) in Rome is arguably the most remarkable surviving bronze statue of such an athlete - and one of very few surviving Greek originals. The dating varies between the late 4th century BC. And the middle of the 1st century BC The sculpture is now in the Museo Nazionale Romano in Rome under the inventory number 1055.
Find history
The 128 centimeter high seat figure, made of eight parts soldered together (the base is not original), was discovered on the Quirinal in 1885 , from which it got its name. Another bronze that was found there not far from her is a standing motif and probably represents an unidentified Hellenistic prince who is referred to in archeology as the " ruler of the thermal baths ". Possibly it belonged to the equipment of the thermal baths of the emperor Constantine . For classical archeology , this find was a real sensation, because the number of Greek originals is extremely small compared to the Roman replicas in marble.
description
The face of this muscular athlete has some injuries typical of this sport such as thickened ears, swelling under the eyes, a deformed nose, old scars and fresh cuts with blood clots underneath. There are also wounds on the ears, shoulders, forearms and legs; these in turn - like the lips - are accentuated by inlets made of a reddish copper alloy. Despite all the injuries, his facial expression seems alert and attentive; In any case, an experienced professional athlete who is resting after the fight is depicted. The leather straps ( cestus ) for fistfight are still on his hands and forearms . Neither the facial expression nor the posture or any attributes can be seen as to whether the pugilist has defeated his opponent or not.
Portrait or type
While the older research predominantly assumed that the figure was a portrait of a real pugilist - u. a. were Polydeukes , one of the two Dioskuren , or the experienced mythical fighter Dares after winning over Entellus resting or Theagenes of Thasos represents the v in the first half of the 5 th century. BC and was a famous pugilist of his time, called - or even dealing with a god ( Zeus ?), The British researcher Roland RR Smith sees in the figure the generalizing representation (type, archetype) of a pugilist who cannot be named, the ultimately individual trains are missing. While Paul Zanker rejects an interpretation as a mythological person, Vinzenz Brinkmann favors a thesis put forward by Phyllis L. Williams in 1945, according to which the pugilist represents the Bebryk king Amykos . This is defeated by Polydeukes in a boxing match on the journey of the Argo to Colchis. The connection of the pugilist statue with that of the 'Thermenherrr' in a reconstruction as a mythological group, which Polydeukes and Amykos are supposed to show, was shown in 2018 in the Liebieghaus Frankfurt / Main and put up for discussion.
Attribution
The artist of the figure is unknown; earlier it was dated to the 1st century BC not only because of a supposed inscription, but also for stylistic reasons. During a thorough investigation as part of an exhibition in the Academic Art Museum in Bonn in 1989, this thesis was rejected with the result that the dating of the bronze figure is open and, depending on the point of view, between the late 4th century BC. And the middle of the 1st century BC Chr. Fluctuates.
See also
The pugilist is one of only seven surviving Greek or Great Greek bronze statues. The others are the charioteer from Delphi , the Poseidon from Cape Artemision , the horseman from Cape Artemision , the two bronze statues from Riace and the ruler of the thermal baths . The fragment of the so-called Chatsworth-Apollo should also be mentioned in this context .
literature
- Phyllis L. Williams: Amykos and the Dioskouroi. In: American Journal of Archeology . Vol. 49, No. 3, 1945, pp. 330-347, doi : 10.2307 / 499627 .
- Werner Rudolph: Olympic martial arts in antiquity. Fist fight, wrestling and pankration in the Greek National Festival (= German Academy of Sciences. Writings of the Section for Classical Studies. 47, ZDB -ID 504279-3 ). Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 1965.
- Nikolaus Himmelmann : ruler and athlete. The bronzes from the Quirinal. Olivetti, Milan 1988, pp. 178-180.
- Wilfred Geominy , Stefan Lehmann : To the bronze picture of the seated pugilist in the Museo Nazionale Romano. In: Stadium. International magazine for the history of sport . Vol. 15, No. 2, 1989, pp. 139-165.
- Roland RR Smith: Hellenistic Sculpture. A handbook. Thames & Hudson, London 1991, ISBN 0-500-20249-4 , pp. 54-55, ( digitized ).
- Michael B. Poliakoff: Martial arts in antiquity. The game of life and death. Patmos, Düsseldorf et al. 2004, ISBN 3-491-69110-9 .
- Paul Zanker : The boxer. In Luca Giuliani (ed.): Masterpieces of ancient art. CH Beck, Munich 2005, ISBN 3-406-53094-X , pp. 28-49.
- Vinzenz Brinkmann : Back to the classic. In: Vinzenz Brinkmann (Hrsg.): Back to the classic. A new look at ancient Greece. Hirmer, Munich 2013, ISBN 978-3-7774-2008-0 , pp. 15–57.
- Vinzenz Brinkmann (ed.): Medea's love and the hunt for the golden fleece. Hirmer, Munich 2018, ISBN 978-3-7774-3114-7 .
