Read About the Statue of a Victorious Youth

This life-size hollow bronze figure of a naked Greek youth is extremely rare. Thousands of large bronze statues once stood in cities throughout the ancient Greek world. However, most were later melted down to make other metal objects and artworks. This bronze figure wasn’t melted down because it was on a ship that sank off the northeast coast of Italy. Almost 2,000 years later, fishermen found the statue while dragging a net along the Mediterranean seabed. It was badly corroded and sea creatures had been living on and in it. Fortunately, barnacles created a protective layer that helped preserve the bronze. The barnacles were later scraped off and the statue was cleaned up.

The statue was made during the Hellenistic period, which began after the death of Alexander the Great. Greek (Hellenic) art and culture spread widely under Alexander’s successors. Someone likely broke the youth off his statue base between the first centuries BCE and CE. The statue’s feet are missing and may have been left behind when it was torn from its base. Without the base to tell us his name or why he was being honored, we have to make educated guesses about his identity. The olive wreath on his head was a prize awarded at the Olympic Games, suggesting he was a victor at Olympia, where the games were held. While a public nude statue of an athlete would be surprising today, it was common for participants in ancient Greek sports to compete naked. In artworks, male nudity symbolized physical and moral excellence.

The youth’s right hand is raised toward the wreath. Scholars believe he was about to remove it to dedicate it to Zeus, the patron god of the Games. The young man’s empty left hand likely held a palm frond, another symbol of victory. Statues of victors stood either in Zeus’s sanctuary at Olympia, or in the winning athletes’ hometowns. The artist included some individual features of the athlete, such as his long nose and the dimple in his chin, suggesting it might have been a specific individual.

The youth’s head, arms, and torso with legs were cast separately in molds and then joined together. If his lost feet were still attached, he would stand about five-and-a-half feet tall—an average height for a man at that time. He faces forward in a contrapposto pose. His left knee is bent so his right leg supports most of his weight, and his torso forms a gentle curve to the left to balance this out. This stance makes a standing figure look more natural and dynamic than one with both feet flat on the ground and legs straight. The Greeks began perfecting this pose in the fifth century BCE, and it influenced artists for centuries to come. Michelangelo’s famous over-life-size sculpture of David (1504 CE) was inspired by standing statues like this one from antiquity.

Look at Before and After Photos

See what the statue looked like before the barnacles and debris were cleaned off. Then compare it with images of the statue from different angles after it was cleaned.

Questions

Write or discuss your responses.

For Grades 6–8

• Why did most large bronze statues from ancient Greece not survive to the present day? How did this statue manage to survive?
• What clues in the statue help historians guess that the young man was an Olympic victor? Give at least two examples.
• Why is it difficult to know the identity of the young man in the statue? What information would have helped historians figure out who he was?
• Imagine you are the fisherman who first pulled this statue up from the ocean floor. Write 3–4 sentences describing what you see and how you feel in that moment.

For Grades 9–12

• Thousands of bronze statues once stood in ancient Greece, but most were melted down to make other things. Why do you think people destroyed these artworks instead of keeping them? What does this tell us about how people value art differently over time?
• The statue spent almost 2,000 years underwater before fishermen found it. What surprises you most about how it survived: the barnacles protecting it, parts being missing, or something else?
• Without the statue’s base to tell us his name, we have to guess his identity based on clues like the olive wreath. What other clues in the statue help us figure out who he might have been and why he was honored?
• The text says “a public nude statue of an athlete would be surprising today, but it was common” in ancient Greece because “male nudity symbolized physical and moral excellence.” Why do you think the meaning of nudity in art has changed so much between then and now?
• The statue originally had colorful details like copper nipples, gold on the wreath, and realistic eyes made of stone or glass. How would seeing it with all those original colors change the way you think about ancient Greek art, which we usually see as plain bronze or white marble?

Optional Activity

Listen to the audio clip to learn more about the Statue of a Victorious Youth.

Pose of a standing figure with most of the weight resting on one leg and the other bent. This causes hips, shoulders, and head to tilt in order to balance the body.

To slowly damage something over time, like when metal rusts.

The art of covering a surface with thin metal leaf to create the appearance of solid gold.