)
great that he was considered, according to Pliny, 7.
great that he was considered, according to Pliny, 7.
William Smith - 1844 - Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities - c
p.
328, c.
)
its only referring to those statues of Polycleitus
of his personal history we know nothing fur- which rested on one leg) does not appear to be in
ther. As an artist, he stood at the bead of the the tone of censure, and if it were, we should
schools of Argos and Sicyon, and approached more rather suspect the soundness of Varro's judgment,
nearly than any other to an equality with the than of Polycleitus's practice on such a point. In
great head of the Athenian school, whom he was fact, this appears to be the very point in which
even judged to bave surpassed on one occasion, in Myron was inferior to Polycleitus ; that the former,
the celebrated competition of the Amazons (See in his eagerness for variety, transgressed, in his
below, and PHEIDIAS. ) The essential difference choice of subjects, in his proportions, and in his
between these artists was that Pheidias was un attitudes, those high principles of art to which
surpassed, nay perfect, in making the images of Polycleitus always adhered.
the gods, Polycleitus in those of men.
The word quadrata, in the above passage, de-
embodied in his Athena and Olympian Zeus, for mands further explanation. It is clearly meant to
all subsequent ages, the ideal standard of divine describe a certain proportion of the human figure,
majesty ; the other expressed, in his Doryphorus, and may be roughly explained as expressing a
the ideal perfection of human beauty. It is not, robust middle stature, in opposition to a tall and
however, surprising that, in the estimation of slender stature. The meaning is clearly shown by
many, the beauty of Polycleitus should even have Pliny's description (l. c. $ 6) of the style of pro-
been preferred to the more unapproachable majesty portion practised by Lysippus, who, he says, made
of Pheidias, in an age when art, having reached the heads smaller than the ancients made them,
its climax, was on the point of beginning to de- the bodies more slender and less fleshy, and thus
generate. Nay, even Polycleitus himself was, by the whole statue apparently taller * quadratas
some, placed below Myron in some respects (Plin. veterum staturas permutando. ” Vitruvius gives a
H. N. xxxiv. 8. 6. 19. & 3); and his forms were canon of proportion, according to which the length
thought by the artists of the age of Alexander of the outstretched arms is equal to the height of
susceptible of greater grace. If, therefore, we the statue, so that the whole figure may be en-
find, in writers of a still later period, expressions closed in a square; but it does not seem that there
which appear to refer to the works of Polycleitus is any precise reference to this canon in the term
as retaining something of the stiffness of an early quadrala, as used by Pliny. (Böttiger, Ander-
period of art, we must not at once conclude that lungen, p. 120 ; Schorn, Studien, p. 300. )
such passages, even if they are rightly interpreted, The praises which the ancients heap upon
refer to some earlier artist of the same name. Polycleitus are numerous and of the highest order.
Among the statements of Pliny respecting Poly. According to Pliny (l. c. ), he was considered to
cleitus is the following (H. N. xxxiv. 8. s. 19. have brought the art of statuary to perfection ;
§ 2):-“ Proprium ejus est, ut uno crure insisterent and the same judgment is passed upon his works
signa, excogitasse ; quadrata tamen ea esse tradit by Cicero, who expressly gives him the preference
Varro et puene ad unum exemplum. ” (The word over Myron (Brut. 18 ; comp. de Orat. iii. 7,
quadrata, which Sillig formerly suspected, is con- Acad. ii. 47, De Fin. ii. 34, Tusc. i. 2, Paradox.
firmed by the authority of the Bamberg MS. ) This v. 2). Dionysius of Halicarnassus praises him, in
passage has exercised the critical skill of most of conjunction with Pheidias, for those qualities
the writers on art. Thiersch regards it as ob- which he expresses by the phrase kard TÒ Oeuvor
viously characterising the style of one of the early και μεγαλότεχνον και αξιωματικόν. (De Isocr.
improvers of the art ; and he therefore supposes p. 95, Sylburg. ) Quintilian (xii. 10) tells us
that the artist of whom Varro made this statement that his works were distinguished by accurate
was the oldest artist of the name, Polycleitus of execution (diligentia) and beauty (decor) above
Sicyon, whom, according to him, Pliny has con- those of all others; but that he was thought to
founded with the more celebrated Polycleitus of be deficient in grandeur (pondus). But even this
Argos. But the language of Varro, properly un- fault is mentioned with the qualification “ne nihil
derstood, neither requires nor sustains any such detrahutur ;” and the critic proceeds to explain
hypothesis. The mere mechanical difficulty in that it applies to his preference for human subjects
statuary, of making a standing figure rest its over divine, and, among the former, for youthful
weight on one leg, may have been, and probably figures, and that the deficiency is ascribed to him
had been, overcome before the time of Polycleitus; chiefly in comparison with Pheidias and Alca-
but it was, as we understand Varro, a distinguish- menes:-“ Nam ut humanae formae decorem
ing feature of his works, that he did this without addiderit supra verum, ita non explerisse deorum
in any way interfering with those proportions and auctoritatem videtur. Quin aetatem quoque gra-
that repose, which constituted the perfection of his viorem dicitur refugisse, nihil ausus ultra leves
art. it was not, of course, for an artist like genas. At quae Polycleto defuerunt, Phidiae
Pheidias to poise his divinities upon one leg ; but atque Alcameni dantur. ” The breasts of his
Polycleitus, the inventor of the perfect canon of statues were especially admired. (Rhet. ad Herenn.
the human form, would naturally devote careful | iv. 6. ) Several other passages might be added
study to an attitude, which adds so much to the
life-like expression of a figure, while, on the other • Perhaps, however, this censure may be im-
band, he refrained from any tampering with his plied in another passage of Varro, in which he
own established proportions, and avoided the dan-
· Neque enim Lysippus artificum priorum
gers into which the free use of this attitude might potius est vitiosa secutus quam artem," de L. L.
lead an artist too eager for variety. Some writen ix. 18, ed. Müller.
says
12
Room
dite
The
bir bir
and
G G4
## p. 456 (#472) ############################################
456
POLYCLEITUS:
POLYCLEITUS.
from Lucian, the poets of the Anthology, and Canon as something different from the Doryphorus;
other writers. Even while he lived Polycleitus but that it really was this statue is plain from the
was ranked among the very first artists : Xeno- statement already quoted from Cicero respecting
phon makes Socrates place him on a level, as a Lysippus, and from other passages in the ancient
statuary, with Homer, Sophocles, and Zeuxis in writers (Cic. Orat. 2 ; Quintil. v. 12. $ 21;
their respective arts. (Mem. i. 4. § 3. ) The Galen, vol. i. p. 566, vol. iv. p. 606). Lucian
Socrates of Plato also speaks of him in terms describes the proportions of the human figure, as
which imply an equality with Pheidias. (Protag. exhibited in the Canon of Polycleitus, in terms
p. 311, c. )
which completely confirm the explanation given
Of the artists who succeeded him, Lysippus above of the term quadrata, as applied to his
especially admired him, and declared that his works, and which amount to this ; that the figure
Doryphorus was his own teacher (Cic. Brut. 86). should be moderate both in height and stoutness.
In fact Lysippus stood in much the same relation (Lucian. de Salt. 75, vol. ii. p. 309. ) Quintilian
to the Argive school of Polycleitus as Praxiteles describes the figure as alike fit for war or for ath.
to the Attic school of Pheidias and Alcamenes. letic games (l. c. ).
An interesting anecdote is told by Aelian 2. A youth of tender age, binding his head with
(V. H. xiv. 8), respecting the manner in which a fillet, the sign of victory in an athletic contest
Polycleitus proved the superiority of the rules of (diadumcnum molliter juvenem, Plin. l. c. ; Lucian.
art to popular opinion. He made two statues, one Philops. 18, vol. iii. p. 46). This work was valued
of which he finished to his own mind, and the at a hundred talents (Plin. l. c. ). The beautiful
other he exposed to public view, and altered it statue in the Villa Farnese is no doubt a copy of
according to the opinions expressed by the spec-it (Gerhard, Ant. Denkmäler, Cent. i. pl. 69;
tators. He then exhibited the statues together. Müller, Denkmäler d. alt. Kunst, vol. i. pl. 31,
One of them was universally admired ; the other fig. 136).
was derided. “ You yourselves," exclaimed the 3. An athlete, scraping himself with a strigil
artist, “ made the statue you abuse ; I made the (destringentem se, Plin. l. c).
one you admire. " Plutarch relates a saying of 4. A naked figure, described by Pliny as talo
Polycleitus, that the work was the most difficult | incessentem ; an obscure phrase, which is explained
when the clay, model had been brought to appa by some to mean challenging to the game of tali
rent perfection. (Quaest. Conv. ii. 3. p. 636, c. ) (Harduin, ad loc. ), by others, trampling down, or
The disciples of Polycleitus were Argius, Aso spurning away, an opponent in the pancratium.
podorus, Alexis, Aristeides, Phrynon, Dinon, (Jacobs,ad Philost. p. 435; Müller, Arch. d. K'unst,
Athenodorus, Demeas Clitorius, Canachus II. , $ 120, n. 3. )
and Pericleitus. (Plin. H. N. xxxiv. 8. 8. 19; 5. A group of two naked boys playing at tali,
Paus. vi. 13. § 4 ; see the articles. )
known by the name of Astragalizontes. In Pliny's
Plato refers to the two sons of Polycleitus, as time this group stood in the Atrium of Titus, and
being also statuaries, but of no reputation in com- was esteemed by many as one of the most perfect
parison with their father : he does not, however, works of statuary. The British Museum contains
mention their names. (Protag. p. 328, c. )
a portion of a similar group in marble, which was
Polycleitus was not only celebrated as a sta- found in the baths of Titus in the pontificate of
tuary in bronze, but also as a sculptor in marble, Urban VIII. , and which was probably copied, but
as an architect, and as an artist in toreutic. His with some alterations, from the work of Polycleitus.
works in these departments will be mentioned (Townley Marbles, rol. i. p. 304. )
presently. His fame as a toreutic artist was so 6. A Mercury, at Lysimachia. (Plin. l. c.
)
great that he was considered, according to Pliny, 7. A Heracles Ageter, arming himself, which
to have perfected the art, which Pheidias had com- was at Rome in Pliny's time (Plin. l. c. ; but the
menced, but had left incomplete :— “ toreuticen reading is somewhat doubtful). Cicero also men-
sic erudisse | judicatur), ut Phidias aperuisse. ” tions a Hercules by Polycleitus ; but this seems to
(H. N. l. c. 2. ) There are a few passages have been a different work, in which the hero was
which Polycleitus seems to be spoken of as a represented as killing the hydra (de Orat. ii. 16).
painter ; but they are insufficient to establish the 8. A portrait statue of Artemon, surnamed Pe.
fact. (See Sillig, Catal. Artif. s. v. )
riphoretos, the military engineer employed by
Polycleitus wrote a treatise on the proportions Pericles in the war against Samos (Plin. Lc;
of the human body, which bore the same name as Plut. Per. 27).
the statue in which he exemplified his own laws, 9. An Amazon, which gained the first prize,
namely, Kavwv (Galen, Tepl TW kať 'It Okpátnv above Pheidias, Ctesilaus, Cydon, and Phradmon,
kai Inátwva, iv. 3, vol. iv. p. 449, ed. Kühn). in the celebrated contest at Ephesus (Plin. H. N.
The following were the chief works of Poly- xxxiv. 8. 8. 19).
cleitus in bronze. The kind of bronze which he To the above list must be added some other
chiefly used was the Aeginetan ; whereas his con- works, which are not mentioned by Pliny.
temporary Myron preferred the Delian. (Plin. 10. A pair of small but very beautiful Cane
H. N. xxxiv. 2. s. 5; Dict. of Ant. s. v. Aes. ) phoroe (Cic. in Verr. iv. 3 ; Symmach. Ep. i. 23 ;
). The Spear Bearer (Doryphorus), a youthful Amalthea, vol. iii. p. 164).
figure, but with the full proportions of a man 11. A statue of Zeus Philius at Megalopolis, the
(viriliter puerum, Plin. H. N. xxxiv. 8. s. 19. & 2). dress and ornaments of which were similar to those
There can be no doubt that this was the statue appropriate to Dionysus (Paus. viii. 31. & 2. s. 4).
which became known by the name of Canon, because 12. Several statues of Olympic victors (Paus.
in it the artist had embodied a perfect representa- vi. $ 4, 4. $ 6, 7. $ 3, 9. § 1, 13. § 4). But it
tion of the ideal of the human figure, and had cannot be determined whether these should lo
thus, as Pliny says, exhibited art itself in a work ascribed to the elder or the younger Polycleitus,
of art. Pliny, indeed, appears to speak of this (See below, No. 2. )
## p. 457 (#473) ############################################
POLYCLEITUS.
457
POLYCLEITUS.
of his works in marble, the only ones which mentions a celebrated lamp, which he made for
Are mentioned are his statue of Zeus Milichius at the king of Persia (up. Ath. v. p. 206, e).
Argos (Paus. ii. 20. $ 1), and those of Apollo, As an architect Polycleitus obtained great cele-
Leto, and Artemis, in the temple of Artemis Orbrity by the theatre, and the circular building
thia, on the summit of Mt. Lycone in Argolis. (tholus), which he built in the sacred enclosure of
(Paus. ii. 24. § 5. )
Aesculapius at Epidaurus: the former Pausanias
But that which he probably designed to be the thought the best worth seeing of all the theatres,
greatest of all his works was his ivory and gold statue whether of the Greeks or the Romans. (Paus ii.
of Hern in her temple between Argos and Mycenae. 27. SS 2, 5. )
This work was executed by the artist in his old 2. Of the younger Polycleitus of Argos very
age (see above), and was doubtless intended by little is known, doubtless because his fame was
him to rival Pheidias's chryselephantine statues of eclipsed by that of his more celebrated pamesake,
Athena and of Zeus, which, in the judgment of and, in part, contemporary. The chief testiinony
Strabo (viii. p. 372), it equalled in beauty, though respecting him is a padenge of Pausanias, who says
it was surpassed by them in costliness and size. that the statue of Agenor of Thebes, an Olympic
According to the description of Pausanias (ii. 17. victor in the boys' wrestling, was made by “ Poly-
$ 4), the goddess was seated on a throne, her cleitus of Argos, not the one who made the stutus
head crowned with a garland, on which were of Hera, but the pupil of Naucydes” (Paus. vi. 6. §
worked the Graces and the Hours, the one hand 1. 8. 2). Now Naucydes flourished between B. C.
holding the symbolical pomegranate, and the other 420 and 400 ; so that Polycleitus must be placed
a sceptre, surmounted by a cuckoo, a bird sacred about B. C. 400. With this agrees the statement
to Hem, on account of her having been once of Pausanias, that Polycleitus made the bronze
changed into that form by Zeus. From an epi- tripod and statue of Aphrodite, at Amyclae, which
gram by Parmenion (Brunck, Anal, vol. i. p. 202, the Lacedaemonians dedicated out of the spoils of
No. 5) it would seem that the figure of the god the victory of Aegospotami (Paus. iii. 18. § 5. 8.
dess was robed from the waist downwards. Maxi- 8); for the age of the elder Polycleitus cannot be
mus Tyrius, who compares the statue with the brought down so low as this. Mention has been
Athena of Pheidias, describes the Hera of Poly made above of the statue of Zeus Philius, at Mega-
cleitus as the white-armed goddess of Homer, lopolis, among the works of the elder Polycleitus.
having ivory arms, beautiful eyes, a splendid robe, a Some, however, refer it to the younger, and take it
queenlike figure, seated on a golden throne. (Dis- as a proof that he was still alive after the building
sert. xiv. 6, vol. i. p. 260, Reiske. ). , In this de- of Megalopolis, in B. c. 370 ; but this argument is
scription we clearly see the Homeric ideal of Heran in no way decisive, for it is natural to suppose that
the white-armed, large-eyed (AeUklevos, Bownis), many of the statues which adorned Megalopolis
which Polycleitus took for the model of his Hera, were carried thither by the first settlers. To this
just as Pheidias followed the Homeric ideal of artist also we should probably refer the passage of
Zeus in his statue at Olympia. The character ex- Pausanias (ii. 22. § 8), in which mention is made
pressed by the epithet Bowtis must have been that of a bronze statue of Hecate by him at Argos, and
of the whole countenance, an expression of open from which we learn too that Polycleitus was the
and imposing majesty ; and accordingly, in a most brother of his instructor Naucydes. (NAUCY DES. )
laudatory epigram on the statue, Martial says (x. He also was probably the maker of the mutilated
89):
statue of Alcibiades, mentioned by Dio Chrysostom
(Orat. 37, vol. ii. p. 122, Reiske). It wonld seem
“ Ore nitet tanto, quanto superasset in Ida from the passage of Pausanias first quoted (ri. 6.
Judice convictas non dubitante deas. " § 1), that the younger Polycleitus was famous for
his statues of Olympic victors ; and, therefore, it
This statue remained always the ideal model of is exceedingly probable that some, if not all, of the
Hera, as Pheidias's of the Olympian Zeus. Thus statues of this class, mentioned above under the
Herodes Atticus, when he set up at Caesareia the name of the elder Poly ought to be referred
statues of Augustus and Rome, had them made to him. Whatever else was once known of him is
on the model of these two statues respectively. now hopelessly merged in the statements respecting
(Joseph. Ant. Jud. xv. 13. ) Praxiteles, however, the elder artist.
ventured to make some minor alterations in Poly- Thiersch makes still a third (according to him,
cleitus's type of Hera. (PRAXITELES. ) There is a fourth) statuary or sculptor of this name, Poly-
an excellent essay on this statue, with an explana- cleitus of Thasos, on the authority of an epigram of
tion of the allegorical signification of its parts, Geminus (Anth. Plan. iii. 30 ; Brunck, Anal. vol.
by Böttiger. (Andeutungen, pp. 122-128 ; comp. ii. p. 279) :-
Müller, Archäol. d. Kunst
, $ 352. )
Χείρ με Πολυκλείτου Θασίου κάμεν, είμι δ' εκείνος
It is impossible to determine which of all the
Σαλμωνεύς, βρονταϊς δς Διός ανταμάνην, κ. τ. λ.
existing figures and busts of Hera or Juno, and
of Roman empresses in the character of Juno, may where Grotius proposed to read Nol vyvátov for
be considered as copies of the Hera of Polycleitus ; no, ukheltov, an emendation which is almost cer-
but in all probability we have the type on a coin tainly correct, notwithstanding Heyne's objection,
of Argos, which is engraved in Müller's Denkmäler that the phrase xelp xáuer is more appropriate to a
(vol. i. pl
. 30. fig.
its only referring to those statues of Polycleitus
of his personal history we know nothing fur- which rested on one leg) does not appear to be in
ther. As an artist, he stood at the bead of the the tone of censure, and if it were, we should
schools of Argos and Sicyon, and approached more rather suspect the soundness of Varro's judgment,
nearly than any other to an equality with the than of Polycleitus's practice on such a point. In
great head of the Athenian school, whom he was fact, this appears to be the very point in which
even judged to bave surpassed on one occasion, in Myron was inferior to Polycleitus ; that the former,
the celebrated competition of the Amazons (See in his eagerness for variety, transgressed, in his
below, and PHEIDIAS. ) The essential difference choice of subjects, in his proportions, and in his
between these artists was that Pheidias was un attitudes, those high principles of art to which
surpassed, nay perfect, in making the images of Polycleitus always adhered.
the gods, Polycleitus in those of men.
The word quadrata, in the above passage, de-
embodied in his Athena and Olympian Zeus, for mands further explanation. It is clearly meant to
all subsequent ages, the ideal standard of divine describe a certain proportion of the human figure,
majesty ; the other expressed, in his Doryphorus, and may be roughly explained as expressing a
the ideal perfection of human beauty. It is not, robust middle stature, in opposition to a tall and
however, surprising that, in the estimation of slender stature. The meaning is clearly shown by
many, the beauty of Polycleitus should even have Pliny's description (l. c. $ 6) of the style of pro-
been preferred to the more unapproachable majesty portion practised by Lysippus, who, he says, made
of Pheidias, in an age when art, having reached the heads smaller than the ancients made them,
its climax, was on the point of beginning to de- the bodies more slender and less fleshy, and thus
generate. Nay, even Polycleitus himself was, by the whole statue apparently taller * quadratas
some, placed below Myron in some respects (Plin. veterum staturas permutando. ” Vitruvius gives a
H. N. xxxiv. 8. 6. 19. & 3); and his forms were canon of proportion, according to which the length
thought by the artists of the age of Alexander of the outstretched arms is equal to the height of
susceptible of greater grace. If, therefore, we the statue, so that the whole figure may be en-
find, in writers of a still later period, expressions closed in a square; but it does not seem that there
which appear to refer to the works of Polycleitus is any precise reference to this canon in the term
as retaining something of the stiffness of an early quadrala, as used by Pliny. (Böttiger, Ander-
period of art, we must not at once conclude that lungen, p. 120 ; Schorn, Studien, p. 300. )
such passages, even if they are rightly interpreted, The praises which the ancients heap upon
refer to some earlier artist of the same name. Polycleitus are numerous and of the highest order.
Among the statements of Pliny respecting Poly. According to Pliny (l. c. ), he was considered to
cleitus is the following (H. N. xxxiv. 8. s. 19. have brought the art of statuary to perfection ;
§ 2):-“ Proprium ejus est, ut uno crure insisterent and the same judgment is passed upon his works
signa, excogitasse ; quadrata tamen ea esse tradit by Cicero, who expressly gives him the preference
Varro et puene ad unum exemplum. ” (The word over Myron (Brut. 18 ; comp. de Orat. iii. 7,
quadrata, which Sillig formerly suspected, is con- Acad. ii. 47, De Fin. ii. 34, Tusc. i. 2, Paradox.
firmed by the authority of the Bamberg MS. ) This v. 2). Dionysius of Halicarnassus praises him, in
passage has exercised the critical skill of most of conjunction with Pheidias, for those qualities
the writers on art. Thiersch regards it as ob- which he expresses by the phrase kard TÒ Oeuvor
viously characterising the style of one of the early και μεγαλότεχνον και αξιωματικόν. (De Isocr.
improvers of the art ; and he therefore supposes p. 95, Sylburg. ) Quintilian (xii. 10) tells us
that the artist of whom Varro made this statement that his works were distinguished by accurate
was the oldest artist of the name, Polycleitus of execution (diligentia) and beauty (decor) above
Sicyon, whom, according to him, Pliny has con- those of all others; but that he was thought to
founded with the more celebrated Polycleitus of be deficient in grandeur (pondus). But even this
Argos. But the language of Varro, properly un- fault is mentioned with the qualification “ne nihil
derstood, neither requires nor sustains any such detrahutur ;” and the critic proceeds to explain
hypothesis. The mere mechanical difficulty in that it applies to his preference for human subjects
statuary, of making a standing figure rest its over divine, and, among the former, for youthful
weight on one leg, may have been, and probably figures, and that the deficiency is ascribed to him
had been, overcome before the time of Polycleitus; chiefly in comparison with Pheidias and Alca-
but it was, as we understand Varro, a distinguish- menes:-“ Nam ut humanae formae decorem
ing feature of his works, that he did this without addiderit supra verum, ita non explerisse deorum
in any way interfering with those proportions and auctoritatem videtur. Quin aetatem quoque gra-
that repose, which constituted the perfection of his viorem dicitur refugisse, nihil ausus ultra leves
art. it was not, of course, for an artist like genas. At quae Polycleto defuerunt, Phidiae
Pheidias to poise his divinities upon one leg ; but atque Alcameni dantur. ” The breasts of his
Polycleitus, the inventor of the perfect canon of statues were especially admired. (Rhet. ad Herenn.
the human form, would naturally devote careful | iv. 6. ) Several other passages might be added
study to an attitude, which adds so much to the
life-like expression of a figure, while, on the other • Perhaps, however, this censure may be im-
band, he refrained from any tampering with his plied in another passage of Varro, in which he
own established proportions, and avoided the dan-
· Neque enim Lysippus artificum priorum
gers into which the free use of this attitude might potius est vitiosa secutus quam artem," de L. L.
lead an artist too eager for variety. Some writen ix. 18, ed. Müller.
says
12
Room
dite
The
bir bir
and
G G4
## p. 456 (#472) ############################################
456
POLYCLEITUS:
POLYCLEITUS.
from Lucian, the poets of the Anthology, and Canon as something different from the Doryphorus;
other writers. Even while he lived Polycleitus but that it really was this statue is plain from the
was ranked among the very first artists : Xeno- statement already quoted from Cicero respecting
phon makes Socrates place him on a level, as a Lysippus, and from other passages in the ancient
statuary, with Homer, Sophocles, and Zeuxis in writers (Cic. Orat. 2 ; Quintil. v. 12. $ 21;
their respective arts. (Mem. i. 4. § 3. ) The Galen, vol. i. p. 566, vol. iv. p. 606). Lucian
Socrates of Plato also speaks of him in terms describes the proportions of the human figure, as
which imply an equality with Pheidias. (Protag. exhibited in the Canon of Polycleitus, in terms
p. 311, c. )
which completely confirm the explanation given
Of the artists who succeeded him, Lysippus above of the term quadrata, as applied to his
especially admired him, and declared that his works, and which amount to this ; that the figure
Doryphorus was his own teacher (Cic. Brut. 86). should be moderate both in height and stoutness.
In fact Lysippus stood in much the same relation (Lucian. de Salt. 75, vol. ii. p. 309. ) Quintilian
to the Argive school of Polycleitus as Praxiteles describes the figure as alike fit for war or for ath.
to the Attic school of Pheidias and Alcamenes. letic games (l. c. ).
An interesting anecdote is told by Aelian 2. A youth of tender age, binding his head with
(V. H. xiv. 8), respecting the manner in which a fillet, the sign of victory in an athletic contest
Polycleitus proved the superiority of the rules of (diadumcnum molliter juvenem, Plin. l. c. ; Lucian.
art to popular opinion. He made two statues, one Philops. 18, vol. iii. p. 46). This work was valued
of which he finished to his own mind, and the at a hundred talents (Plin. l. c. ). The beautiful
other he exposed to public view, and altered it statue in the Villa Farnese is no doubt a copy of
according to the opinions expressed by the spec-it (Gerhard, Ant. Denkmäler, Cent. i. pl. 69;
tators. He then exhibited the statues together. Müller, Denkmäler d. alt. Kunst, vol. i. pl. 31,
One of them was universally admired ; the other fig. 136).
was derided. “ You yourselves," exclaimed the 3. An athlete, scraping himself with a strigil
artist, “ made the statue you abuse ; I made the (destringentem se, Plin. l. c).
one you admire. " Plutarch relates a saying of 4. A naked figure, described by Pliny as talo
Polycleitus, that the work was the most difficult | incessentem ; an obscure phrase, which is explained
when the clay, model had been brought to appa by some to mean challenging to the game of tali
rent perfection. (Quaest. Conv. ii. 3. p. 636, c. ) (Harduin, ad loc. ), by others, trampling down, or
The disciples of Polycleitus were Argius, Aso spurning away, an opponent in the pancratium.
podorus, Alexis, Aristeides, Phrynon, Dinon, (Jacobs,ad Philost. p. 435; Müller, Arch. d. K'unst,
Athenodorus, Demeas Clitorius, Canachus II. , $ 120, n. 3. )
and Pericleitus. (Plin. H. N. xxxiv. 8. 8. 19; 5. A group of two naked boys playing at tali,
Paus. vi. 13. § 4 ; see the articles. )
known by the name of Astragalizontes. In Pliny's
Plato refers to the two sons of Polycleitus, as time this group stood in the Atrium of Titus, and
being also statuaries, but of no reputation in com- was esteemed by many as one of the most perfect
parison with their father : he does not, however, works of statuary. The British Museum contains
mention their names. (Protag. p. 328, c. )
a portion of a similar group in marble, which was
Polycleitus was not only celebrated as a sta- found in the baths of Titus in the pontificate of
tuary in bronze, but also as a sculptor in marble, Urban VIII. , and which was probably copied, but
as an architect, and as an artist in toreutic. His with some alterations, from the work of Polycleitus.
works in these departments will be mentioned (Townley Marbles, rol. i. p. 304. )
presently. His fame as a toreutic artist was so 6. A Mercury, at Lysimachia. (Plin. l. c.
)
great that he was considered, according to Pliny, 7. A Heracles Ageter, arming himself, which
to have perfected the art, which Pheidias had com- was at Rome in Pliny's time (Plin. l. c. ; but the
menced, but had left incomplete :— “ toreuticen reading is somewhat doubtful). Cicero also men-
sic erudisse | judicatur), ut Phidias aperuisse. ” tions a Hercules by Polycleitus ; but this seems to
(H. N. l. c. 2. ) There are a few passages have been a different work, in which the hero was
which Polycleitus seems to be spoken of as a represented as killing the hydra (de Orat. ii. 16).
painter ; but they are insufficient to establish the 8. A portrait statue of Artemon, surnamed Pe.
fact. (See Sillig, Catal. Artif. s. v. )
riphoretos, the military engineer employed by
Polycleitus wrote a treatise on the proportions Pericles in the war against Samos (Plin. Lc;
of the human body, which bore the same name as Plut. Per. 27).
the statue in which he exemplified his own laws, 9. An Amazon, which gained the first prize,
namely, Kavwv (Galen, Tepl TW kať 'It Okpátnv above Pheidias, Ctesilaus, Cydon, and Phradmon,
kai Inátwva, iv. 3, vol. iv. p. 449, ed. Kühn). in the celebrated contest at Ephesus (Plin. H. N.
The following were the chief works of Poly- xxxiv. 8. 8. 19).
cleitus in bronze. The kind of bronze which he To the above list must be added some other
chiefly used was the Aeginetan ; whereas his con- works, which are not mentioned by Pliny.
temporary Myron preferred the Delian. (Plin. 10. A pair of small but very beautiful Cane
H. N. xxxiv. 2. s. 5; Dict. of Ant. s. v. Aes. ) phoroe (Cic. in Verr. iv. 3 ; Symmach. Ep. i. 23 ;
). The Spear Bearer (Doryphorus), a youthful Amalthea, vol. iii. p. 164).
figure, but with the full proportions of a man 11. A statue of Zeus Philius at Megalopolis, the
(viriliter puerum, Plin. H. N. xxxiv. 8. s. 19. & 2). dress and ornaments of which were similar to those
There can be no doubt that this was the statue appropriate to Dionysus (Paus. viii. 31. & 2. s. 4).
which became known by the name of Canon, because 12. Several statues of Olympic victors (Paus.
in it the artist had embodied a perfect representa- vi. $ 4, 4. $ 6, 7. $ 3, 9. § 1, 13. § 4). But it
tion of the ideal of the human figure, and had cannot be determined whether these should lo
thus, as Pliny says, exhibited art itself in a work ascribed to the elder or the younger Polycleitus,
of art. Pliny, indeed, appears to speak of this (See below, No. 2. )
## p. 457 (#473) ############################################
POLYCLEITUS.
457
POLYCLEITUS.
of his works in marble, the only ones which mentions a celebrated lamp, which he made for
Are mentioned are his statue of Zeus Milichius at the king of Persia (up. Ath. v. p. 206, e).
Argos (Paus. ii. 20. $ 1), and those of Apollo, As an architect Polycleitus obtained great cele-
Leto, and Artemis, in the temple of Artemis Orbrity by the theatre, and the circular building
thia, on the summit of Mt. Lycone in Argolis. (tholus), which he built in the sacred enclosure of
(Paus. ii. 24. § 5. )
Aesculapius at Epidaurus: the former Pausanias
But that which he probably designed to be the thought the best worth seeing of all the theatres,
greatest of all his works was his ivory and gold statue whether of the Greeks or the Romans. (Paus ii.
of Hern in her temple between Argos and Mycenae. 27. SS 2, 5. )
This work was executed by the artist in his old 2. Of the younger Polycleitus of Argos very
age (see above), and was doubtless intended by little is known, doubtless because his fame was
him to rival Pheidias's chryselephantine statues of eclipsed by that of his more celebrated pamesake,
Athena and of Zeus, which, in the judgment of and, in part, contemporary. The chief testiinony
Strabo (viii. p. 372), it equalled in beauty, though respecting him is a padenge of Pausanias, who says
it was surpassed by them in costliness and size. that the statue of Agenor of Thebes, an Olympic
According to the description of Pausanias (ii. 17. victor in the boys' wrestling, was made by “ Poly-
$ 4), the goddess was seated on a throne, her cleitus of Argos, not the one who made the stutus
head crowned with a garland, on which were of Hera, but the pupil of Naucydes” (Paus. vi. 6. §
worked the Graces and the Hours, the one hand 1. 8. 2). Now Naucydes flourished between B. C.
holding the symbolical pomegranate, and the other 420 and 400 ; so that Polycleitus must be placed
a sceptre, surmounted by a cuckoo, a bird sacred about B. C. 400. With this agrees the statement
to Hem, on account of her having been once of Pausanias, that Polycleitus made the bronze
changed into that form by Zeus. From an epi- tripod and statue of Aphrodite, at Amyclae, which
gram by Parmenion (Brunck, Anal, vol. i. p. 202, the Lacedaemonians dedicated out of the spoils of
No. 5) it would seem that the figure of the god the victory of Aegospotami (Paus. iii. 18. § 5. 8.
dess was robed from the waist downwards. Maxi- 8); for the age of the elder Polycleitus cannot be
mus Tyrius, who compares the statue with the brought down so low as this. Mention has been
Athena of Pheidias, describes the Hera of Poly made above of the statue of Zeus Philius, at Mega-
cleitus as the white-armed goddess of Homer, lopolis, among the works of the elder Polycleitus.
having ivory arms, beautiful eyes, a splendid robe, a Some, however, refer it to the younger, and take it
queenlike figure, seated on a golden throne. (Dis- as a proof that he was still alive after the building
sert. xiv. 6, vol. i. p. 260, Reiske. ). , In this de- of Megalopolis, in B. c. 370 ; but this argument is
scription we clearly see the Homeric ideal of Heran in no way decisive, for it is natural to suppose that
the white-armed, large-eyed (AeUklevos, Bownis), many of the statues which adorned Megalopolis
which Polycleitus took for the model of his Hera, were carried thither by the first settlers. To this
just as Pheidias followed the Homeric ideal of artist also we should probably refer the passage of
Zeus in his statue at Olympia. The character ex- Pausanias (ii. 22. § 8), in which mention is made
pressed by the epithet Bowtis must have been that of a bronze statue of Hecate by him at Argos, and
of the whole countenance, an expression of open from which we learn too that Polycleitus was the
and imposing majesty ; and accordingly, in a most brother of his instructor Naucydes. (NAUCY DES. )
laudatory epigram on the statue, Martial says (x. He also was probably the maker of the mutilated
89):
statue of Alcibiades, mentioned by Dio Chrysostom
(Orat. 37, vol. ii. p. 122, Reiske). It wonld seem
“ Ore nitet tanto, quanto superasset in Ida from the passage of Pausanias first quoted (ri. 6.
Judice convictas non dubitante deas. " § 1), that the younger Polycleitus was famous for
his statues of Olympic victors ; and, therefore, it
This statue remained always the ideal model of is exceedingly probable that some, if not all, of the
Hera, as Pheidias's of the Olympian Zeus. Thus statues of this class, mentioned above under the
Herodes Atticus, when he set up at Caesareia the name of the elder Poly ought to be referred
statues of Augustus and Rome, had them made to him. Whatever else was once known of him is
on the model of these two statues respectively. now hopelessly merged in the statements respecting
(Joseph. Ant. Jud. xv. 13. ) Praxiteles, however, the elder artist.
ventured to make some minor alterations in Poly- Thiersch makes still a third (according to him,
cleitus's type of Hera. (PRAXITELES. ) There is a fourth) statuary or sculptor of this name, Poly-
an excellent essay on this statue, with an explana- cleitus of Thasos, on the authority of an epigram of
tion of the allegorical signification of its parts, Geminus (Anth. Plan. iii. 30 ; Brunck, Anal. vol.
by Böttiger. (Andeutungen, pp. 122-128 ; comp. ii. p. 279) :-
Müller, Archäol. d. Kunst
, $ 352. )
Χείρ με Πολυκλείτου Θασίου κάμεν, είμι δ' εκείνος
It is impossible to determine which of all the
Σαλμωνεύς, βρονταϊς δς Διός ανταμάνην, κ. τ. λ.
existing figures and busts of Hera or Juno, and
of Roman empresses in the character of Juno, may where Grotius proposed to read Nol vyvátov for
be considered as copies of the Hera of Polycleitus ; no, ukheltov, an emendation which is almost cer-
but in all probability we have the type on a coin tainly correct, notwithstanding Heyne's objection,
of Argos, which is engraved in Müller's Denkmäler that the phrase xelp xáuer is more appropriate to a
(vol. i. pl
. 30. fig.
