The Vienna Apoxyomenos from Ephesos is still an object of controversy seventy years after its discovery: opinion remains divided upon whether it is a copy or itself the original of its type, upon the date to be assigned to it, and upon its identification as one of the two pueri .. . destringentes se of Daidalos of Sikyon. A study of the three classes of replicas in bronze of Greek originals (freely composed versions, copies made from piece moulds of pointed-off plaster replicas, and castings from piece moulds of the original) shows that if it is a replica, it is probably a direct casting; however, a thorough examination reveals no impressions of tasselli that would substantiate this. Further discussion of the composition of the alloy, the dowels used to secure the statue, and the setting of the work indicate that it is more than likely a Greek original, though the alternative still remains a possibility. The motif and style do not accord with what we should expect of Daidalos' statues, and look post-Lysippic; the best parallels are to be found in a group of works of the early third century, including a seated girl in the Conservatori, a bronze head in the Vatican, and, related in motif to the former, the Tyche of Antioch. The athlete is thus probably an original by a member of Lysippos' school, active just after ca. 300 B.C. Among the many statues that graced the Gymnasium at Ephesos prior to its destruction by the Goths in A.D. 263, the bronze figure of an athlete cleaning his strigil now in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna (figs. 1-4) occupied a particularly prominent place. It stood on a base about four feet high, in a specially constructed aedicula at the eastern end of the great court, immediately to the right of the entrance to an open hall (ill. i), whose lavishly decorated walls were hosts to a quantity of similar monuments to other successful, * The following abbreviations will be used: Arnold D. Arnold, Die Polykletnachfolge (JdI-EH 25, Berlin 1969). Johnson F.P. Johnson, Lysippos (Durham 1927). Lippold G. Lippold, Die Griechische Plastik (Handbuch der Archaiologie III.I, Munich 1950). Marcade J. Marcad6, Recueil de signatures de sculpteurs grecs (Paris 1953, 1957). Overbeck J. Overbeck, Die Antiken Schriftquellen (Leipzig 1868). Supra followed by a page number refers to present or previous installment of Lysippan Studies in AJA 82 (1978). FIG. I. Athlete, Vienna (frontal). (Photo Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna) This content downloaded from 207.46.13.152 on Mon, 27 Feb 2017 18:28:52 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 474 A.F. STEWART [AJA 82 FIG. 2. Athlete, Vienna (head, left profile). (Photo Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna) FIG. 4. Athlete, Vienna (head, right profile). (Photo Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna) FIG. 3. Athlete, Vienna (head, frontal). (Photo Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna) but presumably less celebrated, young sportsmen. The base, part of which was recovered by the Austrian excavators of the site in the summer of 1896, recorded the fact that the statue was dedicated by one [L. Claudius Ph]rygianus, whose name occurs elsewhere at Ephesos as a gymnasiarch of the late first or early second centuries A.D. The bronze itself was in poor condition, shattered into no fewer than 234 pieces, some of them badly warped and otherwise damaged by the intense heat of the conflagration. To reconstruct the original was therefore no easy task and the result, subject to only one major correction in recent years, fully deserved the praise bestowed upon it in Otto Benndorf's publication, which followed in 90o6.1 1 0. Benndorf, Forschungen in Ephesos I (Vienna 1906) 18I-204 (whence ill. I). The first restoration showed the athlete as a proper Apoxyomenos, scraping oil off his left forearm; for the correction, see F. Eichler, Jahrbuch der Kunsthisto ischen Sammluzngen in Wien 50 (1953) 15-22. All illustrations prior to this date, as e.g. Johnson pl. Io, are therefore
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