Alexis (

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

: ) was an ancient Greek sculptor mentioned by Pliny as one of the pupils of

Polykleitos Polykleitos (; ) was an ancient Greek sculptor, active in the 5th century BCE. Alongside the Athenian sculptors Pheidias, Myron and Praxiteles, he is considered as one of the most important sculptors of classical antiquity. The 4th century B ...

Pliny the Elder Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/24 79), known in English as Pliny the Elder ( ), was a Roman Empire, Roman author, Natural history, naturalist, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the Roman emperor, emperor Vesp ...

, ''

Naturalis Historia The ''Natural History'' () is a Latin work by Pliny the Elder. The largest single work to have survived from the Roman Empire to the modern day, the ''Natural History'' compiles information gleaned from other ancient authors. Despite the work' ...

'' xxxiv. 8. s. 19 Pausanias mentions an artist of the same name, a native of

Sicyon Sicyon (; ; ''gen''.: Σικυῶνος) or Sikyōn was an ancient Greek city state situated in the northern Peloponnesus between Corinth and Achaea on the territory of the present-day regional unit of Corinthia. The ruins lie just west of th ...

, and father of the sculptor Cantharus. It cannot be satisfactorily settled whether these are the same, or different persons. Pliny's account implies that he had the elder Polykleitos in mind, in which case Alexis could not have flourished later than

Olympiad An olympiad (, ''Olympiás'') is a period of four years, particularly those associated with the Ancient Olympic Games, ancient and Olympic Games, modern Olympic Games. Although the ancient Olympics were established during Archaic Greece, Greece ...

95 in 400 BC, whereas

Eutychides Eutychides (, ) of Sicyon in Corinthia, Greek sculptor of the early part of the 3rd century BC, was a pupil of Lysippus.Ogden, ''The Legend of Seleucus'', p. 136. His most noted work was a statue of the Tyche of Antioch, a goddess who embodied t ...

, under whom Cantharus studied, flourished about

120 in 300. If the two were identical, as German classicist

Friedrich Thiersch Friedrich Wilhelm Thiersch (17 June 178425 February 1860), was a German classical scholar and educator. Biography He was born at Kirchscheidungen (now a part of Laucha an der Unstrut, Saxony-Anhalt). In 1809 he became professor at the gymna ...

thinks, we must suppose either that Pliny made a mistake, and that Alexis studied instead under

Polykleitos the Younger Polykleitos the Younger (; fl. ) was an Ancient Greek sculptor of athletes. His greatest achievements, however, were as an architect. Polykleitos the Younger was the architect of the Theatre and Tholos at Epidaurus. Started around 360 BC, the Tho ...

, or else that Eutychides, whose date is given by Pliny, was not the artist under whom Cantharus studied.

, ''Epochen der bild. Kunst.'' p. 276

Notes

References

* Ancient Sicyonians Ancient Greek sculptors {{AncientGreece-bio-stub