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 ...

records five bronze statues of

Amazons The Amazons (Ancient Greek: ', singular '; in Latin ', ') were a people in Greek mythology, portrayed in a number of ancient epic poems and legends, such as the Labours of Hercules, Labours of Heracles, the ''Argonautica'' and the ''Iliad''. ...

in the Artemision of

Ephesus Ephesus (; ; ; may ultimately derive from ) was an Ancient Greece, ancient Greek city on the coast of Ionia, in present-day Selçuk in İzmir Province, Turkey. It was built in the 10th century BC on the site of Apasa, the former Arzawan capital ...

. He explains the existence of such a quantity of sculptures on the same theme in the same place by describing a 5th-century BC competition between the artists Polyclitus,

Phidias Phidias or Pheidias (; , ''Pheidias''; ) was an Ancient Greek sculptor, painter, and architect, active in the 5th century BC. His Statue of Zeus at Olympia was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Phidias also designed the statues of ...

Kresilas Kresilas ( ''Krēsílas''; ) was a Greek sculptor in the Classical period (5th century BC), from Kydonia. He was trained in Argos and then worked in Athens at the time of the Peloponnesian War, as a follower of the idealistic portraiture of My ...

, "Kydon" and

Phradmon Phradmon (ancient Greek, Gr. ) was a little-known sculptor from Ancient Argos, Argos, whom Pliny the Elder, Pliny places as the contemporary of Polykleitos, Myron, Pythagoras (sculptor), Pythagoras, Scopas, and Perelius, at Olympiad 90 in 420 BCE, ...

; thus: This anecdote encouraged the much-discussed identifications of four known types of Roman marble copies of the wounded Amazon with sculptors of lost originals that may be dated to 430 BC on stylistic grounds. These types, each well represented by numerous Roman copies and heads, are identified with three of Pliny's five sculptors; a type derived from Phradmon has not been identified. Of these, however, only the identification of the Mattei type as deriving from Phidias's original is undisputed. The assignment of the Sciarra-type as deriving from Polyclitus's original and Sosicles-type as deriving from Kresilas's original (or vice versa), on the other hand, is unestablished, although having been discussed since 1897. The German scholar R. Bolnach has written a thorough form-analysis for the Sciarra/Polycletus and Sosikles/Kresilas pairings.

Dietrich von Bothmer Dietrich Felix von Bothmer (pronounced ''BOAT-mare''; October 26, 1918 – October 12, 2009) was a German-born American art historian, who spent six decades as a curator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where he developed into the world's lead ...

dismissed the Plinian anecdote as an

etiological Etiology (; alternatively spelled aetiology or ætiology) is the study of causation or origination. The word is derived from the Greek word ''()'', meaning "giving a reason for" (). More completely, etiology is the study of the causes, origin ...

embroidery invented to account for the five statues of wounded Amazons of varying styles.

Brunilde Sismondo Ridgway Brunilde Sismondo Ridgway (14 November 1929 – 19 October 2024) was an Italian-American archaeologist and specialist in ancient Greek sculpture. Life and career The daughter of Giuseppe Sismondo, a career army officer, and Maria (Lombardo) Sismo ...

presented her doubts ("it is difficult to see why all five Amazons were set up if only one 'won' and became the object of the dedication"), noting Pliny's awareness of the discrepancies in age of the sculptors; she presented an alternative, cumulative origin, building on fifth century prototypes, added to by

, whom she identifies as a fourth-century sculptor, and supplemented by later classicizing models.

Types

The usual designations of the statues, following Adolf Furtwängler, group them under the headings the Lansdowne type, the Capitoline type, the Mattei type and the single example known as the Villa Doria Pamphilj type. A fifth type was excavated at the theater of Ephesus in 1898 but did not enter the discussion until the 1950s. All five types show a standing female with a similar head and face, and (as with the Venus Genetrix) are clothed in a

peplos A peplos () is a body-length garment established as typical attire for women in ancient Greece by , during the late Archaic Greece, Archaic and Classical Greece, Classical period. It was a long, rectangular cloth with the top edge folded down ab ...

that has fallen from one or both shoulders to leave her bare-breasted. Their differences are most obvious when the three sculptures, or casts thereof, are displayed together, as at the Casts Gallery at the

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

Classics Classics, also classical studies or Ancient Greek and Roman studies, is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, ''classics'' traditionally refers to the study of Ancient Greek literature, Ancient Greek and Roman literature and ...

Faculty. The pose, with one arm resting on the head, is comparable to that of the

Apollo Lykeios The Apollo Lyceus (, ''Apollōn Lukeios'') type, also known as Lycean Apollo, originating with Praxiteles and known from many full-size statue and figurine copies as well as from 1st century BCE Athenian coinage, is a statue type of Apollo show ...

Amazon Mattei type

The prototype was discovered in 1770, as a marble Roman copy of a bronze original, and came into the Mattei collection. 2.11m high, and of the Augustan era, this type is derived from Phidias's original. It is now on display in the Gallerie delle Statue of the Pio-Clementine Museum in the

Vatican Vatican may refer to: Geography * Vatican City, an independent city-state surrounded by Rome, Italy * Vatican Hill, in Rome, namesake of Vatican City * Ager Vaticanus, an alluvial plain in Rome * Vatican, an unincorporated community in the ...

. The figure looks down, with her right arm parrying and her left arm by her side with a quiver under it, though both arms, the head, and the left shoulder are all restorations. Another copy of this type is at the

Capitoline Museum The Capitoline Museums () are a group of art and archaeological museums in Piazza del Campidoglio, on top of the Capitoline Hill in Rome, Italy. The historic seats of the museums are Palazzo dei Conservatori and Palazzo Nuovo, facing on the centr ...

Amazon Sciarra type

1.94 m high, this copy dates to the era of

Tiberius Tiberius Julius Caesar Augustus ( ; 16 November 42 BC – 16 March AD 37) was Roman emperor from AD 14 until 37. He succeeded his stepfather Augustus, the first Roman emperor. Tiberius was born in Rome in 42 BC to Roman politician Tiberius Cl ...

and is derived from Polyclitus's or Kresilas's original. It was found in Rome in 1868 in the

Gardens of Sallust The Gardens of Sallust () was an ancient Roman estate including a landscaped pleasure garden developed by the historian Sallust in the 1st century BC. It occupied a large area in the northeastern sector of Rome, in what would become Region VI, b ...

, and is now in the

Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek The Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek ("ny" means "new" in Danish; "Glyptotek" comes from the Greek root ''glyphein'', to carve, and ''theke'', storing place), commonly known simply as Glyptoteket, is an art museum in Copenhagen, Denmark. The collection ...

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

, The figure is resting her left arm on a column and her right hand behind her head, with her face leaning to one side. Her nose, right arm from the

deltoid muscle The deltoid muscle is the muscle forming the rounded contour of the shoulder, human shoulder. It is also known as the 'common shoulder muscle', particularly in other animals such as the domestic cat. Anatomically, the deltoid muscle is made up o ...

downwards, the left forearm below the elbow, both hands, and the right foot and ankle have all been restored since discovery.

Amazon "Capitoline" or Sosicles type

This type is known principally from the 2.02 m high 2nd century AD marble copy (signed by Sosicles), deriving from Polyclitus's or Kresilas's original. It was discovered in 1733, went into the collection of Cardinal

Giuseppe Albani Giuseppe (Andrea) Albani (13 September 1750 – 3 December 1834) was an Italian Roman Catholic Cardinal. He played an important role in the elections of Leo XII, Pius VIII and Gregory XVI. Biography Albani was born in Rome into a noble fam ...

, and is now in the

Capitoline Museums The Capitoline Museums () are a group of art and archaeology, archaeological museums in Piazza del Campidoglio, on top of the Capitoline Hill in Rome, Italy. The historic seats of the museums are Palazzo dei Conservatori and Palazzo Nuovo, facing ...

, Rome (Room 33). The figure has her left arm across her body below her breasts, and her right hand raised and open-palmed, as she looks down towards the wound in her right-hand side. She wears a

baldric A baldric (also baldrick, bawdrick, bauldrick as well as other rare or obsolete variations) is a belt worn over one shoulder that is typically used to carry a weapon (usually a sword) or other implement such as a bugle or drum. The word m ...

. The tip of nose, lower lip, left forearm, and hand with drapery have been restored since discover

It was (before and after Sosicles's time) copied as a complete statue, as a Bust (sculpture), bust or as a

herm Herm (Guernésiais: , ultimately from Old Norse 'arm', due to the shape of the island, or Old French 'hermit') is one of the -4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, ...

, both in stone in the same size as the original and in miniature in

bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals (such as phosphorus) or metalloid ...

Lansdowne Amazon

Marble statue of a wounded Amazon MET DP278758

A possible fourth is the Lansdowne Amazon, said to have been found in Tor Colombara by

Gavin Hamilton Gavin Hamilton may refer to: * Gavin Hamilton (archbishop of St Andrews) (died 1571), archbishop of St Andrews * Gavin Hamilton (bishop of Galloway) (1561–1612), bishop of Galloway * Gavin Hamilton (artist) (1723–1798), Scottish artist * Ga ...

, though it may be a variant on the Sciarra-type. Later at

Lansdowne House Lansdowne House, now 9 Fitzmaurice Place, is the remaining part of an aristocratic English town house building to the south of Berkeley Square in central London, England. The initial name was for two decades Shelburne House, then its title ...

, it is now at the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...

. The right arm and lower legs have been restored.

Villa Doria Pamphilj Amazon

Adolf Furtwängler attributed a much-restored ''Wounded Amazon'' at the Villa Doria Pamphilj, Rome, to the Ephesus group, an attribution that was challenged in 1951 by C.P. Sestieri, who identified the sculpture instead as a classicising Roman work, and a representation of

Diana Diana most commonly refers to: * Diana (name), given name (including a list of people with the name) * Diana (mythology), ancient Roman goddess of the hunt and wild animals; later associated with the Moon * Diana, Princess of Wales (1961–1997), ...

. Dietrich von Bothmer's systematic study omitted the Dori-Pamphilj sculpture as insecurely identified and too much restored, while H. von Steuben in W. Helbig, ''Führer durch die öffentlichen Sammlungen klassischer Altertümer in Rom'', (Tübingen) 4th ed. identifies it as an eclectic classicizing work modelled on the Lansdowne ''Wounded Amazon''.

Ephesus Amazon

A fifth Amazon type was unearthed at the theatre of

in 1898 but languished unpublished.F. Eichler, "Eine neue Amazone und andere Skulpturen aus dem Theater von Ephesos," ''ÖJh'' 43 (1956/58:7-18);

Gisela Richter Gisela Marie Augusta Richter (14 or 15 August 1882 – 24 December 1972) was a British-American classical archaeologist and art historian. She was a prominent figure and an authority in her field. Early life Gisela Richter was born in London, ...

, "Pliny's five Amazons", ''Archaeology'' 12 (1959:111-15).

References

External links

The wounded Amazon of Kresilas

*
Christopher Smith, ''American Journal of Archaeology'', Vol. 104, No. 1 (2000) book reviewErnest Gardner, "A Head in the Possession of Philip Nelson, Esq., M. B.
" ''The Journal of Hellenic Studies'', 18 (1898:141-146)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Amazon Statue Types Amazons in art Ancient Greek sculptures Sculptures in the Capitoline Museums Roman copies of 5th-century BC Greek sculptures Sculptures in the Metropolitan Museum of Art Sculptures in the Vatican Museums