Harmodius and Aristogeiton (sculpture)
A sculptural pairing of the tyrannicides Harmodius and Aristogeiton (
History
A first version that was commissioned from the sculptor
To replace the stolen original version, the Athenians commissioned
Description
In the Neo-Attic style that revived the Severe style of the original bronzes, it shows idealized portraits of the two heroes: a clean-shaven Harmodius, thrusting a sword forward in his upraised right hand, another sword in his left hand; and Aristogeiton, also brandishing a sword, with a chlamys, or cape, draped over his left shoulder. Of the four swords only the hilts are left. The head of Aristogeiton, as well as the left hand and right arm, are not original.[3]
A weathered marble head of Harmodius, once of fine workmanship, conserved at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, with the remains of a strut support on the crown of the head, suggested to Gisela Richter a restoration of the right arm of Harmodius (of which both are missing and restored in the Neapolitan sculpture), reaching backwards, ready for a downward-slashing stroke.[4]
Notes
- ^ "Antenor's Tyrranoktones never enjoyed a great popularity; they never became so popular as the later group," observes J.H. Jongkees in Mnemosyne , 3rd Series 13 (1947); "The Antennor 'tyrannicide'-group cannot be dated with certainty, nor can it have made much of an impact", observes Anthony J. Podlecki, in "The Political Significance of the Athenian "Tyrannicide"-Cult", Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte, 15.2 [April 1966:129-141] p. 135, noting Jongkees and making a case for a four-line dedicatory epigram for the base by Simonides
- ^ Pausanias, I.8.5.
- ^ "Gods and goddesses - The Classical Art Research Centre and The Beazley Archive".
- ^ Gisela M. A. Richter. "The Right Arm of Harmodios", American Journal of Archaeology 32.1 (January - March 1928:1-8).
Further reading
- Taylor, Michael W. The Tyrant Slayers: The Heroic Image in Fifth Century B.C. Athenian Art and Politics 2nd ed. 1991.
- Sture Brunnsåker, The Tyrant-Slayers of Kritios and Nesiotes. A critical study of the sources and restorations (Skrifter utgivna av Svenska institutet i Athen, 4°, 17), Stockholm 1971. ISBN 91-85086-00-2. See record at WorldCat: http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/715118964
- Stewart, Andrew; Frischer, Bernard; Abdelaziz, Mohamed (2022). "Fear and Loathing in the Hellenistic Agora: Antenor's Tyrannicides Return". Hesperia: The Journal of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens. 91 (2): 311–350. S2CID 252017040.