Depiction of a young man, nude, his weight resting on his left leg. The relaxed right leg is bent and drawn behind and to the side with only the toes touching the ground, giving the body strong contrapposto. The left arm hangs loose at the side, while the right is held forwards and upwards and slightly extended to the right. It is evident from the open fingers that he held an object in his right hand. It is not clear whom the statue depicts. The statue is assembled and restored in a number of places on the abdomen and left shoulder.
According to one view it is the hero Perseus, holding the head of Medusa, although a more prob-able theory regards it as a representation of Paris, the prince of Troy, shown during his judgement holding the apple of Strife, which he is about to award to the most beautiful goddess.
The general structure of the piece, with the strongly modeled muscles, particularly the transverse abdominal, pectoralis major and gluteal muscles, attests to the Polykleitian tradition. Probably from the hand of the sculptor Euphranor of Sikyon (340-330 BC).
Source: Nikolaos Kaltsas, “Sculpture in the National Archaeological Museum, Athens”
Bronze statue
Height: 194 cm.
Attributed to Euphranor of Sikyon
340 – 330 BC
Found in the sea off Antikythera in 1900,
Athens, National Archaeological Museum, Inv. No. X13396
