"Diskobol" (Myron): the history of the creation of the statue

"Discobolus" (Myron) is an officially recognized example of the sculptural mastery of the classical period in the art of ancient Greece. This statue depicts a naked young athlete, who is preparing to throw a sports projectile. What is so interesting about this sculpture, which glorified its author, Myron, for many centuries? Whom she depicts - a specific person, an Olympic god? You will learn about this from this article. Here, in passing, we will inform you that "Discobol", on a par with the rings, is the official symbol of the Olympic Games. This sign seems to confirm the ancient roots of this sporting event.

Myron and his school

Unfortunately, we can not name the exact birth and death dates of this master. We only know something about his life, and even not from the lips of contemporaries, but from the writings of ancient Roman authors who appreciated his work very much. According to Pliny, the author of Discobolus was born in the middle of the fifth century BC in Eleuthera - a small town on the border of two provinces in Attic Greece - Boeotia and Attica. Most likely, his father was not a sculptor. Myron studied in Argos at Agelad. Together with him, this famous sculptor took lessons from Phidias and Policlet. For his skill, as Pausanias writes, Miron received the citizenship of Athens. This was then considered a great honor. Working in Athens, Myron received orders from other cities to make sculptures of gods, heroes, athletes and animals. In addition, he became famous and as a skilled jeweler in his work with silver.

Other creations of Myron

It can not be said that the recognition and glory were bypassed by this sculptor. On the contrary, "fashion" for him firmly rooted even during the life of the creator and did not go until the end of antiquity. The ancient Romans repeated his works in numerous copies. And although all the originals of the Miron cutter are lost, we know how they looked. Some of the sculptures were immortalized even in verse (for example, Lada runner). Cicero and Pliny mention the statues of the famous master at Ephesus, the sanctuary of Asklepius in the Sicilian Acragante, in the hometown of his teacher Argos, in Boeotian Orchomenos, in the islands of Aegina and Samos. But most of all they brought the laurels to the sculptor his "Athena and Marcia" and "Discobolus". Myron also decorated the Athenian acropolis with the sculptural group "Hercules and Perseus". The images of Zeus, Athena-Pallas and Hercules so pleased Anthony that he took sculptures from Samos and installed them in Alexandria. A bronze cow on a pedestal of marble was brought from Athens to Rome.

What did the original look like?

We can argue that "Discobol" is a statue cast from bronze. Unfortunately, it has not survived. Probably, it was melted down or simply destroyed during the Middle Ages. We can only guess how such a plastic, warm color material, like bronze, conveyed the play of muscles under the "tanned skin". This sculpture tried to replicate many Roman sculptors. As a material, they chose a more resistant marble. But he demanded pylons and was heavier. In addition, followers sometimes deliberately changed the turn of the head. For example, in some copies the athlete's eyes are directed not down to the disk, but downward. The best Roman repetition is a marble statue exhibited at the National Museum in Rome. It was found in 1781 on the Esquiline Hill. Also known fragments of the sculpture - a torso, a hand with a disc, the head of an athlete. They are stored in museums in Berlin, Florence, the Vatican, Munich, Basel.

Why Discobolus?

Miron was not the first sculptor to depict the projectile thrower. In ancient Greece, it was customary to establish monuments to the winners of the competitions. We know the sculptures of discus throwers, as well as runners and other athletes, performed in the archaic period. However, they all amaze with their static. They look stiff. These are the young men frozen in a "canonical" pose: a slightly left forward leg, in the right hand a disc or dart. The classical period in the art of ancient Greece required more. While creating his Discobol, Miron tried to portray a man in motion. In bronze, the brief moment is recorded, when a wide-swinging hand stiffens for a moment before making the final throw. And this state of rest in the movement is especially striking.

Who depicts Discobolus?

The statue presents to us a perfectly built young man. According to the rules of the Olympic Games, he is naked. Who is he, this likely winner of the discus throwing competition? We do not know. Even looking at the statue's face, we will not catch any hint of portrait resemblance. The city, who sent his citizen to participate in the Games, did not want his personal glorification, but his own. It was "the small homeland of the athlete" that was immortalized in bronze, and not some particular person. According to the canons of the classical period, the youth's impassive face contrasts with the full dynamics of the body. The sculpture was designed to look at it in full face. It is from this position that DISCOBOL is more fully revealed. The photo taken on the left represents a sculpture narrowed and shriveled, somewhat inferior, lost its volume.