Small marble statue of an athlete
An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art
Among the greatest honors accorded ancient Greek athletes were statues dedicated to the gods to commemorate victories in the games held at the Panhellenic sanctuaries and local festivals throughout the Greek world. These statues, typically made of bronze or marble, could be set up at the sanctuary where the games occurred or in a public place in the victor’s hometown. Not all Panhellenic victors received statues, and some did only years after winning. Statues could commemorate a single victory or many victories, which were customarily recorded on the statue’s base. In Hellenistic times, athletic programs at the Panhellenic festivals were expanded to their greatest extent, and as a result, there was a much wider variety of athletic statues than in the preceding Classical period. This athlete is represented fastening a headband with a chinstrap, which would have afforded some protection for his cauliflower ears. It also may have served as an emblem of distinction, one that would stay securely in place during competition. He was clearly a competitor inone of the combat sports—boxing, wrestling, or the pankration, an athletic contest that combined boxing, wrestling, and kicking.
Greek and Roman Art
An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Museum's collection of Greek and Roman art comprises more than thirty thousand works ranging in date from the Neolithic period (ca. 4500 B.C.) to the time of the Roman emperor Constantine's conversion to Christianity in A.D. 312. It includes the art of many cultures and is among the most comprehensive in North America. The geographic regions represented are Greece and Italy, but not as delimited by modern political frontiers: Greek colonies were established around the Mediterranean basin and on the shores of the Black Sea, and Cyprus became increasingly Hellenized. For Roman art, the geographical limits coincide with the expansion of the Roman Empire. The department also exhibits the art of prehistoric Greece (Helladic, Cycladic, and Minoan) and pre-Roman art of Italic peoples, notably the Etruscans.