The Pericles and Pythian Apollo statues: on the sculptural legacy of Kresilas

Abstract

This paper proposes a new understanding of the bearded warrior on the Taman stele as Peri cles’ postmortem image in the iconography of his statue by Kresilas. The stylistic difference be tween the two warriors on the relief is explained by the fact that the master copied the older war rior from an Attic model, and created the younger one entirely himself outside the Athenian sculpture school traditions. The image of Pericles on the stele allows us to reconstruct the lost monument. Based on the similarity of the Apollo Kassel and the facial features of the herm of Pericles in the Vatican and on the similar poses of the Apollo statue and the Pericles image, it is likely that the Apollo Kassel displays another lost work of Kresilas. Apollo stands in almost the same pose as the image of Pericles, differing only in the turn of his head and the mirror composi tion of his legs. Kresilas reused the position of Apollo’s hands in the Pericles statue, placing the fingers on the shield of Athena Parthenos by Pheidias and the spear of Doryphoros by Polykleitos. With these allusions, he linked key works of pre-war sculpture, creating not only a monument to Pericles, but also a monument to an entire era.