Title: Apollo Lykeios
Context: From Athens, Lykeion (Gymnasium)
Summary: Apollo resting his arm over his head
Object Function: Cult
Sculptor: Suggested attribution to Praxiteles
Sculpture Type: Free-standing statue
Category: Original/copies
Style: Late Classical
Technique: In-the-round
Original or Copy: Original (lost)
Date: ca. 370 BC - ca. 360 BC
Scale: Life-size
Region: Attica
Period: Late Classical

Subject Description:

As restored from copies, Apollo stands with weight on his right leg, and his left leg flexed, and pulled aside. Better preserved replicas, as well as images of the original on Athenian coins (tetradrachms) from the Roman period, show that the figure leaned against a support on its left side, held a bow in the left hand, and leaned his right hand on his head. Lucian notes that this statue was found in the gymnasium, which was dedicated to Apollo Lykeios, and that the god was shown leaning on a column, with a bow in his left hand. He further explains that the right arm bent over the head shows that the god was resting after exerting himself.

Form & Style:

Lucian does not mention the sculptor of the statue; as the copies resemble the Olympia Hermes with Infant Dionysos, a statue created by Praxiteles, Rizzo (79) and others have likewise attributed the original Apollo Lykeios to Praxiteles.

Condition: Lost

Sources Used:

Richter 1954, 104-105 no. 105, pl. 85.a-c

Other Bibliography:

Rizzo 1932, pl. 119 no. 1; Lippold 1923, 46, 149, 173, 177