Collection: Athens, Acropolis Museum
Title: Head of an athlete
Context: From Athens, Acropolis
Findspot: Found at Athens, Acropolis (found in 1865 SE of the Parthenon)
Summary: Head of a youth wearing a taenia
Object Function: Victory?
Sculptor: Under the influence of Pheidias
Material: Marble
Sculpture Type: Free-standing statue
Category: Separated fragments
Style: High Classical
Technique: In-the-round
Original or Copy: Original
Date: ca. 450 BC - ca. 440 BC
Dimensions: H. 0.225 m
Scale: Life-size
Region: Attica
Period: High Classical


Subject Description: The head seems to commemorate a (victorious?) athlete, as indicated by the taenia (band) around his hair.

Condition: Head only (nearly complete)

Condition Description: The head is intact, but missing most of the nose; it is also chipped, especially around the edges of the neck, on the chin, right cheek, and eyebrows. Traces of paint remain on the eye balls.

Material Description: Parian marble, according to Brouskari

Technique Description: As the hair is only sketchily carved, it may be presumed that details would have been added in paint.

Sources Used: Brouskari 1974, 131, fig. 252

Other Bibliography: Dohrn 1957, 69 n. 20; Lippold 1950, 161 n. 12; Schrader 1924, 128; Dickins 1912, 266-67