It seems to me that it is necessary to highlight how the recent analyses on the casting materials of the two Riace statues have demonstrated that the two Bronzes were made in Argos, in the Peloponnese, in the same period and in the same workshop. Why are the hypotheses which do not take these last data into account still taken into consideration, if not even promoted by the media? Why do we consider archaeology according to a scientific pattern which is different from that of medicine and physics? Which scientist of any other branch or discipline would dare to suggest theories in marked contrast to the evidence of laboratory data? This is possible in archaeology, but it is its greatest limitation, which is condemning it to irrelevance. But perhaps another way is possible… In my opinion, for a successful interpretation of the Riace Bronzes another element of clarification had to be inserted: the “Lille Papyrus”. With an extraordinary stroke of luck, Stesichorus’ fragment offers the text of the speech that the mother of Eteocles and Polynices, in the group of the Bronzes that we identify with the world-famous “Fratricides” by Pythagoras of Rhegion, addresses to her sons who are about to confront each other in a mortal duel. Bronze statues that look like actors on a stage! A conception of art that seems highly modern, but still dates back to the Severe Style, the first period in which Hellenes gave the world an art able to be mimesis, imitation of reality.

The problem of the identification of the Riace Bronzes: a literary approach

Daniele Castrizio
2021-01-01

Abstract

It seems to me that it is necessary to highlight how the recent analyses on the casting materials of the two Riace statues have demonstrated that the two Bronzes were made in Argos, in the Peloponnese, in the same period and in the same workshop. Why are the hypotheses which do not take these last data into account still taken into consideration, if not even promoted by the media? Why do we consider archaeology according to a scientific pattern which is different from that of medicine and physics? Which scientist of any other branch or discipline would dare to suggest theories in marked contrast to the evidence of laboratory data? This is possible in archaeology, but it is its greatest limitation, which is condemning it to irrelevance. But perhaps another way is possible… In my opinion, for a successful interpretation of the Riace Bronzes another element of clarification had to be inserted: the “Lille Papyrus”. With an extraordinary stroke of luck, Stesichorus’ fragment offers the text of the speech that the mother of Eteocles and Polynices, in the group of the Bronzes that we identify with the world-famous “Fratricides” by Pythagoras of Rhegion, addresses to her sons who are about to confront each other in a mortal duel. Bronze statues that look like actors on a stage! A conception of art that seems highly modern, but still dates back to the Severe Style, the first period in which Hellenes gave the world an art able to be mimesis, imitation of reality.
2021
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11570/3205550
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