The fact that actual remains of bronze statues have been excavated at Olympia is matched by the fact that remnants of marble statues have also been found; and it does not seem reasonable, in the light of the evidence adduced by Treu, Furtwaengler, and others, to reject these as fragments of actual victor statues. These fragments include the following:[2201]
(a, b) The two life-size archaic helmeted heads (Fig. [30]) which we have ascribed to hoplite victors.[2202]
(c, d, e) Fragments of statues of boy victors: c = trunk with left upper leg, three-fifths life-size (Fig. [78]);[2203] d = breast, one-half life-size;[2204]
e = upper part of legs of a statue, two-thirds life-size.[2205] Besides these Treu also adduces fragments of four different boy statues, all of which are less than life-size.[2206]
The reticence of Pausanias as to the material used in these statues
Fig. 78.—Small Marble Torso of a Boy Victor, from Olympia. Museum of Olympia. is merely in accord with his custom, for he very rarely mentions the materials of monuments, and apparently only where monuments of bronze and stone or other materials stand close together in a circumscribed area, as for instance, in enumerating the various monuments in the Heraion at Olympia.[2207] The only inference, therefore, to be drawn from Pausanias’ statement about the statue of Promachos mentioned is that this particular statue of a victor at Olympia was of bronze. We are not justified in going any further. Besides this stone statue at Pellene we have other actual notices of marble statues of Olympic victors outside Olympia, as those of Arrhachion at Phigalia[2208] (Fig. [79]) and of Agias by Lysippos at Delphi (Pl. [28] and Fig. [68]). If they existed outside Olympia, there is no reason why they should not have existed in the Altis also, e. g., the Lysippan marble head found there, which we assigned in the preceding chapter to the Akarnanian victor Philandridas (Frontispiece, and Fig. [69]). Many of the older statues, like that of Arrhachion, conformed with the “Apollo” type, as we have shown in Ch. III,[5] and doubtless many such at Olympia were of marble.
Reinach’s argument that stone statues in Greece, because of their patina of color, were intended to be placed under cover in the porticoes or cellas of temples and elsewhere, while bronze ones were meant to stand in the open air, has been sufficiently combatted by H. Lechat,[2209] who argues that the use of paint in Greek architecture and on temple sculptures proves the contrary. As the paint was burnt in, it was reasonably durable, and if it did not prove so it was readily renewed. At Olympia, among several examples, we may cite the marble Nike of Paionios, which stood in the open in the space to the east of the temple of Zeus[2210] (see Plans A and B), while, on the other hand, a bronze statue of Aphrodite stood within the Heraion.[2211] The argument that metal statues were cheaper than marble must also be questioned.[2212] In the earlier part of the present work we saw that, for economy’s sake, many victors set up small bronze statuettes instead of statues at Olympia, numbers of which have been recovered. That such dedications were common elsewhere is shown by the countless athlete statuettes—especially diskoboloi—which are to be found in all European museums.[2213] For similar reasons victors would choose in place of bronze the less durable and cheaper stone, as in the cases of Arrhachion and Promachos cited, or even wood, as in those of Rhexibios and Praxidamas. Still others, especially boy victors, would set up small marble statues, two-fifths to two-thirds life-size, as the fragments of the seven examples collected by Treu and already enumerated above show.
Thus we see that the contention that the victor statues at Olympia were exclusively of bronze, in the light of the evidence adduced, is untenable.