Living Poets

Object Description: Standing marble statue identified as Sophocles by its very close likeness to a small inscribed bust (Musei Vaticani, Sala delle Muse, inv. 322).

Object Archaeology: Found at Terracina in 1839.

Inscriptions: None

Restorations: Much of the face; the feet, plinth, and scroll case (scrinium); part of the right hand; small patches of mantle (Richter 1965: 129).

Dimensions: Height: 204 cm.

Examples of type in major collections (after Richter 1965: 129-130):

• Rome, Musei Vaticani. Full-length statue.
• Rome, Musei Vaticani, Sala delle Muse, inv. 322. Small inscribed bust.
• Rome, Musei Capitolini, Stanza dei Filosofi, no. 22. Herm with reattached head.
• Rome, Musei Capitolini, Stanza dei Filosofi, no. 23. Head on modern herm.
• Rome, Villa Albani, Caffeehaus, no. 731. Head on modern herm, inscribed “Solon”.
• Florence, Galleria degli Uffizi, inv. 1914, no. 377. Head on unrelated herm.
• Florence, Archaeological Museum, inv. 1645. Bronze bust, possibly a seventeenth- or eighteenth-century copy.
• Florence, Palazzo Riccardi. Front part of head.

Richter reports several others that could not be found in 1965.

Bibliography

• Hanink, J. 2014. Lycurgan Athens and the Making of Classical Tragedy. Cambridge.
• Papastamati-von Moock, C. 2007. ‘Menander und die Tragikergruppe: Neue Forschung zu den Ehrenmonumenten im Dionysostheater von Athen.’ Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts, Athenische Abteilung 122: 273-328.
  • 2014. ‘The Theatre of Dionysus Eleuthereus in Athens: New Data and Observations on its ‘Lycurgan’ Phase.’ In E. Csapo, H. R. Goette, J. R. Green, and P. Wilson (eds.), Greek Theatre in the Fourth Century B.C. Berlin: 15-76.
• Richter, G.M.A. 1965. The Portraits of the Greeks. London, Phaidon Press: 129-130.
  • and R.R.R. Smith. 1984. The Portraits of the Greeks. Ithaca: 206-9.
• Schefold, K. and Bayard, A.-C. 1997. Die Bildnisse der Antiken Dichter, Redner und Denker. Basel: 180-3.
• Zanker. P. 1995. The Mask of Socrates: the Image of the Intellectual in Antiquity. Berkeley: 43-57.