Scopas ( grc-gre, Σκόπας; born in Paros, fl. 4th century BCE) was an ancient Greek sculptor and architect, most famous for his statue of Meleager, the copper statue of

Aphrodite Aphrodite ( ; grc-gre, Ἀφροδίτη, Aphrodítē; , , ) is an ancient Greek goddess associated with love, lust, beauty, pleasure, passion, and procreation. She was syncretized with the Roman goddess . Aphrodite's major symbols include ...

, and the head of goddess Hygieia, daughter of

Asclepius Asclepius (; grc-gre, Ἀσκληπιός ''Asklēpiós'' ; la, Aesculapius) is a hero and god of medicine in ancient Greek religion and mythology. He is the son of Apollo and Coronis, or Arsinoe, or of Apollo alone. Asclepius represen ...

Early life and family

Scopas was born on the island of Paros. His father was the sculptor

Aristander of Paros Aristander ( grc, Αρίστανδρος) of Paros was an ancient Greek sculptor. This artist was responsible for one of the sacrificial tripods which the Lacedaemonians made out of the spoils of the Battle of Aegospotami (405 BCE), and dedicated a ...

. Skopas left Paros at an early age and travelled throughout the Hellenic world.

Career as sculptor and architect

Scopas worked with

Praxiteles Praxiteles (; el, Πραξιτέλης) of Athens, the son of Cephisodotus the Elder, was the most renowned of the Attica sculptors of the 4th century BC. He was the first to sculpt the nude female form in a life-size statue. While no indubitab ...

, and he sculpted parts of the

Mausoleum of Halicarnassus The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus or Tomb of Mausolus ( grc, Μαυσωλεῖον τῆς Ἁλικαρνασσοῦ; tr, Halikarnas Mozolesi) was a tomb built between 353 and 350 BC in Halicarnassus (present Bodrum, Turkey) for Mausolus, ...

, especially the reliefs. He led the building of the new temple of

Athena Alea Alea ( Ancient Greek: ) was an epithet of the Greek goddess Athena, prominent in Arcadian mythology, under which she was worshiped at Alea, Mantineia and Tegea. Alea was initially an independent goddess, but was eventually assimilated with A ...

at Tegea. Similar to

Lysippus Lysippos (; grc-gre, Λύσιππος) was a Greek sculptor of the 4th century BC. Together with Scopas and Praxiteles, he is considered one of the three greatest sculptors of the Classical Greek era, bringing transition into the Hellenistic p ...

, Scopas is artistically a successor of the Classical Greek sculptor

Polykleitos Polykleitos ( grc, Πολύκλειτος) was an ancient Greek sculptor in bronze of the 5th century BCE. Alongside the Athenian sculptors Pheidias, Myron and Praxiteles, he is considered one of the most important sculptors of classical antiqui ...

. The faces of the heads are almost in quadrat. The deeply sunken eyes and a slightly opened mouth are recognizable characteristics in the figures of Scopas. Works by Scopas are preserved in the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It documen ...

(reliefs) in London; fragments from the temple of Athena Alea at Tegea in the

National Archaeological Museum of Athens The National Archaeological Museum ( el, Εθνικό Αρχαιολογικό Μουσείο) in Athens houses some of the most important artifacts from a variety of archaeological locations around Greece from prehistory to late antiquity. It is ...

; the celebrated Ludovisi Ares in the

Palazzo Altemps The National Roman Museum (Italian: ''Museo Nazionale Romano'') is a museum, with several branches in separate buildings throughout the city of Rome, Italy. It shows exhibits from the pre- and early history of Rome, with a focus on archaeological ...

, Rome; a statue of Pothos restored as

Apollo Citharoedus An Apollo Citharoedus, or Apollo Citharede, is a statue or other image of Apollo with a kithara, cithara (lyre). Among the best-known examples is the ''Apollo Citharoedus (Vatican), Apollo Citharoedus'' of the Vatican Museums, a 2nd-century AD co ...

in the

Capitoline Museum The Capitoline Museums (Italian: ''Musei Capitolini'') are a group of art and archaeological museums in Piazza del Campidoglio, on top of the Capitoline Hill in Rome, Italy. The historic seats of the museums are Palazzo dei Conservatori and P ...

, Rome; and his statue of Meleager, unmentioned in ancient literature but surviving in numerous replicas, perhaps best represented by a torso in the

Fogg Art Museum The Harvard Art Museums are part of Harvard University and comprise three museums: the Fogg Museum (established in 1895), the Busch-Reisinger Museum (established in 1903), and the Arthur M. Sackler Museum (established in 1985), and four research ...

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston, ...

Pothos

''Pothos'', or ''Desire'', was a celebrated and much imitated statue by Scopas. Roman copies featured the human figure with a variety of props, such as musical instruments and fabrics as depicted here,Steven Lattimore, "Scopas and the Pothos", ''American Journal of Archaeology'' Vol.91 No.3 (July 1987), pages 411–42
journal preview
/ref> in an example that was in the collection of Cardinal Alessandro Albani.

Namesake

Scopas (crater) Scopas is a crater on Mercury, near the south pole. Its name was adopted by the International Astronomical Union in 1976, after the ancient Greek sculptor and architect Scopas Scopas ( grc-gre, Σκόπας; born in Paros, fl. 4th century BC ...

Gallery

File:NAMA Hygie.jpg, Head of the goddess Hygieia by Scopas from the temple of

at Tegea (

) File:Meleager Pio-Clementino Inv490.jpg, A Roman 1st century AD marble '' Meleager'' with

chlamys The chlamys ( Ancient Greek: χλαμύς : chlamýs, genitive: χλαμύδος : chlamydos) was a type of an ancient Greek cloak.Museo Pio-Clementino The Vatican Museums ( it, Musei Vaticani; la, Musea Vaticana) are the public museums of the Vatican City. They display works from the immense collection amassed by the Catholic Church and the papacy throughout the centuries, including several of ...

, Rome) File:Meleager Skopas BM GR1906.1-17.1.jpg, Roman marble head of Meleager, after Scopas, on a restored bust (

) File:Archaeological museum, Athens (5615666772).jpg, Hunter stele by Scopas (National Archaeological Museum of Athens) File:Pothos Apollo Musei Capitolini MC649.jpg, One of many Roman copies of Pothos (Desire), a statue by Scopas, restored here as

Apollo Apollo, grc, Ἀπόλλωνος, Apóllōnos, label=genitive , ; , grc-dor, Ἀπέλλων, Apéllōn, ; grc, Ἀπείλων, Apeílōn, label=Arcadocypriot Greek, ; grc-aeo, Ἄπλουν, Áploun, la, Apollō, la, Apollinis, label= ...

Kitharoidos (Apollo, the

Cithara The kithara (or Latinized cithara) ( el, κιθάρα, translit=kithāra, lat, cithara) was an ancient Greek musical instrument in the yoke lutes family. In modern Greek the word ''kithara'' has come to mean "guitar", a word which etymolog ...

-player) File:MarbleHeadsScopas.jpg, Two marble heads by Scopas, National Museum Athens

Literature

* Andreas Linfert: ''Von Polyklet zu Lysipp. Polyklets Schule und ihr Verhältnis zu Skopas v. Paros''. Diss. Freiburg i. B. 1965. * Andrew F. Stewart: ''Skopas of Paros''. Noyes Pr., Park Ridge, N.Y. 1977. * Andrew Stewart: ''Skopas in Malibu. The head of Achilles from Tegea and other sculptures by Skopas in the J. Paul Getty Museum'' J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu, Calif. 1982. * Skopas of Paros and his world, International Conference on the Archaeology of Paros and the Cyclades Paroikia, Paros, Greece), Katsōnopoulou, Dora., Stewart, Andrew F.

References

4th-century BC Greek sculptors Ancient Greek sculptors Ancient Parians {{Greece-sculptor-stub