The Marathon Boy or Ephebe of Marathon is a Greek bronze sculpture found in the

Aegean Sea The Aegean Sea ; tr, Ege Denizi (Greek language, Greek: Αιγαίο Πέλαγος: "Egéo Pélagos", Turkish language, Turkish: "Ege Denizi" or "Adalar Denizi") is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea between Europe and Asia. It ...

in the bay of Marathon in 1925. The sculpture is conserved 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 ...

where it is dated to around 340–330 BC. The Museum suggests that the subject is the winner of an athletic competition. With its soft musculature and exaggerated ''

contrapposto ''Contrapposto'' () is an Italian term that means "counterpoise". It is used in the visual arts to describe a human figure standing with most of its weight on one foot, so that its shoulders and arms twist off-axis from the hips and legs in the a ...

'', its style is associated with the school of

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 indubita ...

. The upraised arm and the distribution of weight indicate that in his original context, this ''

ephebe ''Ephebe'' (from the Greek ''ephebos'' ἔφηβος (plural: ''epheboi'' ἔφηβοι), anglicised as ephebe (plural: ephebes), or Latinate ''ephebus'' (plural: ''ephebi'') is the term for an adolescent male. In ancient Greek society and myth ...

'' was leaning against a vertical support, such as a column.The unusual stance was noted by Gisela Richter, "The Hermes of Praxiteles" ''American Journal of Archaeology'' 35.3 (July - September 1931:277-290) p. 280, crediting W. Wrede, in ''Arch. Anz.'' 1926:401 with the observation. On this, see also Dafas, K. A., 2019. ''Greek Large-Scale Bronze Statuary: The Late Archaic and Classical Periods'', Institute of Classical Studies, School of Advanced Study, University of London, Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies, Monograph, BICS Supplement 138 (London), pp. 84-96, pls 72-81.

Other underwater finds

Before the advent of

scuba diving Scuba diving is a mode of underwater diving whereby divers use breathing equipment that is completely independent of a surface air supply. The name "scuba", an acronym for "Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus", was coined by Chris ...

, its chance recovery suggested the possibility that artistic as well as archaeological treasures had been preserved from human destruction in underwater sites. Other well-known underwater bronze finds have been retrieved, generally from

shipwreck A shipwreck is the wreckage of a ship that is located either beached on land or sunken to the bottom of a body of water. Shipwrecking may be intentional or unintentional. Angela Croome reported in January 1999 that there were approximately ...

sites, in the Aegean and Mediterranean: the

Antikythera mechanism The Antikythera mechanism ( ) is an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek hand-powered orrery, described as the oldest example of an analogue computer used to predict astronomy, astronomical positions and eclipses decades in advance. It could also be ...

, the ''

Antikythera Ephebe The Antikythera Ephebe, registered as: ''Bronze statue of a youth'' in the museum collections, is a bronze statue of a young man of languorous grace that was found in 1900 by sponge-divers in the area of the ancient Antikythera shipwreck off t ...

'' and the portrait head of a

Stoic Stoic may refer to: * An adherent of Stoicism; one whose moral quality is associated with that school of philosophy *STOIC, a programming language * ''Stoic'' (film), a 2009 film by Uwe Boll * ''Stoic'' (mixtape), a 2012 mixtape by rapper T-Pain *' ...

discovered by sponge-divers in 1900, the

Mahdia shipwreck The shipwreck of Mahdia was found by Greek sponge fishermen off the coast of Tunisia in June 1907. The shipwreck near the modern town of Mahdia is dated about the 80s BC, or even later. In a series of underwater campaigns numerous items were rec ...

off the coast of Tunisia, 1907; the standing ''

Poseidon of Cape Artemision The Artemision Bronze (often called the God from the Sea) is an ancient Greek sculpture that was recovered from the sea off Cape Artemision, in northern Euboea, Greece. According to most scholars, the bronze represents Zeus, the thunder-god and ...

'' found off Cape Artemision in northern Euboea, 1926; the ''horse'' and ''Rider'' found off Cape Artemision, 1928 and 1937; the ''

Getty Victorious Youth The Victorious Youth, Getty Bronze, also known as ''Atleta di Fano'', or ''Lisippo di Fano'' is a Greek bronze sculpture, made between 300 and 100 BC, in the collections of the J. Paul Getty Museum, Pacific Palisades, California. Many underwate ...

'' dredged up off the coast of Fano, Italy; the

Riace bronzes The ''Riace bronzes'' (Italian: ''Bronzi di Riace'', ), also called the Riace Warriors, are two full-size Greek bronzes of naked bearded warriors, cast about 460–450 BC that were found in the sea in 1972 near Riace, Calabria, in southern It ...

, found in 1972; the

Dancing Satyr of Mazara del Vallo The ''Dancing Satyr'' of Mazara del Vallo is an over-lifesize Greek bronze statue, whose refinement and ''rapprochement'' with the manner of Praxiteles has made it a subject of discussion. It is an example of a dancing satyr, a sculptural archet ...

, in the Sicily Channel, 2003; and the '' Apoxyomenos'' recovered from the sea off the Croatian island of

Lošinj Lošinj (; it, Lussino; vec, Lusin, earlier ''Osero''; german: Lötzing; la, Apsorrus; grc, Ἄψορρος) is a Croatian island in the northern Adriatic Sea, in the Kvarner Gulf. It is almost due south of the city of Rijeka and part of the ...

in 1999.

Notes and references

External links

"The Marathon Boy and the Satyr"
Comparable Roman marbles of a Satyr pouring wine. {{National Archaeological Museum of Athens 4th-century BC Greek sculpture 1925 archaeological discoveries National Archaeological Museum, Athens Nude sculptures Ancient Greek bronze statues of the classical period