Torso of the discobolus, restored as Diomedes with the palladium

Excavated in 1774 by Gavin Hamilton in the Baths of the Marine Gate (IV,X,1-2). Sold in 1776 by Gavin Hamilton to Lord Shelburne (Lansdowne collection).
Restored in 1775 by Bartolomeo Cavaceppi to represent Diomedes holding the Palladium. Restored parts: arms and hands, right leg, part of the left leg, both feet, Palladium. The head is ancient but it does not belong to the torso.
H. 1.79, h. of torso 1.15.

A copy of the famous lost bronze of a discus-thrower by the mid-fifth-century BC Greek sculptor Myron. About the torso Hamilton wrote to Charles Townley: "You will ask me why I call it a Diomed, I answer because I have proved every thing elce absurd. ... Your Lordship will ask me why I suppose this statue to be a Diomedes. I answer because it would be to the last degree absurd to suppose it anything else".

Arachne 51168. H. Thliveri, "The discobolos of Myron: narrative appeal & three-dimensionality", Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies, Supplement 104 (2010), 7-70, cat. nr. 5. E. Angelicoussis, "Diomedes and Diskobolus", Apollo 173 (2011), 46-51. Photo: Angelicoussis 2011, fig. 1.