Artwork Page for Torso of Apollo

Details / Information for Torso of Apollo

Torso of Apollo

c. 100–200 CE

Italy, Roman

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Medium
marble
Measurements
Overall: 90 cm (35 7/16 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of J. H. Wade 1924.1017
Public Domain
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Location
Not on view
Print
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Did You Know?

Apollo received his lyre from Hermes, who invented it.

Description

This ancient statue depicts the Greek god Apollo, identified by his youthful body and the fragmentary remains of his kithara, a type of lyre (or stringed instrument) used by poets and musicians in ancient Greece. Both the kithara, decorated with griffins, and the swan upon which it rests (atop a triangular column), signify Apollo’s roles as the god of music and leader of the Muses. Beloved by the Muses for their song, swans were considered sacred to Apollo because he gave them the gift of prophecy. Swans sing a glorious song before they die, knowing they will soon return to Apollo to be reborn.
A marble sculpture depicts the nude, muscular god Apollo with his head, arms, and legs below the knees broken off. He stands next to a triangular column on which rests a swan, neck curving to look back up at him and a lyre on its back, between its open wings. The lyre, a U-shaped harp, has broken off above the base on which sit back-to-back griffins, with lion bodies and eagle heads and wings.

Torso of Apollo

c. 100–200 CE

Italy, Roman

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