Relief of Striding Warriors

300–200 BCE

Greek/South Italian, Taranto

(ancient Taras)

Overall: 32.7 cm (12 7/8 in.)
Weight: 11.793 kg (26 lbs.)

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1927.436

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Did You Know?

This relief was likely part of a larger frieze that decorated a naiskos, or small temple, above a grave.

Description

This carved limestone relief depicts two warriors striding to the right, one wearing a broad traveler's hat called a petasos and the other a Corinthian helmet. Each wears a short cloak called a chlamys over his left arm (now missing on the righthand warrior). The left warrior looks back, perhaps toward a horseman, since a small fragment of a horse’s foreleg remains behind his knee. The strong diagonals of the warriors contrasted with the flowing drapery of their cloaks demonstrates a dynamism characteristic of Hellenistic relief sculpture.