The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of August 13, 2026

A fragmented beige limestone relief depicts two muscular nude men in side profile. On the left, a figure wearing a wide-brimmed hat strides toward the right, his right arm raised and a cape billowing behind. Facing him, a warrior wearing a crested helmet strides left. The rectangular stone features jagged, broken edges and weathered surfaces. Missing limbs and worn details underscore the aged condition and energetic, confrontational movement of the two figures.

Relief of Striding Warriors

300–200 BCE

Greek/South Italian, Taranto

(ancient Taras)
limestone
Overall: 32.7 cm (12 7/8 in.)
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1927.436
Location: 102C Greek

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.
  • Howard, Rossiter. "Orestes Sarcophagus and Greek Accessions." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 15, no. 4 (1928): 90-87. Mentioned: p. 91. www.jstor.org
    Klumbach, Hans. Tarentiner Grabkunst. Reutlingen: Gryphius-Verlag, 1937. Mentioned: p. 4, 58, 71-73, cat.no. 15, Reproduced: pl. 4.
    Wuilleumier, Pierre. Tarente, des origines à la conquête romaine. Bibliothèque des Écoles françaises d'Athènes et de Rome, fasc. CXLVIII, Paris,1939. Mentioned: p. 300, Reproduced: pl. 13, 5.
    Bieber, Margarete. "Greek Sculpture in the Cleveland Museum of Art," Art in America Vol. 31, No. 3 (July 1943): 113-126. Discussed p. 123, ill fig. 10.
    Bernabo-Brea, Luigi. "I rilievi tarantini in pietra tenera." Rivista dell'Istituto Nazionale d’Archeologia e Storia dell’Arte, Nuova Serie I, Roma: "L'Erma" di Bretschneider, 1952. pp. 120-121, fig. 82.
    Bieber, Margarete. The Sculpture of the Hellenistic Age Rev. ed. Columbia Bicentennial Editions and Studies. New York: Columbia University Press, 1961. Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 170, Fig. 722.
    Carter, Martha L. Classical Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1961. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 7-8; Plate 14 archive.org
    Havelock, Christine Mitchell. Hellenistic Art; The Art of the Classical World from the Death of Alexander the Great to the Battle of Actium. Greenwich, Conn: New York Graphic Society, 1970. Pages 190-191, cat. 149.
    Hoffmann, Herbert. Collecting Greek Antiquities. New York: C.N. Potter, 1971. Mentioned: p. 14-15, Reproduced: fig. 15.
    Carter, Joseph Coleman. The Sculpture of Taras. (Transactions of the American Philosophical Society; new ser., v. 65, pt. 7). Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1975. Mentioned: p. 68, cat. 188, ill. pl. 31a.
    Hadzi, Martha Leeb. Transformations in Hellenistic Art, Mount Holyoke College Art Museum, South Hadley, Massachusetts, February 3-March 18, 1983. [South Hadley, Mass.]: Trustees of Mount Holyoke College, 1983. Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 32, cat. 12.
    Adornato, Gianfranco. "La Scultura tra Taranto e la Grecia. Per Una Revisione della documentazione Scultorea." In L’eredità Di Taranto: La Scultura Nel IV E III Sec. A.C.: Atti Dell’Incontro Di Studio, Lecce, 24-25 Gennaio 2024, Francesco D’Andria, Maria Piera Caggia, and Tommaso Ismaelli, eds., 45-60. Bari: Edipuglia, 2025. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 48-49, fig. 3
  • Classic to Baroque: A Style Change in the Arts. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 30-November 13, 1949).
  • {{cite web|title=Relief of Striding Warriors|url=false|author=|year=300–200 BCE|access-date=13 August 2026|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1927.436