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Bronze statue with cuirass recovered from sea - Printable Version

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Bronze statue with cuirass recovered from sea - Dan Diffendale - 05-09-2006

There's an article from Yahoo News here. It's too bad there aren't better pictures, but this is better than nothing. Is that a linothorax? I'll reproduce it here in case the article expires in the future:

Quote:Mon May 8, 8:25 PM ET

ATHENS, Greece - A Greek fisherman has handed over to authorities a large section of an ancient bronze statue brought up in his nets in the Aegean Sea, officials said on Monday.

The male torso was located last week near the eastern Aegean island of Kalymnos, the Culture Ministry said in an announcement.

The one-meter (3-foot) high find belonged to a statue of a horseback soldier, and would have been part of the cargo of an ancient ship that sank in the area. It was taken to Athens to be cleaned and dated.

Together with the torso, the fisherman brought up two small bronze pieces believed to belong to the statue, and a wine-jar from the ancient city of Knidos — in what is now Turkey — dating from the first century B.C, the ministry said.

The seas around Kalymnos are rich in ancient wrecks and have yielded several impressive finds in recent years, including a large female statue now exhibited at the National Archaeological Museum in Athens. The fisherman who netted it in 1995 earned a euro440,000 (US$558,000) reward from the Culture Ministry.

Other scattered pieces of bronze statues found in the area include a head, legs and arms, but it is unclear whether these could match the horseman's torso.


Re: Bronze statue with cuirass recovered from sea - Anonymous - 05-10-2006

If it's 1st century BC, I would doubt it's a linothorax and the picture doesn't encourage me to think so. The bands visible around the body are highly reminiscent of the ribbons/fabric strips we see on the muscle cuirasses of Roman officers. I can't remember for sure but isn't it part of the rank insignia of a tribune? Here's a wild guess - the statue was on it's way to some Roman who had commissioned it from Greek sculptors.

Re: Bronze statue with cuirass recovered from sea - hoplite14gr - 05-10-2006

Wouldn´t commit myself on linothorax on this one, though it is possible.
Check the Philips iron cuirrass photos that Gioi posted.
I could argue about metal cuirass base on them.
Kind regards

Re: Bronze statue with cuirass recovered from sea - Arthes - 05-10-2006

Is that a sword worn just under the arm....on the right hand side..
the 'skirt' looks similar to some traditional Turkish and Greek costume.....

Re: Bronze statue with cuirass recovered from sea - hoplite14gr - 05-10-2006

Chiton with lots of spans known as "ionic" stil suvives on the national dress of Central Greece and Peloponissos.
Kind regards

Re: Bronze statue with cuirass recovered from sea - Comerus Gallus - 05-11-2006

We should wait until they clean the statue, and if its possible to see every angle.... I just got a Hellenistc impression in my mind...

It doesnt look musculata from that angle... Paul it look too wide to be a hellenistc or roman ribbon, well who knows, we dont have a frontal view :roll: :lol: .

I wish it would be another example of metal cuirasses like philip as Stefanos had speculated Smile


Yes Arthes it looks like a sword, or it could be the abnormal size knot, it could be a big chrismass ribbon! Confusedhock:

Re: Bronze statue with cuirass recovered from sea - Jason Hoffman - 05-11-2006

Late hellenistic linothorax did have much longer Ptregues than their earlier classical relative. So i would not rule it out as a form of armour but I think we will have to wait until it is cleaned up before we can make a more accurate appraisal.

Jason

Re: Bronze statue with cuirass recovered from sea - Dan Howard - 05-11-2006

Agreed. My first guess would be a metal cuirass with an officer's sash tied around the middle.

Re: Bronze statue with cuirass recovered from sea - Comerus Gallus - 05-11-2006

I agree too, it is hellenistic, but dunno of metal ot linen...

it has to be something like this, the ribbon its as wide as this:

[Image: img401.jpg]
[Image: img402.jpg]

Re: Bronze statue with cuirass recovered from sea - Uwe Bahr - 05-15-2006

Hi all,

Arthes asked:

Quote:Is that a sword worn just under the arm....on the right hand side..

I think it is more the officer's sash. In the topic about Roman officer's sash Travis (tlclarke) led us - thanks for that - to this website:

[url:374j4yai]http://www.metmuseum.org/Works_Of_Art/viewOnezoom.asp?dep=13&zoomFlag=1&viewmode=0&item=1989%2E281%2E72[/url]

And I think we see a similar sash here. It is a little bit untypical, as the sashes mostly end in fringes. Here the sash seems to be tied twice around the cuirass. The statue itself reminds me strongly to an equestrian statue of Nerva - scroll down at this url:

[url:374j4yai]http://www.sepsa.it/html/ing/dettagli.htm[/url]

Greets - Uwe