leg of Harmodius.  As may be learned from the small copies, Aristogiton should be bearded, and the right arm of Harmodius should be in the act of being raised to bring down a stroke of the sword upon his antagonist.  We have, then, to correct in imagination the restorer’s misdoings, and also to omit the tree-trunk supports, which the bronze originals did not need.  Further, the two figures should probably be advancing in the same direction, instead of in converging lines.

When these changes are made, the group cannot fail to command our admiration.  It would be a mistake to fix our attention exclusively on the head of Harmodius.  Seen in front view, the face, with its low forehead and heavy chin, looks dull, if not ignoble.  But the bodies!  In complete disregard of historic truth, the two men are represented in a state of ideal nudity, like the Aeginetan figures.  The anatomy is carefully studied, the attitudes lifelike and vigorous.  Finally, the composition is fairly successful.  This is the earliest example preserved to us of a group of sculpture other than a pediment-group.  The interlocking of the figures is not yet so close as it was destined to be in many a more advanced piece of Greek statuary.  But already the figures are not merely juxtaposed; they share in a common action, and each is needed to complete the other.

Of about the same date, it would seem, or not much later, must have been a lost bronze statue, whose fame is attested by the existence of several marble copies.  The best of these was found in 1862, in the course of excavating the great theater on the southern slope of the Athenian Acropolis (Fig. 103).  The naming of this figure is doubtful.  It has been commonly taken for Apollo, while another view sees in it a pugilist.  Recently the suggestion has been thrown out that it is Heracles.  Be that as it may, the figure is a fine example of youthful strength and beauty.  In pose it shows a decided advance upon the Strangford “Apollo” (Fig. 100).  The left leg is still slightly advanced, and both feet were planted flat on the ground; but more than half the weight of the body is thrown upon the right leg, with the result of giving a slight curve to the trunk, and the head is turned to one side.  The upper part of the body is very powerful, the shoulders broad and held well back, the chest prominently developed.  The face, in spite of its injuries, is one of singular refinement and sweetness.  The long hair is arranged in two braids, as in Fig. 96, the only difference being that here the braids pass over instead of under the fringe of front hair.  The rendering of the hair is in a freer style than in the case just cited, but of this difference a part may be chargeable to the copyist.  Altogether we see here the stamp of an artistic manner very different from that of Critius and Nesiotes.  Possibly, as some have conjectured, it is the manner of Calamis, an Attic sculptor of this period, whose eminence at any rate entitles him to a passing mention.  But even the Attic origin of this statue is in dispute.