Roman wrestlers

The Roman Wrestlers Group, after the Medici.

The two young men are engaged in the sport called Pankration, a kind of wrestling, similar to the present-day sport of "mixed martial arts". The two figures are clutching one another, and one seems to have the upper hand, holding the other knelt down and twisting his arm back. Their muscular structure is very defined and exaggerated due to their physical and sustained effort. 

The sculpture has previously been variously attributed to Myron, Cephisodotus the younger or Heliodorus, the last two are mentioned by Pliny as creators of a sculptural format called symplegmata, signifying sculptures of figures closed in struggle, whether purely physical or amatory.

Currently the sculpture is considered to be the best quality Roman copy from a lost original Helenistic bronze of the third century BCE, either of the Pergamene school, or the circle of Lysippus.

Size

39L x 48H x 26W cm.