Sopra the light of a scientific approach, the two statues of Riace proved to be almost coeval, the result of the creation of a scapolo artist, who created the Bronze Per; even though later was flanked by per younger student, who is responsible for some innovations found on Bronze B. The awareness that it is a unique statuary group, made con the Peloponnese in the middle of the fifth century B.C., made superfluous verso research durante the repertoire of images of Athens and Attica in the classical period, because they would certainly not have considered works from another cultural field.
The momento of per restoration of the statues in Rome, however, opened up another line of research, which has given its results per the field of archaeological comparisons, as it was relatively easy puro find comparisons relating onesto two warriors who face each other, one of them is visibly threatening, valuing the particular grimace on the face of Bronze Per, which shows the teeth, made of silver.
Per adjonction onesto a marble copy of the Bronze B coming from the Palatine, it must be counted per series of artifacts, all coming from the dipartimento of Rome and representing the duel of Eteocles and Polynices, the sons of Oedipus, with their mother trying sopra vain puro divide and reconcile them: these artifacts consist of some sarcophagi, cinerary urns and even a mould for the bread used mediante ritual ceremonies (Castrizio 2000).
Sicuro fully understand this passage, firstly we must analyse the ways of representing the fratricidal battle mediante ancient times, which can be traced essentially preciso two main schemes: per what we like sicuro define “Etruscan” scheme, the two brothers are in the act of wounding each other onesto death, con a pattern that usually sees them using the sword and with the usual presence of two demons, each behind per hero8 (Fig. 1); the other scheme, testified by the finds from the Urbe, is inspired by the Fratricides of Pythagoras9 (Fig. 2).
Regarding the identity of these five characters and the misunderstanding of interpretation by the poetry of the imperial age, we will discuss it later. For now, we would like onesto remember how the Christian rhetorician Tatian the Syrian, in the second century, saw the Fratricidae mediante Rome, as evidenced by the text of his Oratio
adversos Graecos (34.1 = Overbeck, 687), durante which he states “nro^ yap oti xa^snov aSs^oKxovlav nap’ u^iv xcxi^qoBai, oi noAu-
All the famous works of art that are inspired by the scheme of the Fratricidae of Pythagoras are characterized, as we previously said, by verso warrior with verso face per which it is possible onesto see the signs of anger, which recalls the expression on the face of Bronze Verso
vsiKou^ Kai ExsoKAsou^ oprovxs^ xa ox^axa [KaiJ auv xro rcorqoavxi nuBayopa KaxaPoBprooavxs^ ouvarcoMuxs incognita^ KaKla^ xa urco^vq^axa;”. For our purposes, it should è clover gratis be noted that the Author, who writes con Rome just after the middle of the second century AD, expressly says oprovxs^ (seeing), testifying that he and his readers could physically observe the statuary group durante the capital of the Roman Empire.
Mediante this second model is represented the moment before the battle, with five characters (mediante actual fact, they are not always represented at the same time sopra the archaeological remains, but with different schemes which may include three or four of them)
On the other hand, literary sources esibizione that, even if it was made mediante Argos, there is in nessun caso trace of the sculptural group mediante the place of origin, as shown by the text of the writer and geographer Pausanias the Periegetes who, durante his Hellados Periegesis, does not mention the Fratricidae.