2-748-352 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Wrestler, 100-30 BC. This figure's pigtail identifies him as a boxer or wrestler. He seems to be raising his arms to pull tight the thongs that Greek and Roman boxers wound around their hands for protection. This athlete has the nobility of a Classical fifth-century BC (Age of the Parthenon) statuette. His long proportions, however, are those of the late Hellenistic period when artists copied Classical figures but made them more elongated.