3-037-187 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Statuette of a Boxer, A.D. 100-200. Additional Info: A short-legged, muscular man strides forward with fists up, ready to fight. Portrayed with a receding hairline, a broad face, and a short, trimmed beard, the boxer is nude, except for his caesti or boxing gloves. Romans were intrigued by people with achondroplasia, a medical condition in which the ends of the long bones fail to grow, resulting in short stature with disproportionately short limbs. Rich Romans might keep such a person, historically referred to as a dwarf, in their households for entertainment. Ancient writers also noted the belief that dwarves, and especially those with hunched backs, had the power to ward off evil.