Style Other / Ref.9522

Cast iron statue of wrestlers

19th century cast iron replica of "Pankratiasts" or The Wrestlers, marble Roman statue after a Greek original of the 3rd century BC by an unknown artist. The original statue was made in bronze and was lost in antiquity. The only known copy is the sculpture from the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy (c. 1st century BC) depicting two male athletes in a tense wrestling pose. Found in Rome near the gate of St. John Lateran in April, 1583, the statue was restored with the wrong heads and was later acquired by Cardinal Ferdinando de Medici in 1677 and placed in the Tribune room in the Uffizi Gallery. The Uffizi Gallery was the world's first art museum founded in 1581 by the wealthy De Medici family of Florence. The sophisticated composition of this statue and the heightened emotion are characteristic of Greek Hellenistic art (c. 323 - 31 BC). The Olympic games magnetized the finest tuned athletes. Through victory, they became legends as the spirit of this statue indicates.

The PANKRATION (Greek) was a sport in the ancient Olympic Games that combined wrestling with boxing. Many writers have incorrectly interpreted this sport as a brutal fight to the death. This is not true. Death from this sport was so rare that it is well documented in the ancient Greek literature. The most famous story described an athlete who died and yet he was declared the winner because his opponent signaled defeat just moments before death. Victory in the pankration was attained when the opponent signaled defeat. Because of this need to admit defeat the Spartans refused to participate in this Olympic event. The Latin word for the PANKRATION is Pancratium and you will frequently find this mis-spelled as Pancration. PANKRATION is pronounced as PAN - KRAT - EON.