#lysippus

[tragediambulante]

The Wrestlers, Pergamene school, 379-300 B.C

[theromaboo]

What was the funny story about Tiberius in Pliny?

I'm glad you asked!

This is a story you can find in Pliny the Elder's Natural History, 34.62.

So there was this sculpter named Lysippus (he's super famous) and he made a statue depicting a man using a body scraper. During the time of Tiberius, this statue was set up in front of the Baths of Agrippa, no less (!). A very fitting location.

Tiberius loved this statue a lot. Probably a little bit more than the average person loves a statue. Apparently at first he managed to control himself, but eventually he gave in to temptation and set up the statue in his bedchamber (!) putting another statue in its place.

And the people were mad. They were not impressed with the replacement statue apparently. A ton of people gathered at the theatre shouting "Give us back the man using a body scraper!" Which is honestly a really funny image.

Even though Tiberius had fallen in love with this statue, he returned it in the name of peace. The end.

That statue must've been really seriously amazing to warrant such a... story. I wonder what it looked like.

[infirmux]

Put him back.

[herpsandbirds]

Lysippus Metalmark (Riodina lysippus), family Riodinidae, Ila Kucha, Ecuador

photograph by Chan Wah Choy

[splendidgeryon]

"THE MODEL OF THE GREEK LYSIPPUS". By Javier Trelis Sempere

Soft pastel and sanguine on wood panel.

60x38 cms.

[bedpolls]

socrates from athens

Please reblog for a larger sample size.

A marble head of Socrates in the Louvre (copy of bronze head by Lysippus)

[jeannereames]

In "Dancing With The Lion", you seem to say that Alexander was not handsome. But when I searched about Alexander's appearance on Google, I found that almost everywhere he was described as a handsome man. He was even called extremely handsome in a couple of articles. I have seen the copy of Alexander's bust originally made by Lysippus. It's said that Lysippus made the bust during Alexander's lifetime & Alexander looked like that. The bust doesn't look bad. Why do you then think that Alexander wasn't good looking enough? By the way, I loved the guy who seemed to represent Alexander on the cover page of "Dancing With The Lion". Alexander might very well look like that :-)

First, a comment on my description and why I made it, then some background on the history.

What Hephaistion thinks to himself is actually, “Only a flatterer would call him handsome.” He doesn’t say he’s ugly or plain. He’s just normal looking. I made that choice partly for historical reasons, but also because I wanted to humanize him. Same reason I gave him acne. 😉 I don’t see him as unattractive, I just don’t see him as especially handsome. (A link to the novels, for anybody looking, with the new covers.)

I would caution about taking seriously much that you find via a Google search. It’s kinda a dumpster fire, honestly, unless you know exactly what you’re looking for.* Always check who wrote an article. How did they learn the information they relate? That’s part of why I cite things here, even if I don’t load y’all up with citations the way I would in a scholarly article. But I want readers to be able to chase down references for themselves, even as, in our post-expert era, I also want readers to trust that I know where to look in the first place—what’s reliable.

Although it’s now 30+ years old, probably the best book on Alexander’s appearance is Andrew Stewart’s Faces of Power: Alexander’s Image and Hellenistic Politics (1993). I know it’s expensive (LOTS and lots of picture plates inside), but because it’s been out a minute, you can probably find it used, or in a library.

So, let’s look at the history. There are several things going on here:

The ancient Greeks conflated wealth, class, intelligence, and beauty with heroic status. So Achilles is beautiful but Thersites is malformed and ugly. This motif rolled over onto historical individuals, and the Greeks purposely practiced “idealizing” in their sculpture, especially of anybody presented as heroic. There’s quite a lot written on Greek idealizing, but again, beware a simple Google search; I just tried to find something useful and gave up by the time I was on page 6; the best thing was an article in the NYT, behind a paywall. I’d suggest grabbing an art history textbook, especially a specialized one, like Shiela Dillon’s.

The Alexander head on the Akropolis (which was used to find the model for the cover of Becoming) is a perfect example of Classical-era idealization. We’d call it Photoshopped. 😉 Yes, it’s recognizably Alexander, but his face is made to match the canon of Greek ephebic beauty. (The publisher liked it. ha)

Add to this the divinization of Alexander and its impact on his sculptures across time. See Stewart mentioned above for a great description of how his Successors molded his image for their own purposes. Generally speaking, his hair gets longer and flowier, his eyes get larger, and his face get softened until he looks feminized. The sculpture below, from the Capitoline Museum, is a great example. It’s Alexander as Helios (the sun god), a Roman copy of a Hellenistic original, and that original is speculatively dated to sometime in the late 200s or early 100s BCE, based on style.

We in the modern world are inclined to these same assumptions. We got it from them! I’ve noticed that most sketches (especially AI pictures) of Alexander on the internet turn him pretty. One (below, yes with 6 fingers) has him looking suspiciously like Henry Cavill! LOL

There have been some better attempts to use AI to render him, based on ancient statuary, but most use statues I’m less fond of. Yet the one that uses the Azara Herm is, I think, pretty close. I agree with Stewart that the Azara Herm is as near to a likeness as is out there; see Stewart’s discussion as to why. I believe it’s the bust you’re referring to in the ask. Below with link to Royalty Now, who made it. I want to be sure she gets credit. I bought myself a copy of this one. She did two reconstructions, but I don’t care for the other because of the statue used. Royalty Now may have airbrushed him a bit (he lacks scars, for instance—highly unlikely in a soldier), but at least in basic facial structure, it’s good. Note the long face. If a long face with sharper features is more accepted today—largely thanks to what photographs well—the Greek ideal was a rounder face, like the Akropolis head above.

So the real Alexander wasn’t an ugly man, no, but if you passed him on the street, you probably wouldn’t stop and stare. Unless he wanted you to. It was his CHARISMA that people noted, not his physical appearance.

That, I also tried to note in the novels. At one point, Aristotle remarks to himself that Hephaistion might have the looks, but Alexander would always be the one to draw eyes. 😊

------------------------------------------

* For instance, my educational website on Hephaistion appears pages and pages and pages down from the top on Google … even though it’s written by one of the two leading world experts on him (Sabine Müller is the other). Ergo, you have to wade through a lot of stuff put out by sites that know how to rank themselves higher before you get to the actual specialist. Once upon a time, btw, it popped up higher, but pay-to-play has changed search engines.

[voluptuarian]

New worst history post! Ran across this one recently and its offenses are twofold

First, op is being asked why they portray everybody in Greek mythology as black. Their response is that populations were different in Bronze Age Greece than Classical Greece and that the universally-white representation is not accurate (the latter of which is true) and that actually they were all African (which is decidedly not true-- this thing where you make Greek mythology/history more "accurate" or "inclusive" by portraying everyone as black to me is bizarre and tragic, because a. if it's not "inclusive" enough for you as it historically was, go obsess over some other media b. world history is not "everyone was white or everyone was black," and c. there are characters in Greek myths who are clearly not ethnic Greek or what would be considered white, and we Know who they are, characters such as Andromeda [Ethiopian] , Europa and Cadmus [Phoenician] the Danaides [Libyan/Egyptian], Memnon (Ethiopian) and you could easily portray them accurately while still showing realistic diversity but NO, you randomly decide Iphigenia will be black for some reason instead 🙄. Also, it's supposedly about diversity and inclusivity, yet you never see any random Asian headcanons for these characters....)

But that's not what got this into Worst History Posts!

As evidence for the above, op goes on to say THIS

Like.

They're literally saying there are no well known human representations in Mediterranean art prior to the Renaissance.

What do you even say in response to this???

Like just off the top of my head

(Since they name dropped Alexander, we'll start with him)

Copy (100-200 AD) of portrait carved by Alexander's personal portraitist Lysippus 330 BC (to say nothing of the zillions of other representations of him throughout Greek and Roman art)

Roman, Greek-inspired or copied (120-40 AD) You know, one of the most famous pieces of classical art in the world??

or you know, this unfamiliar and obscure little piece from 200 BC (Classical)

or the thousands of kores and kouros out there - 530 BC (Archaic)

or this guy, who clearly nobody's ever seen or heard of from 1550 BC (Bronze Age)

Like OP I'm sorry your uneducated ass can't think of a single piece of art from southern Europe pre-renaissance (wonder what those crazy italians were renaissance-ing back to, exactly???) but that is not a problem LITERALLY anyone else has

[anakinsafterlife]

So this is a copy of the original ancient sculpture, and it saw damage over the years as well, with the lips and nose being modern restorations. We still don't know exactly what he looked like. But probably not quite such a twink as the second bust would suggest.

[artcorporelhomme]

Jetez-y un œil

[quotesoutofseason]

put his ring on the finger of a Venus statue and thereby fell prey to the devil; and that, as late as in the second half of the fourteenth century, the Sienese believed the public erection of such a statue, recently excavated and much admired as a "work of Lysippus", to be responsible for their defeat at the hands of the Florentines (they took it down, dismembered it, and surreptitiously buried the fragments in enemy territory).'

[ariesarousals]

Praxiteles & Lysippus (copies) @ L'exposition Olympisme - Louvre Summer 2024

(Personals)

[brookston]

Holidays 2.9

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Premieres

Ali Baba Bunny (WB MM Cartoon; 1957)

Beatles 1st Perform in U.S., on the Ed Sullivan Show (TV Special; 1964)

Beautiful Girls (Film; 1996)

Blubber, by Judy Blume (Novel; 1974)

Breaking Up Is Hard To Do, recorded by Neil Sedaka (Song; 1952)

Broken Arrow (Film; 1996)

Cold Storage (Disney Cartoon; 1951)

Country Boy (WB MM Cartoon; 1935)

Devil’s Feud Cake (WB MM Cartoon; 1963)

Dollhouse, by Melanie Martinez (Song; 2014)

Falstaff, by Giuseppi Verdi (Opera; 1893)

The Fixer Uppers (Film; 1935)

Harvest Time (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1940)

The Hollywood Matador (Woody Woodpecker Cartoon; 1942)

I Can’t Stand Up For Falling Down, by Elvis Costello (Song; 1980)

Lisa Frankenstein (Film; 2024)

Little Britain (UK TV Series; 2003)

Little Red Corvette, by Prince (Song; 1983)

Magical Maestro (MGM Cartoon; 1952)

Magick in Theory and Practice, by Aleister Crowley (Spiritual Book; 1929)

Morrison Hotel, by The Doors (Album; 1970)

The Mouse That Roared, by Leonard Wibberley (Novel; 1955)

Myths to Live By, by Joseph Campbell (Essays; 1972)

North Avenue Irregulars (Film; 1979)

Peter Rabbit (Animated Film; 2018)

Pinocchio (Animated Disney Film; 1940)

Rip Van Winkle, featuring Farmer Al Falfa (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1934)

Sanctuary, by William Faulkner (Novel; 1931)

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Shipwreck (Oswald the Lucky Rabbit Cartoon; 1931)

Smoganza (Hana-Barbera Animted TV Special; 1975) [EPA]

Turning Red (Pixar Animated Film; 2024) [In Theaters]

The Warriors (Film; 1979)

Wizards (Animated Film; 1977)

Today’s Name Days

Alto, Anna, Apollonia, Katharina (Austria)

Sabina, Skolastika, Sunčana, Zora (Croatia)

Apolena (Czech Republic)

Apollonia (Denmark)

Mehis, Mehto (Estonia)

Raija, Raisa (Finland)

Apolline (France)

Anna, Anne-Kathrin, Apollonia, Katharina (Germany)

Markelos, Nikiforos, Pagratios (Greece)

Abigél, Alex (Hungary)

Apollonia (Italy)

Apollonija, Apolonija, Gaisma, Simona (Latvia)

Algė, Apolonija, Erikas, Joviltas (Lithuania)

Leikny, Lone (Norway)

Apolonia, Bernard, Cyryl, Eryk, Eryka, Gorzysław, Mariusz, Nikifor, Rajnold (Poland)

Nichifor (Romania)

Zdenko (Slovakia)

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Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 40 of 2024; 326 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 5 of week 6 of 2024

Celtic Tree Calendar: Luis (Rowan) [Day 20 of 28]

Chinese: Month 12 (Yi-Chou), Day 30 (Gui-Mao)

Chinese Year of the: Rabbit 4721 (until February 10, 2024)

Hebrew: 30 Shevat 5784

Islamic: 29 Rajab 1445

J Cal: 10 Grey; Threesday [10 of 30]

Julian: 27 January 2024

Moon: 0%: New Moon

Positivist: 12 Homer (2nd Month) [Lysippus)

Runic Half Month: Sigel (Sun) [Day 1 of 15]

Season: Winter (Day 51 of 89)

Zodiac: Capricorn (Day 19 of 28)

Calendar Changes

Sigel (Sun) [Half-Month 4 of 24; Runic Half-Months] (thru 2.23)

[brookstonalmanac]

Holidays 2.9

Holidays

Beatlemania Day (US)

Charlie Day Day

Civil Aviation Worker’s Day (Russia)

Devil on the Loose Day (Cornwall, UK)

Día Del Odontólogo (Dentist's Day; Mexico)

Fish Protection Day

Fugu Day (Japan)

Hadaka Matsuri (Naked Festival; Japan)

Hollywood Walk of Fame Day

International Day of the Dentist

International Greek Language Day

National Cut the Cord Day

National Develop Alternative Vices Day

National Hooky Day

National Owen Day

National Press Day (Indonesia)

National Toothache Day

Pennycress Day (French Republic)

Read In the Bathtub Day

Stop Bullying Day

Volleyball Day

Weather Service Day

Welsh Language Music Day (UK)

World Zoothanasia Day

Food & Drink Celebrations

Chocolate Day (India)

Hershey’s Chocolate Day

Meat Day (Japan)

National Bagel Day (a.k.a. National Bagels and Lox Day)

National Pizza Day (a.k.a. Pizza Pie Day)

2nd Friday in February

Carnival Friday [Friday before Ash Wednesday]

Fry Day (Pastafarian; Fritism) [Every Friday]

The Inbox Day [2nd Friday]

International Winter Bike to Work Day [2nd Friday]

No One Eats Alone Day [2nd Friday]

P.S. I Love You Day [2nd Friday]

Turning Into A Rainbow Day [Friday closest to 14th]

Independence & Related Days

Confederate States of America (Founded; 1861) [unrecognized]

Galiria (Declared; 2018) [unrecognized]

Nation Day (Jamaica)

Rebellion Declaration Day (Massachusetts declared in rebellion by British Parliament) [Start of Revolutionary War]

Rome (Proclaimed a Republic; 1849)

New Year’s Days

New Year's Eve  [Lunar Calendar] (a.k.a. …

Bituun (Mongolia)

Chinese New Year’s Eve (Taiwan)

Lunar New Year’s Eve (Macau)

Seol-na Holiday (South Korea)

Spring Festival (China)

Tet Eve (Vietnam)

Festivals Beginning February 9, 2024

Bonita Springs Seafood & Music Festival (Bonita Springs, Florida) [thru 2.11]

Carnival of Nazaré (Nazaré, Portugal) [thru 2.14]

Carnival of Torres Vedras (Torres Vedras, Portugal) [thru 2.14]

Carnival of La Bañeza (La Bañeza, Spain) [thru 2.17]

Fuego Austral (Buenos Aires, Argentina) [thru 2.13]

Great Lakes Ice Cream & Fast Food Trade Show (Battle Creek, Michigan) [thru 2.10]

Love & Wine (Mt. Airy, Maryland) [thru 2.11]

Maltese Carnival (Valletta, Malta) [thru 2.13]

Palanga Smelt Fishing Festival (Palanga, Lithuania) [thru 2.11]

Perth Festival (Perth, Australia) [thru 3.3]

Recife Carnival (Recife, Brazil) [thru 2.13]

Rio Carnival (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) [thru 2.17]

São Paulo Carnival (São Paulo, Brazil) [thru 2.14]

Tapati Rapa Nui Festival (Easter Island, Chile) [thru 2.17]

Feast Days

Alice Walker (Writerism)

Alto of Altomünster (Christian; Saint)

Anne Catherine Emmerich (Christian; Blessed)

Ansbert of Rouen (Christian; Saint)

Anthony Hope (Writerism)

Apollonia (Christian; Saint & Martyr)

Attracta (Christian; Saint)

B.I. Jacoba (a.k.a. B.I. Jacqueline; Christian; Saint)

Bracchio (Christian; Saint)

Chloe the Clam (Muppetism)

Cyril of Alexandria (Christian; Saint)

Day of Nerthus and Wuldorfader (Pagan)

Einion the King (Western Orthodoxy)

Erhard of Scotland (Christian; Saint)

Extraterrestrial Culture Day (Pastafarian)

Feast of Apollo (Ancient Rome)

Feast of La'Ala'A (Upolu God of Wrestling; Polynesia)

Gerhard Richter (Artology)

Gŵyl Mabsant (a.k.a. Feast of the Patron; Wales) [Original Date]

Heterosexual Anxiety Day (Church of the SubGenius)

J.M. Coetzee (Writerism)

Leopold of Alpandeire (Christian; Blessed)

Lewinsky Day (Church of the SubGenius; Saint) 

Lysippus (Positivist; Saint)

Maron (Maronite Church) [Lebanon]

Miguel Febres Cordero (Christian; Saint)

Narvik Sun Pageant Day (Vinterfestuka; Norway; Everyday Wicca)

Nebridius (Christian; Saint)

Nicephorns (Christian; Saint)

O-Tauesai (Rice Planting Festival; Japan; Starza Pagan Book of Days)

Out An Alien Lizard Day (Pastafarian)

Remembrance for Eyvind Kinnrifi (Asatru/Slavic Pagan Martyr)

Robert Morris (Artology)

Sabinus of Canosa (Christian; Saint)

Tales of Kelp-Koli (Shamanism)

Teilo Fair (Wales; Saint) [Original Date]

Theliau (Christian; Saint)

Well of Slaine Day (Celtic Book of Days)

Lunar Calendar Holidays

Mauni Amavasya (Day of Silence; Hinduism) [1st New Moon @ Jan/Feb]

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Taian (大安 Japan) [Lucky all day.]

Tycho Brahe Lucky Day (Scandinavia) [2 of 4]

Unfortunate Day (Pagan) [10 of 57]

Premieres

Ali Baba Bunny (WB MM Cartoon; 1957)

Beatles 1st Perform in U.S., on the Ed Sullivan Show (TV Special; 1964)

Beautiful Girls (Film; 1996)

Blubber, by Judy Blume (Novel; 1974)

Breaking Up Is Hard To Do, recorded by Neil Sedaka (Song; 1952)

Broken Arrow (Film; 1996)

Cold Storage (Disney Cartoon; 1951)

Country Boy (WB MM Cartoon; 1935)

Devil’s Feud Cake (WB MM Cartoon; 1963)

Dollhouse, by Melanie Martinez (Song; 2014)

Falstaff, by Giuseppi Verdi (Opera; 1893)

The Fixer Uppers (Film; 1935)

Harvest Time (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1940)

The Hollywood Matador (Woody Woodpecker Cartoon; 1942)

I Can’t Stand Up For Falling Down, by Elvis Costello (Song; 1980)

Lisa Frankenstein (Film; 2024)

Little Britain (UK TV Series; 2003)

Little Red Corvette, by Prince (Song; 1983)

Magical Maestro (MGM Cartoon; 1952)

Magick in Theory and Practice, by Aleister Crowley (Spiritual Book; 1929)

Morrison Hotel, by The Doors (Album; 1970)

The Mouse That Roared, by Leonard Wibberley (Novel; 1955)

Myths to Live By, by Joseph Campbell (Essays; 1972)

North Avenue Irregulars (Film; 1979)

Peter Rabbit (Animated Film; 2018)

Pinocchio (Animated Disney Film; 1940)

Rip Van Winkle, featuring Farmer Al Falfa (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1934)

Sanctuary, by William Faulkner (Novel; 1931)

Saving Silverman (Film; 2001)

Shipwreck (Oswald the Lucky Rabbit Cartoon; 1931)

Smoganza (Hana-Barbera Animted TV Special; 1975) [EPA]

Turning Red (Pixar Animated Film; 2024) [In Theaters]

The Warriors (Film; 1979)

Wizards (Animated Film; 1977)

Today’s Name Days

Alto, Anna, Apollonia, Katharina (Austria)

Sabina, Skolastika, Sunčana, Zora (Croatia)

Apolena (Czech Republic)

Apollonia (Denmark)

Mehis, Mehto (Estonia)

Raija, Raisa (Finland)

Apolline (France)

Anna, Anne-Kathrin, Apollonia, Katharina (Germany)

Markelos, Nikiforos, Pagratios (Greece)

Abigél, Alex (Hungary)

Apollonia (Italy)

Apollonija, Apolonija, Gaisma, Simona (Latvia)

Algė, Apolonija, Erikas, Joviltas (Lithuania)

Leikny, Lone (Norway)

Apolonia, Bernard, Cyryl, Eryk, Eryka, Gorzysław, Mariusz, Nikifor, Rajnold (Poland)

Nichifor (Romania)

Zdenko (Slovakia)

Apolonia (Spain)

Fanny, Franciska (Sweden)

Apollo, Apollonia, Carson, Dalton (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 40 of 2024; 326 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 5 of week 6 of 2024

Celtic Tree Calendar: Luis (Rowan) [Day 20 of 28]

Chinese: Month 12 (Yi-Chou), Day 30 (Gui-Mao)

Chinese Year of the: Rabbit 4721 (until February 10, 2024)

Hebrew: 30 Shevat 5784

Islamic: 29 Rajab 1445

J Cal: 10 Grey; Threesday [10 of 30]

Julian: 27 January 2024

Moon: 0%: New Moon

Positivist: 12 Homer (2nd Month) [Lysippus)

Runic Half Month: Sigel (Sun) [Day 1 of 15]

Season: Winter (Day 51 of 89)

Zodiac: Capricorn (Day 19 of 28)

Calendar Changes

Sigel (Sun) [Half-Month 4 of 24; Runic Half-Months] (thru 2.23)

[venustapolis]

Capuan Venus (It is presumed that the sculpture is a copy of an original lost Aphrodite, attributed to Lysippus, one of the great sculptors of classical Greece) (117 to 138 AD)

[religiontour]

Alexander’s sarcophagus

The colouring has faded very much since the monument was unearthed. It is generally called Alexander’s sarcophagus, but it has not been possible as yet to decide whose remains it contained. Some aver that it enclosed the corpse of a Persian satrap who, after fighting hard for his country, at last deserted and went over to the Macedonian conqueror, who admitted him to his intimacy. One thing, however, is certain, namely, that this, which is one of the most important remaining monuments of Greek antiquity, is the work of an artist contemporary with Lysippus, who flourished towards the end of the fourth century B.c.

This sarcophagus, which is unique both as regards style and preservation, is modelled to represent an elongated Greek temple, with its friezes, pediments, etc.

Greeks and Persians

South Side.—The sculptures on this side represent a cavalry engagement between the Greeks and Persians at the battle of Issus, or Arbela. The Greeks are either nude, save for a light chlamys, or else are clad in armour, and wear variously the helmet and the Macedonian cap; while the Persians are dressed in trunk-hose and tunics with a short tight-sleeved cloak hung from the neck down their backs. The Greek horses are ridden barebacked with only a bit and bridle, and an occasional breast- band ; the Persian chargers, on the other hand, are richly caparisoned. The figures, at first sight, appear somewhat confusedly arranged, but a closer inspection reveals five distinct and symmetrical groups. The central one is formed of four figures—a Greek horseman ; a barbarian kneeling and holding his arms up as if asking quarter; a barbarian archer likewise on his knees ; and another towards the left, standing.

The two other groups, one on each side of the central one, are each composed of two figures; that on the right represents a hand-to-hand encounter between a Persian horseman and a Greek foot-soldier, and that on the left a combat between a Greek and Persian foot-soldier. Of the two remaining groups that on the left is of a Greek horseman with couched lance, charging a Persian who is struggling to get clear of his fallen charger; that towards the right is of a Persian horseman receiving a lance-thrust from a mounted Greek general, and, with hands still clutching the reins, falling into the arms of his attendant shield-bearer. On the ground are five symmetrically arranged figures of killed or wounded men.

Head.—The carvings here represent an incident of warfare, and are, like those just described, noted for their symmetrical grouping. In the centre is a Persian horseman about to spear a wounded Greek lying on the ground, and covering himself with his buckler; to the right and left, respectively, is a single – handed combat between a Greek and a Persian.