Turning now from Athens to Argos, which, though politically weak, was artistically the rival of Athens in importance, we find Polyclitus the dominant master there, as Phidias was in the other city.  Polyclitus survived Phidias and may have been the younger of the two.  The only certain thing is that he was in the plenitude of his powers as late as 420, for his gold and ivory statue of Hera was made for a temple built to replace an earlier temple destroyed by fire in 423.  His principal material was bronze.  As regards subjects, his great specialty was the representation of youthful athletes.  His reputation in his own day and afterwards was of the highest; there were those who ranked him above Phidias.  Thus Xenophon represents [Footnote:  Memorabilia I., 4, 3 (written about 390 B. C).] an Athenian as assigning to Polyclitus a preeminence in sculpture like that of Homer in epic poetry and that of Sophocles in tragedy; and Strabo[Footnote:  VIII., page 372 (written about 18 A. D.).] pronounced his gold and ivory statues in the Temple of Hera near Argos the finest in artistic merit among all such works, though inferior to those of Phidias in size and costliness.  But probably the more usual verdict was that reported by Quintilian, [Footnote:  De Institutione Oratoria XII, 10, 7 (written about 90 A. D.).] which, applauding as unrivaled his rendering of the human form, found his divinities lacking in majesty.

In view of the exalted rank assigned to Polyclitus by Greek and Roman judgment, his identifiable works are a little disappointing.  His Doryphorus, a bronze figure of a young athlete holding a spear such as was used in the pentathlon (cf. page 168), exists in numerous copies.  The Naples copy (Fig. 137), found in Pompeii in 1797, is the best preserved, being substantially antique throughout, but is of indifferent workmanship.  The young man, of massive build, stands supporting his weight on the right leg; the left is bent backward from the knee, the foot touching the ground only in front.  Thus the body is a good deal curved.  This attitude is an advance upon any standing motive attained in the “Transitional period” (cf. page 165).  It was much used by Polyclitus, and is one of the marks by which statues of his may be recognized.  The head of the Doryphorus, as seen from the side, is more nearly rectangular than the usual Attic heads of the period, e.g., in the Parthenon frieze.  For the characteristic face our best guide is a bronze copy of the head from Herculaneum (Fig. 138), to which our illustration does less than justice.

A strong likeness to the Doryphorus exists in a whole series of youthful athletes, which are therefore with probability traced to Polyclitus as their author or inspirer.  Such is a statue of a boy in Dresden, of which the head is shown in Fig. 139.  One of these obviously allied works can be identified with a statue by Polyclitus known to us from our literary sources.  It is the so-called Diadumenos, a youth binding the fillet of victory about his head.  This exists in several copies, the best of which has been recently found on the island of Delos and is not yet published.