Wounded Amazon Analysis

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The Amazons were said to have founded the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus (Callimachus, Hymn to Artemis, III.233), where many later were wounded or slain in battle with Dionysus (Plutarch, Greek Questions, LVI; Pausanias, VII.2.7). At the inauguration of the Artemision in 440-430 BC, the statues of four Amazons were dedicated by Polycleitus, Phidias, Cresilas, and Phradmon. This has prompted speculation as to which later Roman marble copies can be attributed to these bronze antecedents. Three archetypes tend to be recognized: the Mattei type (attributed to Phidias), the Berlin type (Polycleitus), and the Capitoline type (Cresilas). Each has the same scale and attitude, and shows the Amazon wearing a loose chiton that is gathered at the waist and falls from one shoulder or the other, exposing the breast. The Amazon by Cydon, who otherwise is unknown as a sculptor, almost certainly is mistaken for Cydonia in Crete, the birthplace of Cresilas. Any attribution would be difficult, in any event, as his style cannot be known. The Amazon of Phradmon is presumed lost, although a statue in the Villa Doria Pamphili (Rome) presented as Artemis has been attributed to him. There is only this single example, however, and so cannot be considered a type. It also is larger than the others and the chiton is attached at the shoulders, covering both breasts. Indeed, it is just because the Doria Pamphili is the weakest offering, as attested by the artists themselves, that it has been presumed to be the work of the sculptor who was last in the competition. The right arm, most of the left, and both legs have been restored and, if an Amazon, may simply be a variant of the Berlin type. (All this being said, no less a scholar than Richter has argued for five sculptors and five types.) The notion that the Amazons removed their right breast (hence the name, "without a breast") so that they

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