Lysippean models on two roman reliefs from Poetovio

Abstract

This contribution discusses two relief depictions, which follow the works of the Greek master Lysippus. One of the partially preserved reliefs, depicting a youth in motion, characterised by the lock of hair on the front has been in the hitherto literature differently interpreted; Josip Korošec explained it as Kairos. The depictions of that deity share the lock of hair above the front, nakedness, posture, and scales, attached to the cords of the scales, which could also be held by the Poetovian youth. Regarding the other stone relief, the direction of the movement is quite unusual and can be taken after gem depictions, which could (also due to some alterations in arm posture and lower quality) serve as the direct source. In the lateral side of the ara (either votive or funerary) Hercules, who follows the type of Weary Hercules, ascribed to Lysippus is depicted. The latter is (in contrast to the rarely imitated Kairos) one of the most widespread types in the Imperial era. The depictions of opera nobilia in Poetovian relief sculpture doubtless attest to the fact that the cultivated inhabitants were aware of and commissioned representations of the well-known works of Greek statuary.