Borghese Gladiator

cults3d

The Borghese Gladiator could be a Hellenistic copy - fashioned for a Roman client - of a bronze marble by Lysippos or one of his followers in the late classical period. The presence of the tree seems to confirm this hypothesis - it probably shows the need to strengthen a work that was originally in bronze, thus requiring no support - that was then transposed into marble, a much heavier material and more easily broken.