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Bronze Group of Wrestlers
Egypt, said to have been found at Hadra
2nd-3rd century A.D.
Solid cast
H. 15.9 cm (6 1/4")
Burton Y. Berry Collection, 64.36
The wrestling match contestants were allowed to break
their opponent's bones during the "hold" and were declared winners after
three drops to the ground. The contest presented in our piece may have
been a mythical one. The subject could be Heracles holding Anteus aloft,
to make him lose touch with his mother Gaea (the earth), from whom he got
his strength. Anteus, the Libyan giant, wrestled all strangers and slew
them after winning, until Heracles, passing through Libya in search for
the golden apples of the Hesperides, held him aloft by sheer strength of
arm, and killed him. |
