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Pseudo-athlete page edit
The term Pseudo-athlete is used to describe works of art from Late Republican Rome that combine a veristic head with an idealized body that references Classical Greek sculpture. Verism is a style of Roman portraiture that portrays an individual with aging facial features, most notably sagging skin around the mouth and eyes, short-cropped or balding hair, and deep wrinkles on the forehead and around the eyes and mouth (Kleiner). These features were emphasized under the tradition of verism in order to stress an advanced moral and psychological consciousness that comes along with advanced age (Stevenson "on interpreting", citation already from article). The veristic features of the pseudo-athlete's head stand in sharp contrast with the figure's body, which is depicted in the guise of an athletic youth from Classical Greece (reference). The figures are depicted in heroic-nudity with highly idealized, smoothed-over muscular forms and are often shown in an active stance or standing in an S-shaped curved known as contrapposto (reference).

Potential Origins
Veristic style was likely developed as a reference to the images associated with Roman funerary rituals (Pollitt, Kleiner). From Polybios's writings on funerary rituals we know that wax masks were created from the faces of the deceased in order to create an exact replica of their likeness that would be worn by someone of similar stature during the funerary ritual (Polybios). These public funerals were intended to honor the virtuous character of the deceased, emphasizing prized Roman values such as stern moral seriousness (gravitas), firmness and strictness of judgement (severitas), and determination and self-possession (constantia) (reference from existing article). In order to associate themselves with their honorable ancestors, living patrons began to reference the style of these funerary masks.

The veristic style of Late Republican Rome came in contact with the idealized style of Classical Greece largely on the Island of Delos, where Greek artists and Roman patrons lived in close proximity (Pollitt). During the late republic, many Roman traders and merchants came to Delos to take advantage of its central location for sea trade, bringing their own artistic style along with them (Kleiner). These merchants had enough disposable wealth to afford portrait commissions from the local Greek artists that were familiar with sculpting in the idealized style of Classical Greece, thus causing the two drastically different styles to merge in a way that may appear semi-awkward to the modern eye. Scholars like Tom Stevenson have also credited the origins of the pseudo-athlete to the desire of Roman patrons on the island of Delos to be depicted with both the energy and passion of youth that is valued by Greeks along with wisdom of age that Romans value (Stevenson, "On interpreting" This in turn led to the creation of sculptures that combine a veristic head and a youthful body.

Pseudo-Athlete of Delos
The Pseudo-athlete of Delos is a larger than life-size nude male portrait measuring 7 feet and 5 inches tall (about 2.26 meters) that is dated to around 100 BCE [Fred Kleiner]. It was found in a house on the Greek island of Delos that the French excavators who discovered the sculpture have dubbed the House of the Diadoumenos, since a copy of Polykleitos's Sculpture of an athlete binding his hair (The Diadoumenos) was discovered at the same site [Fred Kleiner].The sculpture depicts the Roman businessman or potential slave trader that owned the house and had enough disposable wealth to commission a portrait of himself [Stevenson, the problem]. The bust of the sculpture follows the tradition of Roman veristic portraiture, most notably in the figure's balding head and large ears. While the patron's facial feature are slightly more smoothed over than other examples of Republican portraiture, there is still a focus on the wrinkles on his forehead and at the corners of his mouth, as well the subtle sagging of skin around his neck and chin. The Pseudo-athlete's body represents a departure from the Roman Republican tradition since it is depicted in a style that resembles sculptures of athletic youth from Classical Greece. The figure's body is completely smooth with a clear focus on the idealized musculature that does not match the figure's aged face. The sculpture also depicts the patron in contrapposto, or a stance in which the figure's weight is distributed unequally on their two feet, creating a naturalistic "s-shaped" curve of the body. The Pseudo-Athlete of Delos plants the bulk of his weight firmly through his right foot, while his left foot lifts up slightly off the ground in a subtle stride. Scholars of Roman art like Fred Kleiner note that the stance of the Pseudo-athlete is drawn directly from the stance of the Diadoumenos, since the figure's weight is distributed in a similar manner [Fred Kleiner]. The weight of the marble of the Pseudo-Athlete is even supported by a tree-trunk shaped strut located next to the figure's right leg that mimics the one seen on Polykleitos's Diadoumenos [Hollinshead?]. Other scholars like J. J. Politt have interpreted the body of the figure as a reference to the muscular torso of Hermes, the Italian counterpart to the Roman god Mercury who was the patron God of businessmen and is often associated directly with the traders on the island of Delos, like the patron of this sculpture [Politt].

Other than its veristic head, the Pseudo-athlete of Delos references the tradition of Roman portraiture because of its inclusion of the drapery over the figure's left shoulder that trails behind his back and wraps around his right hand. A traditional Greek nude is shown completely bare, while Roman portraits typically favored modesty, with artists paying special attention to the way large bolts of fabric cover the human form. Romans typically were against the idea of portraying honored figures in the nude because public displays of nudity were typically associated with condemned criminals that were stripped as a form of shaming, or slaves who were displayed naked during trades [Hallett]. While the Pseudo-Athlete is depicted nude, the drapery of the fabric serves as a subtle nod to the Roman tradition of depicting the elegant drapery of Roman garments, even with the distinctly un-Roman nude form [squire]. In this way the simultaneous inclusion of draped fabric and heroic nudity represents another merger of Roman and Greek portrait traditions within the Pseudo-athlete of Delos.

Notes for Future Edits

 * Redraft the section on the Pseudo-Athlete of Delos
 * Redraft the section on the Tivoli General
 * Maybe add some images to show what Classical Greek Sculpture and Verism looked like in purer forms
 * Search for more references to beef up the article
 * Research to see if there are other useful Wikipedia pages to link in
 * Add images of the Diadoumenos? Torso of Hermes.

Evaluating Wikipedia's article on the Pseudo-athlete

 * The lead section begins with an easy-to-understand overview of the topic, as a good Wikipedia article should, but it rambles on into the history of Verism and Roman funeral rituals which I believe would be best suited for a unique section rather than the article's lead.
 * The structure of the article generally makes sense but I believe more sections could be added so the information is presented in a more organized way.
 * The images provided relate well to the content of the article.
 * The article is fairly well balanced, however more information is provided on the Pseudo-athlete of Delos than on the Tivoli general.
 * The writing style of the article is generally neutral and without bias but there are some statements where the author's voice shines through too much, or an opinion is expressed.
 * Ex: "The combination of the Greek style body with a Roman head makes the sculpture from Delos a great example of the Roman pseudo-athlete"
 * The article lacks good sourcing. Hard facts like dates and the locations of the two example works should be supported with a citation but are not.
 * Ex: "The Pseudo-athlete of Delos is a life-size nude male portrait that was found in the House of the Diadoumenos on the Greek island of Delos."
 * Ex: "The marble sculpture with a veristic Roman head and idealized Greek body dates back to 75-50 BCE"
 * The sources that have been cited come from academic or peer-reviewed journals and other reliable sources.
 * In general the writing style is choppy with facts added in short sentences and no connections between individual thoughts.
 * Ex: "The signs of age were used as indicators of wisdom and authority. The body remains idealized due to Greek influence. In Greek sculpture there is a concept of heroic nudity. It is used to indicate that a sculpture's apparently mortal human subject is in fact a hero or semi-divine being."
 * Some information is repeated, or the author will jump back to a previous point after discussing something different.