Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Humanities/2017 November 5

= November 5 =

Statues in Athens
Did antique Athens have statues or busts of contemporary people in the cityscape? Geschichte (talk) 08:01, 5 November 2017 (UTC)
 * The Bust of Pericles was installed at or shortly after Pericles' death, so this comes close (depending on how strict your definition of "contemporary" is). --Wrongfilter (talk) 09:20, 5 November 2017 (UTC)
 * There was also a statue of Harmodius and Aristogeiton, but again it depends on your definition of contemporary since it was probably created about 30 years after the events. There was also an interesting "Statue of the priestess Aristonoe" in the 3rd century BC - was she a contemporary person? Mythological? She's just a random priestess apparently! We have a lot of articles about ancient Greek sculptures (see Category:Ancient Greek sculptures by period) but most of them were mythological characters or idealized human figures, not specific contemporary people. Adam Bishop (talk) 12:07, 5 November 2017 (UTC)
 * The Ancient Greeks used live casting of models for their bronzes. However, the statues depicted gods. Sleigh (talk) 16:52, 5 November 2017 (UTC)
 * Well, sometimes. There were various techniques and the the statues didn't always depict gods. We have a pretty detailed aticle about Ancient Greek sculpture. Adam Bishop (talk) 19:12, 5 November 2017 (UTC)