Discus Thrower - Discobolus

(Discus thrower - Discobolus)

Discobolus is an famous Greek sculpture that was sculpted by Myron in about 460-450 BC. This sculpture is sculpted in bronze because Myron is expert in bronze sculpture and it records how discus throwing develop in the ancient time and the moment of a discus thrower who is going to throw out the discus.

 This sculpture shows a nude young man, an athlete - discus thrower. The muscle of the athlete can be seen very clearly to express the potential energy of the athlete. The young athlete turns his head toward the discus hold by his right hand. His right hand is stretch to his back and it is about 30 degree to the level of his shoulder. His left hand is bends and touches his right knee and his body is facing to the side. The left leg is bends to the back about 90 degree while the right leg is slightly bend as it support the weight of the body. Therefore this sculpture shows asymmetry balance where the weight is on the right side.

The young man is always nude when engage to in sports and religion performance because they feel that it is proud to show their healthy and perfect body during the ancient time. 

In my opinion, this sculpture by Myron is fantastic. It looks real and give me a feeling that the sculpture is going to throw out the discus. This sculpture doesn't look like other sculpture that just standing and look so rigid. It has a different posture and its hand and leg are bending which created the zigzag implied line on the body to make it looks more active. Besides, it is not an easy job to capture the moment that an athlete is moving because they don't have any camera at that time and they need to remember every details on the athlete to sculpt the sculpture. During the ancient time maybe the technique and tools are also not so advance like now but Myron had sculpted this realistic sculpture and I really impress with his skill.


image retrieved from http://www.juggle.com/discobolus