Hellenistic Sculpture

The Hellenistic period, 323BCE-31BCE, was an era of unprecedented cosmopolitan culture that nurtured the talents of artists across the Mediterranean. The period's sculpture is the product of it's predecessors, the Archaic and Classical period. Hellenistic sculpture is iconic for its "perfect naturalism" which is known for its incredibly ornate expressive realism, and vivid depictions of real life emotion with flexible movement. I plan to explain the range of realism expressed through sculpture during the Hellenistic period. The political implications that hides within the history and context of these sculptures helps tie the kingdoms and leader to Greek heritage. A pattern that can be found unsurprisingly is that as we move westward towards Greece the artworks becomes more focused on Greek mythology. However, this does not mean that the sculptures found in Roma, either copies or originals do not adapt Greek culture. It is often speculated that a lot of the sculpture found in Roma are copies that leaders would admire and then associate with the striking drama produced in the Hellenistic. The following will break down ten iconic pieces of Hellenistic sculpture and their original locations.

The map below shows every piece's location on one map. We will explore Roma, Italy; Samothrace Island, Greece; Izmir, Turkey.