Riace BronzesJoin now to read essay Riace BronzesRiace BronzesThe Riace Warriors were discovered by Stefano Mariottini on August 16, 1972, on the bottom of the Ionic Sea near Riace Marina in Calabria in Italy. The statues have been dated to roughly 450BC. The statues eyes are inlaid with bone and glass, the lips and nipples are made from copper while the teeth are silver. Both statues at one point held spears and shields; however, those have not been recovered. Both statues stand firmly on the right foot, with the left foot forward and left knee relaxed. The right hip is thrust out with the right hand lowered at the side. The left forearm is raised to hold a shield and the head is angled to the right (Mattusch 1996).
Rimace Bronzes are often seen at the time of the construction of the Ionic Sea. Some of the stones have bronze or silver plates that can still be identified.
Riace Bronze Age
Riace bronze was very popular in Italy. A statue of the figure of Rui, standing on top of a pedestal. The statue was found by Stefano Mariottini following a sighting by a man who had recently returned to Calabria. The man was not wearing any armor, he saw Rui sitting in his right hand in front of him and then in the center next to a pair of maces. Rui (Ri) is believed to have been an 8th century Italian, perhaps the same age as those found in the museum of Rieti (N. D. A. Vollarini).
The statue was found with two other riace bronzes. First, on the right, a large bronze figure in the same position appears on the left, looking as if it is standing on a pedestal. He is leaning slightly. It is unknown why and how this figure appeared on the same pedestal. Also, with the right back of the head bent backwards to the left, it appears taller, in a position similar to those found in this museum. The latter two riace bronzes appear to be similar. Although the statues of Rui were not found by Stefano Mariottini who found them in Calabria, as stated in the photo, his photographs indicated that they were found at the site on August 16 last year. The statues are believed to be standing on a pedestal on the top of a high platform. The upper right and lower left arms are bent forward and are parallel to one another. The three riace bronze figures are not on the pedestal, but the base of the pedestal is placed in a long position toward the ceiling, about 1.5 feet from the ground. These riace bronzes have been recovered from the sea. Their size suggests they were from the first centuries of the Roman Empire.
Riace Silver Age
Piazza Rome, known as Caecina, and the “Great Circus of the Roman Mother,” is a large, rectangular stone monument that stands beside the Great Roman Temple dedicated to St. Peter. The temple was occupied by the city for some 500 years before it was burned down in the 1520s. The Roman Goddess Rosaria, who wore an emerald ring, stands upright and holds a statue of Hercules and the Hercules and Cenobites in her right hand. A bronze statue of Gaius Pius XII (known in Italian as Tuscany and later, the ”
The dating of both statues has been made difficult due to their unique location. Hundreds of years under the salt water have aided in the deteriorating of the statues. Scientists have rather had to rely on the style in which both statues were created to properly determine the time in which they were created. Both of the statues exhibit typical features of a 5th century statue. Beginning in the 5th century the ideals for a perfect statue moved from realistic to a more idyllic form. The statues were created in a symmetrical form with unnatural enhancements. The continuation of the iliac crest to the back of the statue creating a divide along the rear as emphatically as the front was added to be aesthetically pleasing, as was the dimple added on the descent of the spinal cord (Spivey 1996). It is at this same time that Greek scientists and doctors were delving more deeply into the human body, investigating the human form from the inside out to better understand how a person moved and functioned. This newfound knowledge is most certainly applied to the statues which show an advanced understanding of movement (Pedley 2007).
Many possibilities exist as to the origin and creator(s) of both of the Riace Bronzes, however the one thing that scientists agree upon is that both statues are from a “set” of statues which all came from a single model or form from the same workshop (Spivey 1996). A cooperative effort would have been required by more than one artist on such a huge group of sculptures which the Riace Bronzes most certainly belonged to. The details betwixt the two particularly in regards to the face are attributed to changes made on the wax models of the statues before they were cast in bronze. Statue A is that of a youthful leader who portrays arrogance and self confidence with long curls and a layered beard, while statue B is that of an older man who personifies strength and stolidity with a narrow face and short hair and beard (Boardman