Inv.-Nr. 1338

Kniender Bogenschütze aus dem Westgiebel des Aphaiatempels von Aigina

München, Glyptothek 77
500/490 v. Chr.

This kneeling figure represents an archer in the action of drawing back his bow. He wears a ‘onsie’ style tunic with long sleeves and trousers – in the Greek world, such garments were associated with easterners, and in particular with Persians and Scythians. Microscopic analysis has shown that the archer’s clothes were originally brightly coloured, and had rich patterns. In antiquity, marble sculptures were rarely left unpainted, and when we see the blank white casts today, we should imagine them as they once were – resplendent in technicolour.

On his head, the archer wears a tall pointed leather cap of a type particularly associated with Scythians. Such hats would originally have had ear flaps, and in this instance you can see the sculptor has depicted the flaps being folded upwards. You can also see round drill holes, not only on the cap but also elsewhere on the sculpture. These would have been used to attach metal ornaments, now lost.

The archer belongs to a scene depicting the Trojan War, and seems to represent one of the Trojan (and therefore eastern) warriors. The scene is one of a pair, each adorning a pediment of the Temple of Aphaia on the island of Aegina. The other pediment also shows warriors from a war at Troy, but an earlier conflict involving the hero Herakles.