Pythagoras of Rhegium

Pythagoras of Rhegium rēˈjəm [key], fl. 5th cent. b.c., Greek sculptor. In a signature on a pedestal at Olympia he declares himself a Samian, but the period of his training and work belongs to Rhegium, Italy. As no works are known that can with certainty be identified as his, his fame depends upon the statements of those who saw his statues and named them. They were mainly of athletes and mark a step in the transition between the archaic and the classical styles. He is said to have been the first to represent hair, veins, and muscles naturally and the first to aim at rhythm and symmetry in sculpture. Among his statues were a portrait of the boxer Euthymus, a figure of a man singing to a lyre, and one of Apollo shooting the Python with his arrows.

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