Origins & Early Life

Polykleitos (; Ancient Greek: Πολύκλειτος) was an ancient Greek sculptor, active in the 5th century BCE. Alongside the Athenian sculptors Pheidias, Myron and Praxiteles, he is considered as one of the most important sculptors of classical antiquity. The 4th century BCE catalogue attributed to Xenocrates (the "Xenocratic catalogue"), which was Pliny's guide in matters of art, ranked him between Pheidias and Myron. He is particularly known for his lost treatise, the Canon of Polykleitos (a canon of body proportions), which set out his mathematical basis of an idealised male body shape.

Pivotal Works & Achievements

None of his original sculptures are known to survive, but many marble works, mostly Roman, are believed to be later copies. His Greek name was traditionally Latinized Polycletus, but is also transliterated Polycleitus (Ancient Greek: Πολύκλειτος [polýkleːtos], "much-renowned") and, due to iotacism in the transition from Ancient to Modern Greek, Polyklitos or Polyclitus. He is called Sicyonius (lit. "The Sicyonian", usually translated as "of Sicyon") by Latin authors including Pliny the Elder and Cicero, and Ἀργεῖος (lit. "The Argive", trans.

Enduring Legacy & Impact

"of Argos") by others like Plato and Pausanias. He...

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