The Athlete with a Strigil

The Athlete with a strigil, now in the Vatican, Rome, was found in Trastevere in 1849. It is of heroic size, of Greek marble, and represents an athlete cleansing his arm with a strigil, a short instrument of wood, sharp on both sides, with which the athletes cleansed the body of perspiration after excessive exercise. He is also called "a runner." The shoulders show the strength of an athlete, and the lightness of limb quickness in running. Canina, who directed the excavation of this statue, regards it as a work of the highest order, and declares it to be the work of Lysippus (B. C. 325). Pliny describes it, and says that the Emperor Tiberius was so pleased with it that he had it transported to his own palace from the Baths of Agrippa, but that the clamor of the people was so great that he was obliged to restore it. This is supposed to be the only work of Lysippus that has come down to us. It is the only statue of an athlete with a strigil, though there are pictures so representing them.