( fl ?mid-2nd century BC). Greek sculptor(s). Although Pliny (Natural History XXXIV.xix.52) listed Polykles among those sculptors who flourished in the 156th Olympiad (156–153 BC), the numerous testimonia show that at least two sculptors of that name were active during the 2nd century BC. Members of a successful dynasty that also attained considerable social prominence, they may be considered the main exponents of the Classical revival in 2nd-century BC Athens (see also DIONYSIOS, TIMARCHIDES and TIMOKLES). Their family tree is controversial, and it is often unclear which sculptor made what. Polykles seems to have been responsible for a Hermaphrodite in bronze, often identified with one preserved in several replicas (the most famous in Paris, Louvre); a Boy Victor in Olympia; a statue at Elateia in Aitolia; and several works in Rome: a Hercules in the Temple of Ops; a marble Jupiter and Juno in their temples within the Portico of Octavian (c. 146 BC and 179 BC respectively), joint works with Dionysios; a set of bronze Muses; and a statue of a Macedonian, Koinos. In addition, nine works are recorded for other family members in Olympia, Aitolia and Rome. Since the Aitolian League honoured a Polykles in 210 BC, and several of his works have an Aitolian context, the family may have made its reputation working for the League. Some of their statues probably went to Rome when the Romans conquered and looted Aitolia in 189 BC, and commissions for others swiftly followed. At the end of the 2nd century BC a Polykles and Dionysios, the last two known members of the family, were recorded as working for the Romans on Delos. Preserved works are few. Among the attributions, most plausible is a colossal head of Hercules (Rome, Mus. Capitolino), which imitates Praxiteles, following his Aberdeen head (London, BM). In Italy the style thrived well into the next century: as late as the 50s BC a colossus from Pompey’s theatre complex at Rome imitates it closely.

• Polykles
  • Dionysios
  • Rome, ancient, §IV, 1(v): Sculpture: Craftsmen and society
  • Rome, ancient, §IV, 2(i): Sculpture: Republic
  • Timarchides
  • Timokles
  • attributions
    • Greece, ancient, §IV, 2(iv)(d): Late Hellenistic monumental sculpture
  • works
    • Greece, ancient, §IV, 2(iv)(c): High Hellenistic monumental sculpture
    • Pasiteles