Warrior

The striding warrior wears a cuirass, greaves, and a helmet. His right arm is upraised, missing the hand, which probably grasped a spear. His left arm is stretched out and likely once held a shield. His helmet has a high, undecorated crest that is broken at the lower tip; the cheek pieces of the helmet are raised on either side of the face. His face is broad and flat, narrowing to the chin, which is squared and prominent. He has simple, molded brows, bulging almond-shaped eyes, a small mouth, and a sharp triangular nose. His neck is relatively thick. He wears a short cuirass with short sleeves and shoulder straps, but otherwise lacks detail. The warrior is nude from the waist down, except for the simple greaves that cover the fronts of his lower legs. His molded genitalia are visible. He is barefoot, with toes indicated in part by separation and in part by incised lines. Long triangular tangs (2.07 cm) extend from the bottoms of his feet for attachment to a stand. The figure is modeled in the round. Various types of statuettes depicting a warrior, perhaps Mars or the dedicant, are found in northern Italy during the Archaic period (1). The depictions range from elaborate to schematic and are thought to have been votives. Q. Maule includes the Harvard piece in a group of 34 warrior statuettes assigned to an artisan that he dubbed the “Strong Jaw Master,” who worked in Italy in the first half of the fifth century BCE (2). NOTES: 1. See G. Colonna, Bronzi votivi umbro-sabellici a figura umana 1: Periodo “arcaico” (Florence, 1970) 76-83, nos. 174-92, pls. 49-60. 2. See Q. Maule, “The Strong Jaw Master,” Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archaeologischen Instituts: Römische Abteilung 101 (1994): 33-42 (no. 26 is the Harvard statuette). Lisa M. Anderson