Marble Statue of a Kouros (youth)

Greek , Attic, ca. 590-580 B.C

Said to be from Attica

This statue is one of the earliest statues of the human figure. This statue has a lot of Egyptian art influence, however, it is a greek statue. What makes this statue so interesting is the petite and feminine feature on the man statue. Normally in the Greek culture we see men portrayed as stong, muscular and brave.

Marble Statue of Bearded Hercules

Roman, Flavian period A.D 68-98

This is a statue of Hercules. He has the skin of the lion wrapped around him as a sign of victory when slaying the lion.  This is a more typical form to depict the man. In this statue Hercules is in a contropasto pose. He is muscular and the lion skin wrapped around him depicts him as strong and muscular.

These different statues depict man in different forms. This represent what was valued or should be valued in men at these different times. This gives an inside look into the different depictions of masculinity in different cultures.