Discobulus (Discus Thrower)

Around 450 BCE the Greek sculptor Myron cast a bronze of an athlete winding up to hurl the discus; the original is lost, and the figure survives only through Roman copies in marble like this one, among the finest. The thrower is caught at the instant of fullest tension - body coiled like a spring, weight pivoting, the throw still to come - yet his face stays serenely calm. That union of violent motion and composed restraint became a defining Greek ideal. The marble strut bracing the leg carries a weight the original bronze bore unaided.