They were found by a tourist scuba diving in the early seventies, and have been classified as one of the most magnificent archaeological discoveries to date. Dated at around 2500 years old, and possibly abandoned by a ship maybe 200 years after creation of these items. What are they, who made them and where are they currently displayed?

lanfranco

These would probably be the Riace Bronzes, two beautiful statues of warriors found in 1972, off the coast of Calabria. They have been dated to 460 or 450 B.C.E. but may not be of the same date according to some people I know. They are now in Reggio's archaeological museum. I'm having trouble finding a site with good pictures. Give me a few minutes ... Jun 02 05, 7:14 AM

peasypod

No problemo here's what you're looking for. http://www.sculpturegallery.com/sculpture/greek_warriors.html Nice One! Interesting tidbit, I have a huge fresco painted on one wall of my restaurant of these guys which looks great. Robboy has a pic I sent him once, and he made an interesting observation or two... As for where they are, I had an opportunity to see them a couple years ago. They are only a short drive from my village in Calabria. Jun 02 05, 7:20 AM

lanfranco

Oh, good, I was just about to post that, since good images of the originals seem to be few and far between. I should add that the view among some of my specialist colleagues is the bronzes were made by two different artists. I think Phidias is a romantic piece of wishful thinking, but who knows? We get to be a little more fanciful with works this old. Jun 02 05, 7:28 AM

gmackematix

I saw these recently on a BBC documentary called "How Art Changed the World". I think that particular episode was about distortion of the human form. Jun 02 05, 5:14 PM