| Title: | Skopas' Meleager |
| Summary: | Meleager, perhaps in the Calydonian Boar hunt |
| Sculptor: | Suggested attribution to Skopas |
| Sculpture Type: | Free-standing statue |
| Category: | Original/copies |
| Style: | Late Classical |
| Technique: | In-the-round |
| Original or Copy: | Original (lost) |
| Date: | ca. 340 BC - ca. 330 BC |
| Scale: | Life-size |
| Period: | Late Classical |
Subject Description:
As restored from copies, this statue depicted Meleager, perhaps with a spear in his left hand, resting on his shoulder, with his right hand on his buttock, leaning his weight on his right leg, and drawing his left leg back. This is the image of the courageous, but tragic, hunter, Meleager, who killed the Calydonian Boar. Meleager's uncles claimed the hide of the boar, after it was killed, although it had already been promised to the huntress Atalanta. In the subsequent battle, Meleager killed his uncles, which caused his grieving mother to burn the torch to which Meleager's life was tied, thus hastening Meleager's own death.
Although the Fogg Meleager is not adorned with drapery, other copies depict him with a chlamys, or travelers cloak, speark, and even hunting dog, not to mention the slain boar at his feet. Some of these attributes may have been included in the original, which is thought to have been carved by Skopas (on the basis of style).
Condition: Lost
Sources Used:
Other Bibliography: S. Lattimore, "Meleager: New Replicas, Old Problems," OpRom 9 (1973) 157-66; G.M.A. Hanfmann and J.G. Pedley, "The Statue of Meleager," AntPl 3 (1964) 61-65