early first century B.C.
Louvre, Paris

Description: Figure of a warrior in plaster, plunging forward, left arm extended upwards with remains of shield on forearm. Head facing left, right arm down and behind, hilt of sword in right hand. Length from head  to left heel 1.99 m, height 1.63 m, width 1.10 m. Greek inscription on trunk.

Provenance:  Original of marble found at Nettuno near Anzio in 1611. By 1613 it was in the Borghese collection.  It was purchased in 1807 by Napoleon.

The Borghese gladiator bears the signature of the little-known sculptor Agasias of Ephesus on the trunk of the tree which supports the figure. Re-discovered in the Borghese collection in Rome, the warrior plunges forward, the body straining and stretching, to parry a blow, probably from above, a shield (now missing) on his left arm, a sword (now missing) in his right hand.  Viewed from the side the long almost too straight diagonal thrust and the arrangement of torso and limbs seem confined to a one-dimensional frame, but the two dimensional aspects of the left arm, which leaves the body at a sharp angle, and the right arm pulling the torso in a strong twist, are evident from a frontal view. The muscles and tendons, too abundant and well defined, recall the late Hellenistic device of exaggeration of the muscular structure of the male figure.

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