Hermes of Messene

A 2.32-meter-tall marble statue of Hermes, found in 1996 in the western portico of the Gymnasium, stands opposite the entrance. The messenger of the gods is depicted in divine nudity. His chlamys is draped over his shoulder and wrapped around his bent left arm, falling downward in dense, elongated folds. It is an excellently preserved 1st-century CE variant of a statuary type. The prototype of this type was bronze and dates to the 4th century BCE. The work was intended for funerary rather than cult purposes, associated with the funerary monuments uncovered at the Gymnasium.

The Satellite by Polykleitos

It is a superbly crafted copy of Polykleitos’s “Satellite,” joining the approximately 30 known complete or fragmentary copies that have survived. The Messene copy is a high-quality work, as evidenced by the craftsmanship of the torso, the feet, and the plinth. Its discovery at the city’s high school (1995) raises the question of the identity of the figure depicted. It is a fact that the nudity and larger-than-life size indicate that the figure depicts a demigod or hero rather than an ordinary mortal victor in athletic competitions. The archaeologist Hauser had already argued in 1905 that the work depicts the Homeric hero Achilles. The “Satellite” from Messene, however, appears to have depicted Theseus, who is directly associated with the adolescents who trained at the Gymnasium.

According to the latest research by Vincenzo Franciozi—with which Professor Petros Themelis also agreed and endorsed—this copy by Polykleitos, which we have until now referred to as “Satellite,” can be recognized and identified as Polykleitos’s “nudus telo incessens,” without ruling out the “hageter arma sumens”—also a work by Polykleitos—mentioned by Pliny.

Statue of a Man in a Tunic

A headless statue of a man in a cloak, 1.71 m tall, found in the Gymnasium lying in front of its pedestal. The bundle of papyrus scrolls next to his left foot—which also serves as a support for the statue—identifies him as a man of letters, a philosopher, or an orator. The stylistic elements of the work allow us to date it to the 1st century CE. It depicts Tiberius Claudius Theon, son of Nikiratos, according to the inscription on its pedestal.