The Bronze Athlete from Ephesos

Among the few preserved bronze statues from antiquity, the Athlete from Ephesos is an outstanding case in several respects (fig. 1.1): (1) discovered in the late nineteenth century (1896), it comes from a clear context within its ancient surroundings; (2) to this day, it ranks among the most complex conservation projects ever undertaken, requiring the reassembly of more than 200 fragments; (3) with the discovery of a “twin” statue in the sea near the coast of Croatia exactly 100 years later, it has recently become part of an intriguing case study and an issue for archaeology and art history. Otto