ASSIMILATION: OF OLYMPIC VICTOR STATUES. §3 
accessories, many interpretations have been possible. Especially the 
gesture of the right arm has been the centre for such interpretations. 
Some have looked upon this gesture as “‘transitory,” 7. ¢., the sweeping 
gesture of an orator or god of orators, and this has led to the interpre- 
tation of the statue as Hermes Logios.!. However, the round object 
in the fingers is against this assumption. Others have therefore 
regarded the gesture as “stationary,” 7. ¢., the figure is holding an 
object in the hand, which is the main interest of the statue, and this 
view has therefore also given rise to many different explanations. 
Among mythological interpretations two have received careful atten- 
tion. Svoronos has reasoned most ingeniously that the statue repre- 
sents Perseus holding the head of Medusa in his hand, and finds a 
similar type on coins, gems, and rings. Thus, almost the identical 
pose of the statue is seen on an engraved stone in Florence, which 
shows Perseus holding the Gorgon’s head, and Svonoros has restored 
the bronze similarly. But certainly the right arm of the statue was 
not intended to carry so great a weight. Others have seen in it the 
statue of Paris by Euphranor, mentioned by Pliny as offering the apple 
as prize of beauty to Aphrodite.* But the statue scarcely reflects the 
description of the Paris by Pliny. Other scholars have interpreted the 
statue as that of a mortal. S. Reinach believes that it may be a youth 
sacrificing. Kabbadias and E. A. Gardner admitted it might be the 
statue of a ball-player as well as of Hermes. Since this latter interpre- 
tation has become popular, let us consider its possibility at some length 
in reference to ball-playing in antiquity. Now we know that ball- 
playing (cgapifev, 7 cgatpiKy Téxvn) Was a favorite amusement of 
the Greeks from the time of Nausikaa and her brothers in the Odyssey® 
to the end of Greek history, and that it was practiced at Rome 
from the end of the Republic to the end of the Empire. It seems to 
have been regarded less as a game than as a gymnastic exercise. 


10On this gesture, see von Mach, of. cit., pp. 325-6 
*Textbd., I, figs. 13-14, pp. 26-7. For fhe gem, see firh fig. 3, p. 22; Reinach, Pierres gravées, 
Pl. 56, 34. 
3H, N., XXXIV, 77. So Miss Bieber, /d., XXV, 1910, pp. 159 f., following the suggestion 
of Stais, Marbres et Bronzes, ed. I, 1907, pp. 254 f. (view reiterated in ed. 2, 1910, p. 304), and 
Loeschke. Pliny says that the statue of Euphranor displayed every phase of Paris’ character, in 
the triple aspect of judge of the goddesses, lover of Helen, and slayer of Achilles. On this statue, 
of which we know so little, cf. the very different results reached by Furtwaengler (M/?., pp. 357 f.; 
Mw., pp. 591-2) and Robert (Hallisches Winckelmannsprogr., XIX, 1895, pp. 20 f.). Edw. 
Vicars, in the Pall Mall Magazine, XIX, 1903, pp. 551 f., followed by Dr. Cooley, believes that 
the bronze should be restored as Paris holding the apple of discord in the right hand. 
‘Suppl. de la Gaz. d. B.-A., 1901, pp. 68 f., and 76 f. 
‘VI, 100 f.; VIII, 372 f.; in the latter connection it is an adjunct to the dance. 
6Athenzus, I, 44 (p. 24 b), quotes the Pergamene Karystios (=F. H. G., IV, p. 359, fragm. 
14) as saying that the women of Kerkyra played ball in his time. For Rome, cf. Hor., Sat., I, 
2.11; Suetonius, Octav., 83; Pliny, Ep., III, 1.8; Seneca, de Brev. vit., 13; etc. On ball-playing, 
see Grasberger, Erziehung und Unterricht, I, 1864, pp. 84 f.; L. Becq de Fouquiéres, Les Jeux des 
Anciens,? 1873, Ch. IX, pp. 176-199. 
