HOPLITODROMOI. 207 
The right arm is extended, while the left, crooked at the elbow, rests 
upon the hip. While Schwabe and Wolters, following the early 
theory of Hirt and of the sculptor Dannecker, interpreted the bronze as 
the figure of a charioteer, whose left hand was drawn back to hold the 
reins and whose right was outstretched in a gesture intended to quiet 
the horses, Hauser, de Ridder, Bulle,.and many other archeologists 
have interpreted it better as a hoplitodrome. ‘The left arm, then, 
carried a round shield, such as we have seen on Attic vases. The 
next moment the right leg will be advanced, the shield, held back to 
get a better start, will be pushed forward, and the runner will race 
to the goal in a series of leaps, since the weight of the shield would 
prevent him from following the more regular motion of the ordinary 
runner. It probably represents, therefore, a hoplite runner, not in 
the actual course, as Hauser thought, but practicing a preliminary 
start, as de Ridder argued. If the figure represented a charioteer, the 
legs would have been set farther apart, in order to give a firmer 
position, and it would not be represented as standing on a base, nor 
would it be wearing a helmet. ‘The statuette stylistically belongs to 
the opening years of the fifth century B.C., and may well be a free 
imitation of a life-size original of such statues of hoplites as stood in 
the Altis at Olympia. Despite the energy depicted in this figure, it 
is rash to connect it with the Aeginetan sculptures, as Wolters and 
Collignon have done, since a comparison between it and the Champion 
of the East gable! will show great differences. Brunn ascribed the 
original to Pythagoras; de Ridder, with reservations, to Kritios and 
Nesiotes; while Bulle is more reasonable in referring it to an important 
though unnamed artist of the early fifth century B.C. 
Hartwig has published a bronze statuette from Capua,’ now in the 
Imperial collection at Vienna, representing a nude youth with a crested 
helmet on his head. ‘There is no trace of a shield, but the helmet 
and the similarity of the pose to that of the Tuebingen bronze make it 
probable that this statuette also represents a hoplitodrome starting. 
The so-called Diomedes of Myronian style in the Palazzo Valentini, 
Rome,* whose stooping posture recalls the Diskobolos and accordingly 
has been interpreted as one by Matz and von Duhn, more probably 
also represents a hoplite-runner, as Furtwaengler maintained, because 
of the similarity of its pose to that of the Tux bronze and because 
of its helmeted head.! 
1Bulle, no. 86. 
2Th. oest. arch. Inst., V, 1902, pp. 165-70 and Pl. IV (three views). It was probably made in 
Campania. It is 0.07 meter high. 
3M. D., 1097; Clarac, 830, 2085. 
4Furtw., Mp., p. 204, and n. 4; Mw., p. 392, and n. 4. He believes that the helmet is not alien 
to the statue as some think, but points out that the head, which is much restored and is akin to 
the Perseus, is wrongly attached to the body. Hauser, Jd., II, 1887, p. 101, n. 24, because of the 
tree-trunk, does not believe that the statue represents a hoplite-runner; but Furtwaengler shows 
that the tree-trunk offers no objection to restoring a shield to the statue. 

