Riace Bronzes Analysis

The Riace Bronzes, also called the Riace Warriors, are two full-size bronzes cast about 5th century BC. The two statues are hosted at the Museo Archeologico Nazionale della Magna Grecia in Reggio Calabria. Since their discovery in the coast of Riace Marina (RC) in 1972, they represent one of the most significant sculptural masterpieces of the Greek art in the world, thanks to their outstanding manufacture. In addition to their extraordinary realism, the Bronzes have become one of the most important symbols of their hosting city. Over the years, many studies carried out both in historic area and in scientific field, aimed at implementing technical improvements for their maintenance and restoration. This paper describes the methodology for the
The advent of the laser scanner has been an incredibly versatile solution for the acquisition of huge amounts of data with greatly reduced acquisition times guaranteeing high accuracies. This technology is widely used in archeology, and mapping is a critical aspect of the documentation for cultural heritage, especially for archaeological excavation, documentation, interpretation. Recently has emerged a technique, which, starting from two photographic images taken from two different points of view is able to obtain a metric 3D model of the object
However, studying the materials and casting technique, there is an undoubted difference between the two statues. This matter would make them attributed to various artists and achievements in different periods or by the same artist in different places. Early theories formulated by W. Fuchs, dating back to the late 70s early 80s, speculate that the two statues belonged to donario of the Athenians at Delphi, and that they were the work of Phidias4. The Greek and Roman art historian Paolo Moreno, performing new and more detailed studies of historical documents and melting earth, formulated a new theory that the Bronze "A", the young, would represent Tydeus, a ferocious hero of 'Etolia, son of the god Ares and protected by the goddess Athena. Bronze "B", the old man, reproduce, however, Amphiaraus, the warrior prophet who prophesied his own death under the walls of Thebes4. From this hypothesis, one might think that the author of the bronze "A", Tydeus the young, much resembling the decorations in the temple of Zeus at Olympia, both Hageladas, a sculptor of Argos who was working at the sanctuary of Delphi in mid V century BC4. For the Bronze "B", Amphiaraus old, Moreno confirms the hypothesis of the Greek archaeologist Geòrghios Dontàs stating that author was Alcamenes, a native of Lemnos, Athenian citizenship