Apoxyomenos

We rarely feature art from Ancient Greece or Rome - time to change it!

He was at the bottom of the sea for over 2000 years. In 1996 a tourist diving near the Croatian island of Lošinj in the Adriatic Sea discovered the bronze statue of the young athlete, reported the finding and in 1999 Apoxyomenos was recovered from the sea.

Standing 192 cm high the statue represents an athlete removing a layer of oil mixed with dust, an ancient Greek sun lotion, with a small metal scraper called a strigil. Apoxyomenos is a unique find, one of the most spectacular underwater archaeological discoveries. The statue was discovered with only inlaid eyes, one little finger and the strigil missing so that makes him the best preserved among three known Apoxyomenos statues.

This one dates from 2nd or 1st century BC. The author is unknown, but the statue's quality indicates a highly skilled craftsman. During the years of restoration pieces of wood, some fruit seeds, pitted olives and the nest of mice were found inside Apoxyomenos. Since the findings do not indicate a shipwreck, researchers believe that Apoxyomenos was thrown into the sea from a Roman merchant ship during a storm, but the reasons remain a mystery.

In 2007, Apoxyomenos was awarded the Europa Nostra, European Union Prize for Cultural Heritage.
Apoxyomenos has been exhibited in many museums, including Palazzo Medici in Florence, the British Museum in London, J.Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, Musee de Louvre in Paris. In 2016 he returned to Losinj, to a new museum built just for him - the Museum of Apoxyomenos.

- Maja Kocijan