Youngs, strong, toned, nakeds in a natural pose. Anatomically perfect, as ready for battle. Perhaps they had a helmet, a spear resting on one side, a shield, details that are still talked about 50 years after their discovery.
Half a century of Riace Bronzes and archaeologists still reason whether it was Fidia or Pythagoras of Reggio who forged them (or Polykleitos, Mirone, Agelada or Alcmene?)
“On their dating, on the place, on who conceived them and which Greek characters represent the Riace Bronzes, there are twelve accredited hypotheses of scholars from all over the world ... all different from each other. This further increases the charm and mystery around the two Heroes”.
And in which years. If they were created by the workers of a workshop in the Peloponnese, or in Delphi, if they represented Polynice and Eteocles, brothers of Antigone, and if they were originally a sculptural group of five warriors (or three?). Were they destined for Constantinople to embellish the city of the imperator?
Their discovery, in the Riace sea, 10 meters deep and 300 from the shore, with no other contextual material around, represented an archaeological discovery of global significance, but also fueled an enigmatic history, made up of courts, complaints, witnesses eyepieces and perhaps misdirections.
To keep them is the Archaeological Museum of Reggio Calabria, the most representative of the period of Magna Graecia and ancient Calabria. 2022 will mark the 50th anniversary of the discovery of the Riace Bronzes with events that will involve all of Calabria, but also Messina, Naples, Bari and Rome.