Since all but a few ancient bronze statues have been lost or were melted down to reuse the valuable metal marble copies made during the roman period provide our primary visual evidence of masterpieces by famous greek sculptors.
Why are ancient greek statues made of marble.
The nysiades were three five or six okeanid nymphs of the mythical mount nysa who are said to have reared dionysus and whose names are cisseïs nysa erato eriphia bromia.
Ancient roman sculptors are predominantly known for two types of marble sculptures.
The original source of the parent limestone is the seabed deposition of calcium carbonate in the form of microscopic animal skeletons or similar materials.
Marble sculpture is a cornerstone of art history.
This giant 2 13 meter high statue made from highly polished parian paros marble made by the ancient greek sculptor praxiteles shows the ancient greek myth of when hermes takes the baby dionysus to the nysiades.
From time immemorial marble has been a ubiquitous material in the greek lands a vibrant glowing stone first exploited in prehistoric sculpture in the late neolithic era 5300 4500 bc but most visibly in the third millennium bc during the aegean early bronze age.
Portraits or busts and marble copies of greek bronzes.
Marble marble is a metamorphic rock derived from limestone composed mostly of calcite a crystalline form of calcium carbonate caco 3.
The sculpture of ancient greece is the main surviving type of fine ancient greek art as with the exception of painted ancient greek pottery almost no ancient greek painting survives.
During the republican era artists carved realistic portraits of people including political leaders military officials and historians from the chest or neck up known as busts these life sized works are celebrated for their impressively.
Here we see the remains of the ancient gymnasium of olympia greece.
Modern scholarship identifies three major stages in monumental sculpture in bronze and stone.
The archaic from about 650 to 480 bc classical 480 323 and hellenistic.
As others have mentioned there were gyms the original ones where ancient greeks used to and did sports naked gymnoi hence the word for gym.