The most likely identity of this athlete is the discus thrower that Pliny tell us was by Naukydes, a sculptor from Argos who mostly portrayed victorious athletes in bronze. Unlike the famous all-action discus thrower by Myron, here the athlete is preparing for his throw. The feminine-looking head joins poorly and therefore probably does not belong with the body
Rome, Vatican, Sala della Biga 615
Lippold: Griechische Plastik, 199 (n.10)
Walston: Catalogue of Casts in the Museum of Classical Archaeology (1889), 31, no.118
Lawrence: Classical Sculpture (1928), 241
Brunn-Bruckmann, Denkmäler Griechischer und Römischer Skulptur, 131, text vol.4; fig.7 in article by J. Sieveking on pls. 682-5
Bulle: Der Schöne Mensch im Altertum (1922), 35, pl. 53
Hyde, W: Olympic Victor Monuments, pl. 6
Helbig: Führer durch die Öffentlichen Sammlungen Klassischer Altertümer in Rom (2nd edition) I, 216, no.338
Stewart: Greek Sculpture, 169
Found on the Appian Way south of Rome in 1792 in the ruins of a Roman villa by Gavin Hamilton
