Funeral monument. The young warrior for whom this is a memorial is shown as he was in life: on horseback, triumphing in battle over an enemy. The enemy’s nudity is both vulnerable and heroic, turning him from quivering wreck into worthy opponent. In this way, The victory of Dexileos is made to seem greater.
Dexileos becomes even more exceptional when we consider how unusual scenes of combat were on grave stelai of this period. The inscription, which is missing from the cast, not only provides us with his name, but also states that he died in battle during a war against the Corinthians in 394 BCE
Athens, National Museum
Purchased by the Fitzwilliam on 8 June 1878 from the Paris Beaux Arts. Transferred to the Museum in 1884
Lippold: Griechische Plastik, 229 (n.10), pl. 80.1
Walston: Catalogue of Casts in the Museum of Classical Archaeology (1889), 58, no.267
Richter: Sculpture & Sculptors of the Greeks (1950), fig.215
Picard: Archéologie Grècque; Sculpture II (1939), 846
Diepolder: Die Attischen Grabreliefs des V & VI Jahrhunderts (1931), 26
Conze: Die Attischen Grabreliefs (1890-1922) II, 254-
Inscriptiones Graecae II-III editio minor III.2, 435, no.6217
Yes, but not on the cast
Found in the Dipylon cemetery in Athens in 1863. In situ until the second world war
