Doryphoros

Doryphoros, also spelled Doryphorus, meaning "Spear-Bearer," is the title given to the best-known work of the Classical Greek sculptor Polyclitus. Designed as an example of the "canon" that Polyclitus developed in the hopes of increasing the realism of the sculpted form, it features a muscular, solidly-built athlete with idealized features leaning on a spear.

The original statue was in bronze, but the marble copies that survive, all dating to the Roman era, feature the addition of a marble tree stump. This stump was added to support the additional weight of marble, and in consideration of marble's weaker shear strength than the original bronze.

One characteristic of Polycletian Doryphoros, as in other of his figures such as the Discophoros, is the ponderation or the Classical Contrapost in the pelvis as the figure changes his stance from a standing leg to a moving leg.

See also: Doryphoros, Ancient Rome, Bronze, Canon, Classical Contrapost, Classical antiquity, Discophoros, Greek, Marble, Pelvis