Getty Museum

Relief with a Fighting Arimasp

Date

350–300 B.C.

Medium

Terracotta with yellowish slip and foil gilding

Culture

Greek (South Italian, Tarantine)

Department

Sculpture

Institution

Getty Museum

The figure is portrayed in profile facing proper right, with a sword held in his right hand over his head, and a pelta (crescent shield) resting on the ground covering his left arm. He is about to strike an adversary, probably a griffin. His right leg is bent and thrust forward while the left kneels on the ground; his abdomen is inclined backward. He wears a Phrygian cap, a short chiton belted under the chest, and a chlamys that, following the warrior’s motions, is lifting to one side, forming a series of fluted folds. Reliefs of Arimasps, members of a Scythian tribe of one-eyed men who were constantly at war with griffins, typically ornamented Tarentine sarcophagi.

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