The sculpture was part of a group, probably affixed to the sanctuary pediment. According to several scholars, it formed part of the memorial on the Spartan acropolis to honor Leonidas on his reburial.[3]Paul Cartledge, however, argued it would have represented a mythical hero or a god rather than the historical person of Leonidas.[4]: PT198 One estimation dates the sculpture before rather than after 480 BC, the year of the Battle of Thermopylae where Leonidas died.[4]
Influence
Statue of Leonidas at Thermopylae
Statue of Leonidas at Thermopylae (placed in 1955)
In 1955, a bronze statue of king Leonidas was erected as part of a monument in Thermopylae. Its sculptor Vasos Falireas [el] modeled it after the 'Leonidas' torso[5] excavated in 1925.[1]: 253 Sponsored by a group of Greek Americans, the planned site was in the modern city of Sparta, but the project was met by objection there because the statue was naked.[6] The monument finally settled at Thermopylae.[6]
In 1969, another bronze statue of king Leonidas, again made by Vasos Falireas, was erected in downtown Sparta. It was designed in 1966,[7] the inscription dated 1968,[8] installed in 1969[7] and an unveiling ceremony was held in 1970.[7] This time it was clothed. Its design and pose differs from the monument in Thermopylae, but Paul Cartledge describes both statues as based on "the exact same model",[4]: PT341 the excavated 'Leonidas' torso.
p266 "We named the statue 'Leonidas' almost as soon as it was discovered, and no reasons have come to light to make us change this attribution, which seems to rest on a solid basis, and indeed to be the only one possible." (snippet)
^ ab""Leonidas"". University of Cambridge Museum of Classical Archaeology Databases. Retrieved 17 March 2017.