Calamis
Illustration — Omphalos Apollo, Roman copy, Capitoline Museums. 5th century BC) was a sculptor of ancient Greece. He was possibly from Boeotia, but nothing certain is known of his life although he is credited with having lived in Athens, and his sculptures are representative of Athenian sculpture.
Also recorded as Kalamis
Calamis

Copy of Kalamis · Jastrow (2006) · Public domain
- Born
- 500.
- Died
- 460. · Athens.
- Occupation
- sculptor.
- Movements
- art of Classical Greece.
- Known for
- Bronze chariot with Hieron at Olympia.
- Languages
- Ancient Greek.
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
VALÉORINE documentary reading
Documentary summary
Illustration — Omphalos Apollo, Roman copy, Capitoline Museums. 5th century BC) was a sculptor of ancient Greece. He was possibly from Boeotia, but nothing certain is known of his life although he is credited with having lived in Athens, and his sculptures are representative of Athenian sculpture.
Admitted source layer · organised and presented by VALÉORINE
Note VALÉORINE
No house-authored Note is published until its assertions and sources pass the VALÉORINE evidence contract. The documentary article remains available in full while that enrichment is being consolidated.
Documentary enrichment in progress · no unsupported statement published
Reference Check
Propose documentary evidence for Calamis. A contribution is never written directly as fact: identity, source, rights and evidence gates still decide.
Sign in to contribute
World of VALÉORINE
Documentary connections
Only confirmed graph relationships appear here. Images are shown only when their identity and reuse rights both pass the documentary gate.
Documentary evidence
Evidence Panel
not yet certified
- Identity
- resolved
- Independent source families
- 0
- Admitted assertions
- 0
- Open conflicts
- 0
Authority files
wikidata · Q918382
In this article
Biography
Biography
Although none of his works survives, he is known for his talent and skill in sculpting animals, especially horses, as opposed to the human body. He is known to have worked in marble, bronze, gold, and ivory, and was famed for statues of horses, which Pliny says were unrivaled. According to Pausanias (9.16.1), Calamis produced a statue of Zeus Ammon for Pindar, and mentions a Hermes Criophorus for Tanagra (9.22.1), which was later depicted on Roman coins of the city. His statue of Apollo Alexikakos stood in front of the Temple of Apollo Patroos in Athens. He produced his most ambitious work, a 30-cubit statue of Apollo for Apollonia Pontica (on modern St. Ivan Island, Bulgaria; Pliny the Elder 4.92, 34.39, Strabo 7.6.1, p. His Sosandra was praised by Lucian, and may have been copied for Aspasia, which in turn was copied by the Romans.
The recorded working language is Ancient Greek. Works named in the authority record are Bronze chariot with Hieron at Olympia.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
460
Calamis died at Athens.
500
Calamis born.
Primary material
Documents and archives
scholarly publication
- Calamis, Greek sculptor, Oxford Classical Dictionary, 2015
Scholarly · Crossref registry · 2015
reference work
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q918382: Calamis
Reputable secondary · Wikimedia Foundation
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Muller-Duffeu, 243.
- 2.Léon Lacroix, , p.244.
- 3.Boardman, 79.
- 4.Claude Rolley. La sculpture grecque : 1, Des origines au milieu du Ve siècle. Picard. 1994. 978-2-7084-0448-9.
- 5.Bernard Holtzmann. La sculpture grecque. Librairie Générale Française. 2010. 978-2-253-90599-8.
- 6.L'Art grec. École du Louvre. Réunion des musées nationaux - Grand Palais. 2011.
- 7., I, 3, 4.
- 8.Ma884.
- 9.Ma691.
- 10., VII, 319 ; , XXXIV, 39 et Appien, Illyriques, 30.
- 11.Pausanias, I, 23, 2.
- 12.Lucien, Portraits, 6. Voir aussi Portraits, 4 et Dialogue des courtisanes, III, 2.
- 13.Muller-Dufeu, 245.
- 14.Boardman, 80.
- 15.Muller-Dufeu, n 688.
- 16.Dont le nom est devenu Aleméné par les traductions des différents éditeurs. Le professeur Jan Six de l'université d'Amsterdam pense qu'il faut lire ce nom comme étant Algoumén, signifiant en grec la Douloureuse. Cette douloureuse était l'original de la statue dite de Pénélope au Vatican qui offre des analogies frappantes avec les trônes sculptés de l'ancienne collection Ludovisi ainsi qu'avec l'Aurige de Delphes, œuvres ayant déjà été rapportées à Calamis (in Comptes-rendus des séances de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, 1914, 58-3, ).
- 17.Copie d'une œuvre de Calamis découverte dans le secteur de Sosandra des Thermes de Baïes et conservée au musée archéologique de Naples.
- 18.Qui porte un bélier
- 19.Hermès et Dionysos de Tanagra furent reproduites sur les monnaies de la cité, (Cf. Léon Lacroix, Les reproductions de statues sur les monnaies grecques, 1949, Librairie Droz, bibliothèque de la faculté de philosophie et Belles-Lettres, Université de Liège, fasc. CXVI, chapitre II., ).
- 20.Pausanias. Pausaniás, cesta po Řecku II. 416 vysvětlivky. 1974.
- 21.Inscriptiones Graecae, IG II³ 496 http://epigraphy.packhum.org/text/347353?&bookid=877&location=1360
- 22.Michael Scott, Delphi and Olympia, str. 137
- 23.Karl Julius Sillig, Pliny (the Elder.), Dictionary of the Artists of Antiquity, str. 34
- 24.Pausanias. Pausaniás, cesta po Řecku II. 302. 1974.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
scholarly publication
Calamis, Greek sculptor, Oxford Classical Dictionary, 2015Crossref registry
Verifiedreference work
Wikidata, structured authority record Q918382: CalamisWikimedia Foundation
Partially resolved
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Sculpture
6,174 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- C. SivaramamurtiArtist
- C.C. van Asch van WijckArtist
- Cady NolandArtist
- Caitlin CherryArtist
- Calixte DakpoganArtist
- Calle ÖrnemarkArtist
- CallimachusArtist
- Camille AlaphilippeArtist
Best supported in this field
For owners
Own a work by Calamis?
A specialist will read what you send and tell you what the house can establish, what it cannot, and whether the object is suited to sale. There is no charge and no obligation. The object stays with you throughout; nothing is shipped to us unless it is arranged in writing beforehand.