Silanion
Illustration — Tragic mask in bronze, attributed to Silanion. Museum of Piraeus, Athens, Greece. • Illustration — Plato, Roman copy of Silanion's work (Glyptothek, Munich) Silanion (gen. Σιλανίωνος) was the best-known of the Greek portrait-sculptors working during the fourth century BC. Pliny gives his floruit as the 113th Olympiad, that is, around 328–325 BCE (Natural History, 34.51), and records he had no famous teacher. His idealized portrait head of Plato was commissioned by Mithridates of Persia for the Academy of Athens, c.
Silanion
Niko Kitsakis · CC BY 4.0
- Born
- 400 · Athens.
- Died
- 360
- Nationality
- Classical Athens
- Occupation
- sculptor
- Known for
- Satyros statue at Olympia · Telestas statue at Olympia · Damaretos of Messene statue at Olympia
- Languages
- Ancient Greek
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
VALÉORINE documentary reading
Documentary summary
Illustration — Tragic mask in bronze, attributed to Silanion. Museum of Piraeus, Athens, Greece. • Illustration — Plato, Roman copy of Silanion's work (Glyptothek, Munich) Silanion (gen. Σιλανίωνος) was the best-known of the Greek portrait-sculptors working during the fourth century BC. Pliny gives his floruit as the 113th Olympiad, that is, around 328–325 BCE (Natural History, 34.51), and records he had no famous teacher. His idealized portrait head of Plato was commissioned by Mithridates of Persia for the Academy of Athens, c.
Admitted source layer · organised and presented by VALÉORINE
Reference Check
Propose documentary evidence for Silanion. 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
Documentary basis
Authority files
wikidata · Q1230857 · wikipedia · Silanion
In this article
Biography
Later copies of it and of an idealized portrait head of Sappho survive. Both are of simple ideal type, the Sappho not strictly a portrait, since Sappho (sixth century BC) lived before the age of portraiture. The best copy of Plato is in the Glyptothek of Munich (illustration). Silanion also produced a "portrait" of the poet Corinna. Other "portrait" heads by Silanion evoked mythic and legendary heroes. An Achilles mentioned by Pliny was later adapted to represent Ares, and an equally idealized Theseus is mentioned by Plutarch. Silanion wrote a treatise on proportions that is mentioned by Vitruvius (vii, introduction), but has otherwise been lost to the ages.
Zeuxiades is recorded as having studied under Silanion. The recorded working language is Ancient Greek. Works named in the authority record are Satyros statue at Olympia, Telestas statue at Olympia and Damaretos of Messene statue at Olympia.
Plato, copy of the portrait made by Silanion ca. 370 BC for the Academia in Athens
Marie-Lan Nguyen · © Marie-Lan Nguyen / Wikimedia Commons
Primary material
Documents and archives
reference work
- “Silanion”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
authority record
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q1230857: Silanion
General reference · Wikidata
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., XXXIV, 51.
- 2.Vitruve
- 3.Pline, XXXIV, 82.
- 4., Thésée, 4.
- 5., Comment écouter les poètes, III, 30.
- 6.Cicéron, Contre Verrès, IV, 57, 125-126.
- 7.Tatien, Contre les Grecs, 33.
- 8.Diogène Laërce, III, 25. Extrait de la traduction de , 1611.
- 9.Pline, XXXIV, 81. Extrait de la traduction de , 1612.
- 10.Pline, XXXIV, 86.
- 11., 173d.
- 12.harvsp id=ROL Rolley 1999 p=304 .
- 13., VI, 4, 5.
- 14.Pausanias, VI, 14, 14.
- 15.Pausanias, VI, 14, 11.
- 16.Plutarque, Propos de banquet, V, 1, 2. Extrait de la traduction de , 1067.
- 17.harvsp id=ROL Rolley 1999 p=301 .
- 18.Peter C. Bol, « Grossplastik aus Bronze von Olympia », Olympische Forschungen 9, Berlin, De Gruyter, 1978, 40-43 et 114-115 ; Carol C. Mattusch, Classical Bronzes: The Art and Craft of Greek and Roman Statuary, Cornell University Press, Ithaca, 1996, 84-87.
- 19.Carol C. Mattusch, Classical Bronzes: The Art and Craft of Greek and Roman Statuary, Cornell University Press, Ithaca, 1996, 84.
- 20.Carol C. Mattusch, Classical Bronzes: The Art and Craft of Greek and Roman Statuary, Cornell University Press, Ithaca, 1996, 86.
- 21., 345 et 360-361, note 40.
- 22.Récemment Luigi Todisco, Scultura greca del IV secolo: maestri e scuole di statuaria tra Classicità ed Ellenismo. Scultura greca del quarto secolo, Milan, Longanesi, 1993, pl. 253 ; suivi par .
- 23.Charles Picard, Manuel d'archéologie grecque. La sculpture, tome IV : période classique, I, Paris, 1948, 1294 et suivantes.
- 24.Richter, 144, fig. 780-781.
- 25.Georg Lippold, Grieschiche Porträtstatuen, Munich, 1912, 65 et Jiri Frel, « A Date for Corinna », CJ 68, 1 (octobre-novembre 1972), 29-30 [26-30].
- 26.quoi Notamment Todisco, p. 110 et n° 231.
- 27.harvsp id=ROL Rolley 1999 p=305 .
- 28.refinc Helga von Hentze, Des Bildnis der Sappho, Mayence et Berlin, 1966 .
Bibliography printed in the source article · 2
- Ouvrage
- Ouvrage
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
reference work
Secondary witnessauthority record
General reference
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 16 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Sculpture
6,174 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- Sigrid FridmanArtist
- Sigurd NomeArtist
- Sigurd WingeArtist
- Sigvald AsbjørnsenArtist
- Silke SchatzArtist
- Silovan KakabadzeArtist
- Silpa BhirasriArtist
- Silvana De StefanoArtist
Best supported in this field
For owners
Own a work by Silanion?
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.