Greek (Rhodian) · Hellenistic sculpture
Athenodoros of Rhodes
b. active 1st century BC, Rhodes
Athenodoros of Rhodes was a Hellenistic Greek sculptor, one of the three Rhodians whom Pliny credits with the Laocoön group in the Vatican. Inscriptions name him as a son of Agesander, and his signature leads the Sperlonga sculptures.
1 work in the collection
Works by Athenodoros of Rhodes
Athenodoros (also spelled Athenodorus) was a sculptor from Rhodes and one of the three artists whom Pliny the Elder names as the makers of Laocoön and His Sons, the writhing marble group rediscovered in Rome in 1506 and now in the Vatican Museums. Pliny lists him third, after Agesander and Polydorus.
What the inscriptions say
Unlike most ancient sculptors, Athenodoros has left his name on stone more than once. At Lindos on Rhodes, a statue base securely dated to 42 BC is signed by Athenodoros son of Agesander. A second Lindos inscription, of 22 BC, names a priest Athenodoros and a possible brother, Agesander son of Agesander; whether either was a sculptor is uncertain.
The most important signature was found in the late 1950s in a grotto at Sperlonga on the coast south of Rome, a dining cave that probably belonged to the emperor Tiberius. Broken colossal groups there show episodes from the Odyssey, among them the blinding of Polyphemus and Scylla seizing Odysseus' men. On the stern of the Scylla ship, three sculptors sign: Athanodoros son of Hagesandros first, then Hagesandros son of Paionios, then Polydoros son of Polydoros.
One Athenodoros or several?
Because Rhodian families reused the same few names across generations, these inscriptions may refer to different men. The historian E. E. Rice argued in 1986 for a single Athenodoros son of Agesander, active until about 10 BC, who worked as a junior partner on the Laocoön and later led the Sperlonga workshop. Others have not accepted that tidy picture, and the date of the Laocoön itself remains debated, with most scholars placing it between about 50 BC and AD 70.
Why he matters
The Rhodian workshop brought the dramatic, emotional style of late Hellenistic sculpture to Roman patrons, and through the Laocoön it reached the Renaissance. The group's twisting bodies and anguished faces fascinated Michelangelo and later sculptors such as Bernini.
Where to see the work
The Laocoön is in the Museo Pio-Clementino of the Vatican Museums; the Sperlonga sculptures are in the archaeological museum at Sperlonga. Explore further in Greek Statues.
Questions & answers
Who was Athenodoros of Rhodes?
Athenodoros was a Greek sculptor from Rhodes, active in the 1st century BC. Pliny the Elder names him, with Agesander and Polydorus, as a maker of the Laocoön group, and inscriptions at Lindos and Sperlonga name an Athenodoros son of Agesander, which points to a family workshop.
Did Athenodoros sign the Sperlonga sculptures?
Yes. An inscription on the ship in the Scylla group at Sperlonga lists Athanodoros son of Hagesandros first, followed by Hagesandros son of Paionios and Polydoros son of Polydoros. Whether this is the same Athenodoros named by Pliny is still discussed.
Where is the Laocoön statue?
The Laocoön and His Sons is in the Vatican Museums, displayed in the Octagonal Court of the Museo Pio-Clementino in Vatican City. It was unearthed on the Esquiline Hill in Rome in January 1506.