Scopas

Sculptor

Born: Possibly as early as 420 b. c.e.; Paros, Greece Died: Late fourth century b. c.e.; place unknown Also known as: Scopas of Paros Category: Art and architecture

Life Most scholars agree that Scopas (SKOH-puhs) was part of a family of sculptors that began with his grandfather Scopas and father, Aristandros, who was a renowned worker in bronze. None of Scopas’s sculptural bases or signatures survives, although his works are described by Pliny the Elder, Pausanias the Traveler, Athenian politician Callistratus, and Strabo of Amasia.

Scopas’s most notable achievements were accomplished at the mausoleum at Halicarnassus and at the temple of Athena Alea at Tegea. Pausanias the Traveler reports that Scopas was the architect and sculptor of the cult statue at the latter site. He was most likely a sculptor trained to work in the famed Parian marble and has been credited with representations ofHecate, Asclespius and Hygieia, Artemis, Athena Pronaos, Heracles, Pothos, Eros, and Himeros.

Although the attribution of surviving sculptural pieces to Scopas is still a matter of debate among scholars, his style has been described as vivid with torsional action and full of emotional pathos.

Influence Scopas was clearly one of the masters of fourth century b. c.e. sculpture, and his prominence is obvious from the outstanding number of sculptural pieces mentioned in ancient literature.

Further Reading

Cook, B. F., with Bernard Ashmole and Donald Strong. Relief Sculpture of the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005.

Scopas

Ridgway, Brunilde Sismondo. Fourth-Century Styles in Greek Sculpture.

Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1997.

Stewart, Andrew F. Skopas of Paros. Park Ridge, N. J.: Noyes Press, 1977.

Christina A. Salowey

See also: Art and Architecture; Halicarnassus Mausoleum; Mausolus.