Vatican Museums

The Persian warrior, who is wearing a Phrygian beret, is shown in the moment of attempting an extremely defensive movement away from the enemy, his body moving backwards and raising his right arm which wields his sword. The horror of this defeat is made more dramatic by the expression on the face. This small statue is probably a Roman copy, made about 110-120 A.D., of one of a group of four bronzes which commemorated Greek victories over their enemies. These sculptures had been set up as a votive offering by Attalos II of Pergamon around 160-150 B.C. on the Acropolis in Athens and at Pergamon itself (the so called Pergamene "Little Barbarians"). The original of this statue belonged to a group which celebrated the triumph of the Greeks over the Persians following the famous Battle of Marathon in 490 B.C. This statue was discovered in Rome between 1503 and 1512, together with other copies of statues from Pergamon, during the work of constructing the Medici Palace, nowadays Palazzo Madama.