Polycles (155 BC)

Polycles was an ancient Greek sculptor, flourished about the 156th Olympiad (155 BCE), mentioned in Pliny's Natural History. [Pliny. "Natural History", XXXV.8.19.] In Pliny's list, the name of this Polycles is followed by "Athenaeus", either to be taken as the name of another sculptor or as Polycles's birthplace. A "Juno" by him stood in the Portico of Octavia at Rome. [Pliny. "Natural History", XXXVI.4.5.] The sculpture principally associated with this sculptor is a "Hermaphroditus", of which there are no clues in Pliny as to whether it was standing or reclining, but which the surviving Roman copies are taken to be replicas of Polycles' bronze original. The "Borghese Hermaphroditus" is said to be one of these copies.

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