Dying Gaul, 230-220 BCE, Hellenistic

This particular marble is a Roman copy of a lost Hellenistic bronze. The statue represents a dying Celt with an astonishing amount of realism, especially the pain on his face. He is completely nude except the necklace, a mark of a Gallic warrior. The mustache and short hair is also a mark of a Gallic soldier. He lies in agony on his fallen shield. The amount of realism evident in the sculpture inspired a great amount of admiration among the educated classes in the 17th and 18th centuries, becoming a popular sight on the Grand Tour of Europe. Byron wrote about the statue in his poem Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage:

I see before me the gladiator lie
He leans upon his hand—his manly brow
Consents to death, but conquers agony,
And his drooped head sinks gradually low—
And through his side the last drops, ebbing slow
From the red gash, fall heavy, one by one…