In the Discobolus, known to us mainly from the copy of Palazzo Lancellotti in Rome, we have the young athlete represented in the moment in which, folded in on himself, after having dribbled the puck, he is about to shoot to throw it away. In the group of Athena and Marsyas it is the contrast in the hairy Silenus between the leap backwards under the threat of Athena and the thrust forward to pick up the longed-for double flute; it is also the contrast between the beautiful, tender, but severe figure of the young goddess and the wild, animalistic Silenus, the contrast between spirit and matter. In the works of Mirone there was anatomical wisdom, a rush of motifs; but still, as a legacy of the past, a bit of hardness and a bit of absence of expression in the faces. Myron was famous as a sculptor of animals: it will be enough to remember his bronze cow.

A distinguished group of sculptures has come down to us: it is given by the marbles of the temple of Zeus in Olympia, probably inaugurated in the ol. 81 (456 BC)

According to Plus-Size-Tips.com, they are the statues of the two pediments (the preparations for the race between Pelops and Oenomaus in the eastern pediment; the battle between Lapiths and Centaurs in the western pediment) and the reliefs of the twelve metopes (the labors of Heracles). Contrast between the two pediments: in the eastern pediment it is in people rigidly posturing or apathetically squatting, kneeling, lying down, the calm heralds a storm; in the western pediment there is the tumult, the intertwining, the tangle of Centaurs, Lapiths, women; in the middle of each pediment is a tall, severe figure of a god, Zeus in the east, Apollo in the west. Psychological content with a striking juxtaposition of vertical lines (the central group) and horizontal lines (the horses) in the pediment of the race; content of physical agitation in the pediment of the centauromachy. Effect execution, not of analysis, but of synthesis; introduction of realistic elements contrasting with the heroic inspiration of the main characters. The same characters and contrasts occur in the metopes; so, for example, between the metope of Atlas with rigidly posed figures and the metope of Heracles and the Cretan bull of a Mironian character, full of enthusiasm. The influences of Polygnothean art are clear; perhaps the marbles of Olympia, in which artistic criticism has been practiced so much, made by local artists, are nevertheless under the influence of Attic art, of the current of the painter Polygnotus of Thasos. between the metope of Atlas with rigidly posed figures and the metope of Heracles and the Cretan bull of a Mironian character, full of enthusiasm. The influences of Polygnothean art are clear; perhaps the marbles of Olympia, in which artistic criticism has been practiced so much, made by local artists, are nevertheless under the influence of Attic art, of the current of the painter Polygnotus of Thasos. between the metope of Atlas with rigidly posed figures and the metope of Heracles and the Cretan bull of a Mironian character, full of enthusiasm. The influences of Polygnothean art are clear; perhaps the marbles of Olympia, in which artistic criticism has been practiced so much, made by local artists, are nevertheless under the influence of Attic art, of the current of the painter Polygnotus of Thasos.

In a certain sense, the three metopes of the temple E of Selinunte are approached to the marble of Olympia; but the slenderness of forms and the treatment of the drapery show, alongside the characters common to Olimpia, different characters.

In the decade between 460 and 450, with advanced forms compared to the sculptures of the temple of Zeus in Olympia, other sculptures can be ascribed that foretell the full development of Fidiac art: thus the two Niobids of Ny-Carlsberg and the Niobide of the Sallustian Gardens, which already in the nude and in the drapery show a style free from archaism. And in this decade the art of Athenian Phidias expands. Of the bronze group, which this great artist painted for the sanctuary of Delphi with the tithe of the booty of Marathon, we wanted to recognize a memory in the Apollo of the Tiber; but it is more likely that another magnificent statuary type of the same god must be ascribed to Phidias, that is the type represented by the Apollo of Kassel, perhaps to be reconnected with the Apollo Parnópios (“who saves from locusts”) of the acropolis of Athens; is the most beautiful representation of the god, the one that gives us the most exact idea of ​​the essence of this god, in which the ideal forms of the athletic body, treated with an elegant rhythm, unite with a luminous intelligence, which blows from the austere face serene: it is a true theophany before our gaze. With the Athena Lemnia, another magnificent work by Phidias, we wanted to reconnect another splendid statuary creation, that is the figure of an Athena without a helmet, recomposed from a torso from Dresden and a head from Bologna. With these works we are around 450 BC. According to the latest survey results, the Olympian Zeus would be earlier than 450, but later, because it was inaugurated in 438 BC. C., the Athena Parthénos of the Parthenon. They are the two masterpieces of Phidias, unfortunately now lost.

Zeus, represented seated on a very rich throne, inlaid with different materials to various scenes and figures, was a colossus about 14 meters high, full of majesty and goodness at the same time, so that the visitor felt awakening in his soul not reverent fear, but pious trust. Memories of the colossus are in two gems from Berlin and Leningrad, in coins from Elis and in a polychrome marble head from Cyrene. The Parthénos represented the goddess standing, armed, and with the Níke on her right hand; it was about 15 meters high and looked like a vigilant virago full of strength and protective goodness at the same time. Wealth of figurative decoration in the shield, in the soles of the sandals, in the base, added value and interest to this colossus, whose memory is in small marble reproductions, in Hellenistic-Roman remakes.