KAZı SONUÇLARI - Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı

The statues were discovered in the 1970s, and were initially restored in 1978-79. Theold restorations had begun to fail, however, and important new pieces of the figures,including their ancient bases, had been identified in the depots. In 2000, the statueswere taken apart and reassembled under the direction of stone-conservator TrevorProudfoot. In 2001, the re-installation of the statues in the Aphrodisias Museum wascompleted.The recently identified inscribed bases that the statues once stood on in the Theaterteli us that the two boxers important "circuit" victors-that is, winners in a series ofinter-city athletic contests, probably in the 3rd century A.D. Substantial missing piecesof both figures have also been located in the storerooms. The inscrised bases and themissing parts are included in the new restoration.The dismantling of the statues proved both technically difficult and of considerablescientific interest. The statues had already been badly broken in antiquity (probablyin an earthquake fall) and been extensively repaired with dowels and joins. In thenew restoration, we have tried as far as possible to leave these interesting ancient repairsvisible.The two Boxers are unique surviving portrait statues of athletes from this period.Theyare both athletically naked and wear heavy boxing-Ieathers (caestus) -straps woundover arm-Iength sheepskin gloves or "inners". They both have extensive scarring,and their hair is cropped short, except for a long "tail" of hair on top of their heads (cirrusin vertice) - again a badge of the professional. One of the statues is signed on itsplinth by its sculptor, Polyneikes, and their careful ancient repair shows that they werehighly valued local monuments.330