0400–0360
Polykleitos the Younger
Polykleitos the Younger worked in the 4th century BC and is known above all as the architect of the sanctuary of Asklepios at Epidaurus. He is credited with a theatre seating fourteen thousand, with acoustics unusual for antiquity, and with a circular building, the tholos, with Corinthian columns inside. As a sculptor he traditionally made statues of athletes.
Biography
The theatre at Epidaurus held about fourteen thousand spectators. The open landscape served as the backdrop to the performance, and the profile of the seating and resonators beneath the benches carried the sound. By the accepted dating it was built around 350–330 BC, and the architect usually named is Polykleitos the Younger.
Very little is known about the man himself.
The dates of about 400 and about 360 BC are conventional: they are guideposts, not documented years of his life, and no source names a place of death.
The epithet “the Younger” distinguishes him from the famous sculptor Polykleitos the Elder, who worked in Argos in the 5th century BC. The relationship between them is reported in different ways: he is considered sometimes the son and, as others suppose, the grandson of the older master. There is also an opinion that he was the brother of the sculptor Naukydes. I have not found a definite answer. His origin is not entirely clear either: Pausanias calls him an Argive, Pliny the Elder a Sicyonian, although both credit him with the same works. For that reason biographies more often write “from Argos”, with a caveat.
The second building at Epidaurus is the tholos, a circular building with a colonnade: Doric on the outside, Corinthian within. It was begun around 360 BC. The capitals of the inner Corinthian columns are especially elaborate, and their pattern influenced most later treatments of that order. The purpose of the building is not firmly established, which is why it is called now a thymele, now a tholos.
As a sculptor, Polykleitos the Younger traditionally worked on images of athletes. These works are known from mentions in ancient texts; the survival and attribution of individual pieces raise questions. One ancient epigram hints that he may also have painted, but there is no certainty here.
We do not know exactly when he worked at Epidaurus: the theatre and the tholos were built in different years, and probably a good deal of time lay between them. Both buildings survive to this day as ruins. The theatre is still used for performances.
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