DUSHANBE, May 11, 2009, Asia-Plus — Tajik writer Ato Hamdam considers that the Greek sculptor Lysippos had carved marble head of legendary Spitamenes by order of Alexander the Great.
According to him, the marble head “Dying Persian in Hood” is currently kept in one of museums in Rome. “According to historical facts, this marble head had been carved by Lysippos by order of Alexander the Great after death of Spitamenes in recognition of his feats in war against Greeks,” Hamdam said, noting that many historians had written about that sculpture during many centuries. He noted that he had already submitted the sculpture’s photograph to president’s executive office.
Lysippos was a Greek sculptor of the 4th century BC. Together with Scopas and Praxiteles, he is considered one of the three great sculptors of the Classical Greek era, bringing transition into the Hellenistic period. Lysippos was the greatest of the Greek sculptors of the Classical Age in Greece — 370-323 B.C.
It is to be noted that the details of the career of Lysippos are not fully known and no originals of his work remain. His work is known primarily through just copies of the statues Apoxyomenos in the Vatican Museum and the Agias in Delphi. These statues are believed to be from the period between 339-334 B.C. Other copies of his work include Eros stringing his bow, Herakles Farnese, Herakles Epitrapezios and Kairos.
Spitamenes (in old Persian Spitamaneh; born 370 BC and killed 328 BC) was a Persian courtier in the Persian province of Sogdiana, involved in the collapse of the Persian Empire under the forces of Alexander the Great. Spitamenes was killed as a result of his subsequent rebellion against Alexander.
A general and courtier in the Persian court, Spitamenes held an undefined position in the province of Sogdiana during the collapse of the Achaemenid Empire in 330 BC and the brief rule of Artaxerxes V. In 329 BC, when Alexander was founding the new city of Alexandria Eskhate on the Jaxarter River, news came that Spitamenes had roused Sogdiana against him and was besieging the Macedonian garrison in Maracanda. Too occupied at the moment to personally confront Spitamenes he sent an army under the command of Pharmuches which was promptly annihilated with a loss of no less than 2000 infantry and 300 cavalry. The uprising now posed a direct threat to his army, and Alexander moved personally to relieve Maracanda, only to learn that Spitamenes had left Sogdiana, attacking now Bactria, from where he was repulsed with great difficulty by the satrap of Bactria Artabazus (328 BC). The decisive point came in December when Spitamenes was badly defeated by Alexander”s general Coenus at the Battle of Gabai. Spitamenes” allies killed their leader and sent his head to Alexander, suing for peace.
