Graphike, andriantopoiia e thorakopoiia nell’Augusto di Prima Porta. Una lettura ecfrastica di Xenoph. Mem. III 10

This paper provides an ecphrastic reading of a well-known chapter of Xenophon's Memorabilia (III 10). In this passage, Socrates discusses about painting, sculpture, and cuirass making with three artists: the painter Parrhasius, the sculptor Cleiton (who has been identified with Polycleitus), and the cuirass maker Pistias. A common thread of these conversations lies in a concept of art which goes back to a Pythagorean pattern, and which relies on the notions of symmetria and harmonia. These two features can be spotted also in the much-discussed statue of Augustus found at Prima Porta. Here, the three arts displayed at Xenoph. Mem. III 10, are mutually interrelated. The hypothesis of this paper is that the sculptor (or the atelier of sculptors) who conceived the Augustus of Prima Porta may have relied on, or even been influenced by, the passage of Xenophon's Memorabilia. Thus the statue of Prima Porta may be understood as an iconic description of Xenophon's passage.