Jyrki Siukonen’s Negotiating the Hermes of Olympia: A Short History of Reception is the fourth volume of the Finnish Institute at Athens’ electronic series Grifos.
The fourth volume of Grifos traces the first 150 years of the modern history of Praxiteles’s famous Hermes, discovered at Olympia in 1877. This exquisite marble sculpture quickly became one of the most celebrated and admired works of Greek art. Just fifty years after its discovery, the work’s authenticity was seriously questioned. In the ensuing debates, experts were deeply divided, as evidence suggested that the work was not of 4th-century BC origin but a later copy. The question, however, was never definitively settled, and the discussion about the true nature of the Olympian Hermes continues to this day. The fluctuating status of this famous and delicate work can be examined through numerous scholarly studies, well-founded interpretations, and original explanations. These reflect not only fundamental shifts in archaeological and art historical discourse but also, at times, reveal political positions.
Grifos is an open-access, peer-reviewed, fully electronic publication series of the Finnish Institute at Athens. Established in 2022, Grifos welcomes studies from all fields of the scholarly scope of the institute, written in Finnish, Swedish, English, and Greek. The publication warmly encourages contributions!