The Cleveland Apollo: Apollo Sauroktonos (Lizard-Slayer) or Apollo the Python-Slayer

A CLOSER LOOK

The museum identifies this sculpture as bronze, copper, and stone inlay and credits Praxiteles (Greek, Athenian, c. 400–330 BCE).

The museum's collection notes: The Cleveland Apollo has been called both Lizard-Slayer ( Sauroktonos ) and Python-Slayer. The first name comes from the Roman author Pliny the Elder (23–79 CE), who noted in describing bronze works made by the Athenian sculptor Praxiteles (active around 370–330 BCE), “the youthful Apollo [is] known as the Sauroktonos because he is aiming an arrow at a lizard [Greek sauros ] which is stealing toward him.” Scholars have long connected this description with artworks showing the young Greek god Apollo in a distinctive pose and hairstyle, standing on his right leg and leaning to his left. In more completely preserved versions, Apollo reaches towa