Observations Regarding Symmetry On Greco-Roman Statues

Quite rightly, Polycletus‘ canon proves to be a trailblazer in terms of plastic symmetry. The most important sculptors of classical Greece proportioned the human body so that the anthropometric balance remained centered on the mean and extreme ratio, the discovery of the incommensurability of the number φ by Hippassus of Metapontum being nothing more than a new contradictory feature of polycletic symmetry. To already known dualities such as ideal–real, emotional–rational, curve–straight, rest–motion, commensurable–incommensurable was added to capture the dynamic balance assumed by the canonical symmetry of the ancient Greeks.

But the contrapposto of the Doryphorus highlights another aspect of symmetry unnoticed until now: the pelvic golden ratio. Measurements show that the ratio is not a bit random. It is found on the vast majority of male nude statues from the classical period, being preserved with mathematical fidelity in Roman copies. All the works of the great Greek sculptors, original or reproductions, contain, without exception, the pelvic golden ratio, and measurements made on other Greco-Roman statues confirm the research hypothesis unequivocally.

However, the measurements are at an early stage, which implies their continuation on more sculptures from the major and minor art of the period. Further research will show the extent to which the hypothesis can lead to an operational scientific concept.