A statue known as Kritios Boy, because it once thought the famous artist Kritios sculpted it, is regarded by art historians as one of the most important works in ancient Greece. Found in the Acropolis, it was one of the first sculptures to portray contrapposto, the way in which a human actually stands with weight being shifted from one leg to another. Prior to Kritios Boy, sculptures of humans were stiff and unrealistic, such as the stereotypical depiction of an Egyptian pharaoh.
The master artist Myron created Diskobolos, a bronze statue of a discus thrower. The arched back and extended arm show the dynamic movement of the human body, a revolutionary subject at the time. The athlete's face is turned away from the spectator, concentrating on the task at hand. This was another departure from earlier depictions of athletes and far more realistic. While the original work was lost, Roman sculptors later crafted many marble copies of the legendary statue.
Pericles was a statesman and warrior who helped to make Athens the powerful center of Greece during the golden age. Upon his death, he was immortalized by the artist Kresilas in bronze on the Acropolis. Once again, marble copies by Roman sculptors are all that remain of this monument, although most copies depicted the head only, rather than the entire nude figure Kresilas crafted. In this sculpture, Kresilas made Pericles appear nearly perfect and godlike, which was more important to the Greek people than capturing an accurate likeness.
Ancient Greeks were consumed with a fascination with ratios and mathematics. The sculptor Polykleitos applied the theories of proportion and harmonious numerical ratios to his art, and chronicled his attempts to create the perfect statue. While his treatise was lost, some of its principles were captured by his contemporaries. Additionally, we see in his works, such as the famous Spear Bearer, the result of his devotion to following mathematical principles in sculpture.