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Zenodoros
( fl mid-1st century AD). Greek bronze sculptor, active in Rome and Gaul. His name (‘foreign gift’) suggests that he may have been born in Massalia (Marseille), Asia Minor, Egypt or Syria, and according to Pliny (Natural History XXXIV.xviii.46) he was the foremost sculptor of colossal statues of the 1st century AD. From AD 54 to 64 Zenodoros worked in Arvernis, Gaul, making a bronze statue of Mercury, for which he was paid 40 million sesterces. Nero commissioned him to make a colossal imperial portrait c. 36 m high, which was placed in his palace, the Domus Aurea in Rome (Pliny: XXXIV.xviii.45–6; Suetonius: Nero xxxi). During the reign of Vespasian (AD 69–79) it was converted into a statue of the Sun god, Sol (Aelius Spartianicus: Hadrian XIX.xii; Herodian: I.xv.9; Pliny: XXXIV.xviii.45). A replica of the Mercury was known in Corinth in antiquity (Pausanias: Guide to Greece II.iii.4) and several extant copies may reflect the original appearance of the statue. The colossal statue of Nero, however, cannot be accurately reconstructed. According to Pliny’s account, Zenodoros no longer employed the lost wax technique, and he created a polychrome effect with silver and gold additions to the bronze. He was able to imitate earlier styles, since the copies of Mercury resemble the work of Lysippos, while according to Pliny he copied two silver cups in the style of Kalamis.
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