I'm not sure if it is still there, but the Boxer used to be in Berlin's Altes Museum. (Museums do that -- loan, borrow. Reinvent exhibits.) It is a life-size bronze portrait of an ancient prize fighter, a Hellenistic statue from the first century BC. This statue, one of two, is thought to have been a part of the furnishings of Constantine’s spas. Rome was enthralled with Greek art.The portraiture's realism suggests that it is in fact a particular boxer, with his broken nose and unique scars highlighted in copper. One can see his exhaustion -- the swelling face, the wrappings on his bloody hands. Victorious, but at what price?
His fingers are also worn -- rubbed. Marked forever by countless passers-by. In antiquity, they had to have known of him. Or that for which he symbolized. Strength and honor.
Nameless today, yet still admired. Hollow immortality.
