Harmodius and Aristogeiton, Sculpture group in the Ancient Agora, Athens, Greece

The Tyrannicides group by Kritios and Nesiotes, set up in the Agora in 477/476 BC, is lost; what survives are Roman marble copies, the best in the National Archaeological Museum of Naples. In the Naples copy the nude, beardless Harmodius thrusts a sword forward in his raised right hand, while Aristogeiton, a cape over his left shoulder, brandishes a sword; only the sword hilts remain, and Aristogeiton's head is a replacement.

The first group, by Antenor, was set up in the Agora after the democracy was established, then carried off to Susa by the Persians in 480 BC. Kritios and Nesiotes made the replacement, erected in 477/476 BC according to the Parian Chronicle. Pausanias saw both pairs standing side by side in the Agora in the 2nd century AD; the bronzes are lost, but Roman marble copies survive, the best in Naples.

Athenian symposia sang a skolion in honour of the pair, written by the poet Callistratus, and the story of their deed was still cited as an example of heroism in Roman times. The group also marks a shift in Greek art: male nudity, until then reserved for gods, funerary and votive statues and athletes, here portrays two political men.

The bronze originals by Antenor and by Kritios and Nesiotes are both lost; what survives are Roman marble copies, the best in the National Archaeological Museum of Naples. The Naples pair preserves only the sword hilts, and the head of Aristogeiton is a replacement. Pausanias saw both pairs standing side by side in the Agora in the 2nd century AD.

The group by Kritios and Nesiotes, set up in 477/476 BC, is called the first Greek statue to depict historical people and events rather than gods or athletes. It also marks the shift from the Archaic to the Severe style, and its nude political figures broke with the convention that male nudity belonged to gods and victors.