this is a tatty city, but one reason to make a visit is to see the outstanding museo nazionale della magna grecia.
the museum houses a fine collection of artefacts from acient rhegion- an important greek city on the site of present town – and from other greek sites.
chief among its treasures are the greek bronzes , larger than-life statues of warriors dredged from the sea off riace marina in 1972.
statue a (460 bc) is thought to be by phidias, the athenian sculptor and chief exponent of the idealizing, classical style.
if true, it is a rare survivor because his works, praised in the highest terms by acient writers, were hitherto only known to us from roman copies.
statue b (430 bc) has been attributed to the sculptor polyclitus.
it is possible that the statues originated from the temple of delphi, the athenians’ monument to the victory of marathon.