Craftsmen and Society: the Lysippean Kairos

The debate on the social status of the craftsman in the ancient world involved various generations of scholars. In classical Greece the word “art” in its aesthetic significance, as is known, does not exist and it does not exist a term used to indicate the “artist” as an expression of the creative process. Two sets of constraints hampered full recognition of “téchne” as a craft activity: the one, ontological and epistemological, and the other practical ethical and socio-political. The conceptualization of beauty with its intrinsic ethical stance, not exclusively referred to téchnai, does not have the qualities to substantiate téchnai themself systematically and become a specific category at the same time. This premise is necessary to reconsiderate the aesthetic and historical content of the Lysippean Kairos. The bronze graphic reconstruction shows the child on tiptoe on the ball, with broad wings back and a small pairs at the ankles. He grabs with his right hand a razor which support the balance, and touches a left dish with the index finger. Long hair descends on the forehead, leaving bare occiput and nape. The subject has been studied extensively, but going deep in the cultural evidence some ambiguities emerge and stimulate us to reevaluate the matter. A way forward to clarify the intent of the author and therefore the archetypal image of the work seems to consider different reading levels, both the symbolic value