Concern with the way the figure moves is the best answer. Greek sculptures evolved to look like a living, breathing figure. The contrapossto style, while looking more natural, also makes the figure appear to be in motion, or capable of movement. By focusing on how the figure moves, artists more accurately depicted how it is. The emphasis is on external function, not internal, evolving to focus on not only how the figure moves through space, but also through time, as late Greek statues focused on the process of aging. Either way, an increasing realism across the chronology of Greek sculpture directly correlates to a heightened concern with movement.

The Etruscan civilization flourished between about 800 and 200 BCE in the northern Italian peninsula. As represented by this work, the Sarcophagus of the Spouses, Etruscans created large scale sculptures in terra cotta that were remarkable images of human figures, especially in funerary monuments such as this piece. Etruscan art was highly influential on Roman art, particularly after the Roman Empire generally overtook the Etruscan lands in Northern Italy.

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Most figures in the Greek artistic tradition were nude, especially the men. It was meant not only to demonstrate the form in motion (best seen in the nude) but also as a mark of tradition. Athletes competed nude in Greece, even boxers. The sculptor wouldn't have had a reference as to what he would wear, anyway.

The development of deep drillwork, which made the "corkscrew" curls of this portrait possible, occurred during the Flavian dynasty (Roman Early Imperial.)

Image: Portrait bust of a young Flavian woman, potentially Julia, daughter of Titus. Marble. c. 80-90 BCE. See page for author \[CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)\], via Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Matronalivia2.jpg.

Ancient Greek and Roman statuary was largely based on three concepts: Greco-Roman mythology, statues of political leaders, and exercises on the ideal form. In Greek mythology, Hercules, the half-man, half-god hero, was tasked with various chores to allow him to enter the realm of the gods. One of the most famous ones was that Hercules had to defeat the multiheaded serpent known as the Hydra.

Greek and Roman sculpture, especially large-scale monumental works, was usually made out of marble. Needing fine skill and technical ability, marble was also imposing and costly, demonstrating the value of the work carved from the material. While generally perceived as finished when viewed as plain white marble, Roman sculptors finished their works with a brightly colored layer of paint to give fine detail to the sculpture.

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The Etruscan sculpture The Sarcophagus of the Spouses presents a married couple, lounging in an embrace at a dinner or a party. As this is a funerary monument, this pose is supposed to represent the lasting image of the couple, which indicates that this couple and Etruscan society in general greatly valued genuine affection between married couples. This kind of pose stands in stark contrast to Greek and Roman sculpture which often presented subjects in stern poses and also tended to separate men and women.

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High classical sculptors in the Greek tradition were more interested in the male form and its depiction in motion than expressing a particular emotional quality. Statues of the classical tradition were known for their muscular frames but a disinterest in the face. The expression was largely blank, meant to direct focus on the body instead.

The piece is Hellenistic, for a number of reasons. First note the hyper-realism of the figure's proportions and body. He is figurally representative of a real man, something the Greeks took pride in. Note also the drama in his face, the anguish of his form. This too would have been connotative of the Hellenistic background of the piece, given the strong desire to depict emotional states in that period. The closest answer, therefore, is the fourth century in Greece.

The piece is most definitely Greek in origin, given its bronze make and athletic depiction of man. The man is idealized and muscular, beautiful after the Hellenistic fashion. Like many of the Greek piece of the time, he is an athlete, meant to demonstrate the power of the human form at its finest. He is not, though, the Discobolus, Greek for discus- thrower.