The Discobolus of Myron ("discus thrower" Greek Δισκοβόλος του Μύρωνα) is a famous Roman marble copy of a lost Greek bronze original, completed during the zenith of the classical period between 460-450 BC. A discus thrower is depicted about to release his throw. The moment captured in the statue is an example of rhythmos, harmony and balance. Myron is often credited as being the first sculpture to master this style. Naturally, as always in Greek athletics, the Discobolus is completely naked. His pose is said to be unnatural to a human, and today considered a rather inefficient way to throw the discus. Also there is very little emotion shown in the discus thrower's face. The other trademark of Myron depicted in this sculpture is how well the body is proportioned, the symmetria. The Discobolus Palombara stands at 1.55 meters tall (6 feet, 1 inch).

Literary account
On its discovery in 1781, at a Roman property of the Massimo family, the Villa Palombara on the Esquiline Hill, it was initially restored by Giuseppe Angelini., and the Massimi installed it initially in their Palazzo Massimo delle Colonne then at Palazzo Lancelotti. The Italian archeologist Carlo Fea identified the sculpture as a copy from the original of Myron. It was instantly famous, though the Massimo jealously guarded access to it (Haskell and Penny 1981:200).
Prior to this statue's discovery the term Discobolus had been applied in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries to a standing figure holding a discus, a Discophoros, which Visconti identified as the Discobolus of Naukydes of Argos, mentioned by Pliny (Haskell and Penny 1981:200).
In 1937 Adolf Hitler negotiated to buy it, and eventually succeeded in 1938, when Galeazzo Ciano, Minister of Foreign Affairs, sold it to him for five million lire, over the protests of Giuseppe Bottai, Minister of Education, and the scholarly community. It was shipped by rail to Munich and displayed in the Glyptothek; it was returned in 1948. It is now in the National Museum of Rome.

Principal example
After the discovery of the Discobolus Palombara a second notable Discobolus was excavated, at Hadrian's Villa in 1790, and was purchased by the English antiquary and art dealer established in Rome, Thomas Jenkins, at public auction in 1792. (Another example, also found at Tivoli at this date, was acquired by the Vatican Museums.) The English connoisseur Charles Towneley paid him £400 for the statue, which arrived at the semi-public gallery Townley commissioned in Park Street, London, in 1794. The head was wrongly restored, as Richard Payne Knight pointed out, but Townley was convinced his was the original and better copy.
It was bought for the British Museum, with the rest of Townley's marbles, in July 1805 (illustration, left).