"'Do you mean the discus-thrower,' said I, 'the one bent over in the position of the throw, with his head turned back toward the hand that holds the discus, with one leg slightly bent, looking as if he would spring up all at once with the cast?' 'Not that one,' said he, 'for that is one of Myron's works, the discus-thrower you speak of.'"
Lucian, Philopseudes (The Lover of Lies)
It is literary descriptions such as this that allow the Discobolus to be identified and attributed to Myron.
The copies in the British Museum, which is pictured, and the Vatican both depict the head facing away from the throwing arm. The most complete example, and the only one to correctly position the head looking back, is in the Museo Nazionale Romano (National Roman Museum).