GREEK ART AND SOCIETY 2018 CLASSICS 270/370 Lecture 11 (Week 6) Art and the function of a sanctuary: Olympia and Delphi Associate Professor Anne

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1 GREEK ART AND SOCIETY 2018 CLASSICS 270/370 Lecture 11 (Week 6) Art and the function of a sanctuary: Olympia and Delphi Associate Professor Anne Mackay Office Hour: Tuesday 12:30-1:30 as of Week 2 (from 24/07) Building , in the Antiquities Collection

2 The ancient Olympic Games were founded at Olympia in 776 BC, and ran every four years until AD 393. The prizes for the various contests were just wreaths of wild olive, the plant sacred to Zeus. Elis Pisa Olympia Pisa had controlled the nearby sanctuary of Olympia, but was conquered c. 470 BC by Elis, which then assumed control of the sanctuary and its lucrative festival. The Eleans used the spoils of that war to fund the construction of a magnificent Temple of Zeus, built by the Elean architect Libon. On the history of the site: Neer pp

3 Site of the sanctuary, at the confluence of two rivers. Smaller Kladeos River Larger Alpheios River

4 The centre of a sanctuary is marked off as sacred ground, offlimits to the ritually unclean (such as murderers). At Olympia, this sacred area (temenos) was called the Altis, and contains temples (Zeus, Hera, Metroon), shrines (e.g., Pelopion, honouring Pelops), and other cultic areas. The sports areas and structures for visitors were outside the Altis. N Plan of site: Blue Guide to Greece 1987 pp Altis

5 Temple of Hera c BC Model of Olympia: Model of temple of Hera:

6 Earlier replacement Later replacement Temple of Hera: a museum of columns as wooden originals were replaced over the centuries in the style of the time (note the diverse capitals). Photos: Left: Neer fig.7.3 Above: Right:

7 Late Classical or Hellenistic Period Original marble or copy? Hermes with baby Dionysos by Praxiteles? Marble, Height 2.15 m c. 340 BC? (or later?) Olympia Museum Described by Pausanias , late 2 nd cent. AD Neer fig Photo: Andronikos 1975: Olympia Section

8 Row of Treasuries Altar of Zeus Horse race track (washed away in antiquity by Alpheios floods) Model of Olympia precinct and the Altis (Olympia Museum) Image: Olympia Museum postcard

9 Bouleuterion council chamber Administrative centre for the Games: where athletes registered, and where they swore an oath of fair play at the statue of Zeus Horkeios (Zeus of the Oaths). Plan of site: Blue Guide to Greece 1987 pp Model: on.htm

10 Plan of site: Blue Guide to Greece 1987 pp Altis

11 Leonidaion (4th cent BC): hostel for distinguished visitors Model: Photo: Mackay 1989

12 Altis

13 Palaistra: place for athletics, also socialising: an open square surrounded by colonnades, with rooms behind. Photo: Model:

14 Plan of site: Blue Guide to Greece 1987 pp Photos: Mackay 1989, 1984 Altis Vaulted tunnel-entrance to the Stadium (running track), looking from the track towards the Altis The tunnel was constructed in the Hellenistic period (i.e., after the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC)

15 Stadion (running track): 600 Olympic feet long = m Estimated capacity for spectators on the banks Tunnel Start-line with toe-grips for the runners, who started from a standing position. Photo: Mackay 1989

16 Image: Olympia Museum postcard

17 Virtual reconstruction of the Zanes, and the row of treasuries on the bank above them Bases of Zanes (statues of Zeus paid for by fines for cheating in the contests) Photo: Caragiorga 1971: pl. 4

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19 Terracotta cornice from Gela Treasury pediment Megara Treasury pediment (Gigantomachy), and detail of ornamental terracotta cornice Photos: Mackay 1984 Drawing: Virtual models:

20 Zeus abducting Ganymede, Height 1.10 m Olympia Museum T2, 106 c BC Date? Transitional period Terracotta, with original colours preserved. Zeus holds his staff and Ganymede Ganymede holds a fighting-cock (love-gift) The fragments were found scattered in the Stadion Neer fig. 7.9 Photos: Caragiorga 1971: pl. 20, and

21 Vestiges of frontality still: optimal viewpoint restricted to a fairly narrow angle Photos:

22 Over the centuries, the Altis became increasingly cluttered with dedications (mainly statues and inscriptions) from Games participants and also city-state recording treaties and military victories. Additionally, spoils of war were dedicated to Zeus armour and weaponry taken from the defeated enemy Model of Olympia: Triangular pillar topped by a statue of Nike (Victory)

23 The Messenians and Naupaktians dedicated this / to Olympian Zeus, a tithe from the spoils of war. Paionios of Mende made this, and was victor (in the competition) to make the akroteria for the Temple. Triangular pillar, originally 8.8 m high, originally with a 2.1 m winged Nike (Victory) alighting on top: erected c. 421 BC. The Messenians and Naupaktians supported Athens against Sparta, and helped win a victory near Pylos in 425 BC. Photos: Mackay 1989

24 Classical period Nike of Paionios (Nike = Victory ) c. 420 BC Olympia Mus Height 2.1 m Column 8.8 m Total height: 10.9 m Neer fig Photos: Left, Andronikos 1975 (Olympia section) Right: Caragiorga 1971: pl. 52

25 Photos:

26 Numbers of bronze tripod cauldrons were dedicated at Olympia, as symbols of victory Bronze tripod cauldron, partially reconstructed, c. 750 BC Basel inv. Ca1, ht 100 cm Photo: Bronze Tripod handle, with horse ornament (a common addition), mid-8 th century BC Olympia Museum Photo: Mackay 1984

27 Illyrian helmets of the early 5 th century BC, from south-eastern section of the site. Photo: Karpodini-Dimitriadi 1988 p. 195 Bronze breastplate, Olympia Inv. B Height 39 cm Corinthian, c. 570 BC from Stadion north wall Photo: Caragiorga 1971: pl. 16 Quantities of armour were dedicated at Olympia through the centuries: these were items taken from the conquered dead after a victory in battle.

28 Miltiades dedicated (me) to Zeus Photo: Karpodini-Dimitriadi 1988 p. 195 Helmet dedicated to Zeus by Miltiades after Marathon (i.e., dedicated post 490 BC, although late 6 th century in style) Olympia inv. B 2600, Height 18.7 cm (from the south wall of the Stadion)

29 DELPHI Sanctuary of Apollo, and Oracle Omphalos - navel Photo: Brian Donovan

30 Delphi: a panhellenic precinct sacred to Apollo, and the seat of his oracle (delivered through the intermediary of his priestess, the Pythia). See Neer pp ; Osborne pp , 127, The site is another example of a Greek sanctuary: occupied from the 9 th century BC, and mainly focused on the Delphic Oracle of Apollo. A major fire in 548 BC initiated a spate of new buildings in the second half of the 6 th century, including the Temple of Apollo. There was also a theatre, and higher up on the site a stadium where the Pythian Games were celebrated every four years (in Year Two of each Olympiad), starting from 586 BC: the prize was a wreath of laurel, the plant sacred to Apollo. The sacred area of Delphi shared many of the features of the Altis at Olympia: a temple of the patron god, treasuries, stoai. The oracle (in the temple) was special to Delphi, as was the theatre on the hillside above, which was where the musical competitions were held. The Siphnian Treasury was introduced in Lecture 7 as an example of the treasuries erected on Panhellenic sites (cf. Olympia) by Greek city-states as a repository for the offerings by its citizens.

31 The extended site of the Delphi sanctuary (from the Blue Guide to Greece 1987)

32 Delphi: the temenos (sacred precinct) of Apollo, marked off by a boundary wall. Major landmarks remaining on site: Theatre Ruins of Temple of Apollo Treasury of the Athenians (rebuilt) Entrance to the site: the Sacred Way Plan: Petracos 1971 p. 10

33 Photo: Camp & Fisher frontispiece N The Site of Delphi from the north east

34 Imaginative impression (by Tournaire 1894) of how the site would have appeared with the accumulation of offerings through most of antiquity. (View looking more or less north, with the Temple of Apollo centre and the theatre behind)

35 25 Naxian Sphinx column base 26 Stoa of the Athenians Plan: Petracos 1971 p. 10

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37 Column of the Naxian Sphinx Stoa of the Athenians

38 Naxian Sphinx, 2.25 m, c. 570 BC Its Ionic column was 10 m high. Delphi museum Neer fig A votive offering to Apollo from the people of Naxos (Cycladic island). A 4 th cent. Inscription on the base of the column attests to Naxians having been granted promanteia (priority in consulting the oracle) Photo: Mackay 1984

39 Temple of Apollo and within it, the place of the Oracle in the adyton (innermost sanctuary, not to be entered). The altar (where sacrifice was offered) was outside the temple, as always. Plan: Petracos 1971 p. 10

40 Temple of Apollo, viewed from the north-west Photo: Mackay 1989 The temple on this site had a long history: initially in the realm of myth (see Neer p. 187), we know that in 548 BC the temple was destroyed by fire; it was rebuilt c. 510 BC with money provided by an Athenian family in exile, the Alkmaionids. Although the superstructure you see now represents another rebuilding in the 4 th century BC, those classical architects piously replicated the late sixth century foundation and proportions of the Alkmaionid structure, retaining the 6 x 15 colonnade, for instance.

41 N Adyton Pronaos front porch Opisthodomos back (false) porch Ground plan of the Doric Temple of Apollo at Delphi Exterior colonnade: 6 x 15 columns Measurement of the stylobate (top-step platform): 21.6m x 58.2m

42 Aigeus (Theseus father) consulting the oracle at Delphi, from the interior of a red-figure cup by the Codrus Painter, c. 430 BC. Berlin F2538, Diameter of cup: 32 cm; diameter of inner medallion: 17.5 cm Aigeus is named by inscription, as is the prophetess, seated on the Delphic tripod like the Pythia, but identified as Themis. Photo: Bronze tripod cauldron, Basel inv. Ca1, ht 100 cm Photo:

43 East (front) Akroteria: a regular gable ornament in temples West (back) Pediments of the archaic Alkmaionid temple, c. 510 BC, pediment ht 2.3 m East pediment: Chariot of Apollo between 3 korai and 3 kouroi, between lions on prey; West pediment: Gigantomachy, around Chariot of Zeus. Neer fig. 7.22; see also Stewart 1990 figs and pp

44 Remains of archaic East Pediment sculpture Perhaps Ge, who was believed first to have owned the oracle before Apollo took it over. [Note the universal applicability of the kore type.] Photos: Above: Right: Mackay 1984

45 Photo: Brian Donovan 2004 The theatre at Delphi, above the temple (remodelled by the Romans). This was the venue for the musical competitions that were a major feature of the Pythian Games.

46 Delphi: the theatre and a suggested reconstruction of the Stage Building. Photos: Panaiotou 1993 p. 43

47 STADIUM Plan: from the Blue Guide to Greece 1987

48 Photos: Panaiotou 1993 p. 45 The Stadium at Delphi: used in the Pythian Games (instituted 586 BC, quadrennial in the second year of each Olympiad)

49 Kleobis & Biton, dedicated by the Argives, c. 580 BC, and set up near the Athenian Treasury (XI on the plan) See Neer fig. 7.18, and refer Lecture 3 Photo: Pedley 6.44

50 Archaic gold and ivory statues of Apollo and Artemis (or Leto) Pre-548 BC (when the Temple of Apollo burnt down) See Neer fig Photos: Mackay 1984, 1989

51 Polyzalos, Tyrant of Gela (Sicily) dedicated a chariot group in bronze to celebrate his racing victory in the Pythian games of 478 or 474 BC; the famous Charioteer was the driver. See Neer fig. 9.25, and Lecture 7. Plan: Petracos 1971 p. 10 Photo: Brian Donovan 2004

52 The Treasury of the Athenians (c. 490 BC, base 6.68 x 9.75 m), decorated with shields from Marathon, and with a victory monument alongside. Base inscription: The Athenians, to Apollo, as spoils taken from the Persians at the Battle of Marathon. Metopes were divided between depictions of the deeds of the Athenian hero Theseus and of the labours of Herakles, the panhellenic hero. Photos: Panaiotou 1993 p. 35

53 Imaginative impression (Tournaire 1894) of the side view of Athenian Treasury with the Marathon victory monument (as seen from the south).

54 References in this lecture Manolos Andronikos (1975). The Greek Museums (Athens: Ekdotike Athenon). Robin Barber (ed.) (1987). The Blue Guide to Greece (London: A. & C. Black) John Camp & Elizabeth Fisher (2010). Exploring the World of the Ancient Greeks (London: Thames & Hudson) Theodora G Caragiorga (1971). Alte Olympia (Berlin: Apollo). E. Karpodini-Dimitriadi (1988). The Peloponnese (Athens: Ekdotike Athenon) Niki Drossou Panaiotou (1993). Delphi: An Illustrated Guide with Reconstructions of the Ancient Monuments (Athens: Gnosis) John G. Pedley (2007). Greek Art and Archaeology (Upper Saddle River NJ: Pearson) Basil C. Petracos (1971). Delphi (Athens: Esperos) Andrew F. Stewart (1990). Greek Sculpture: an Exploration (New Haven: Yale Univ. Press)