Delphi (47 page)

Don't miss the “metopes” (carved stone squares) on the walls of this room. These were found in the Sicyonian treasury, which originally stood back to back with the Siphnian treasury. More precisely, they came from the floor of the Sicyonian treasury. As we saw in
chapter 5
, every piece of two previous Sicyonian monuments was dismantled and built into the foundations of the new Sicyonian treasury in the late sixth century
BC
. It is purely thanks to that preservation decision—these metopes were laid sculpted side down as floor tiles in the new treasury—that they have survived for us today.

Room IV
(plate 5;
fig. 4.2
): Here, kept behind glass because of its fragility are the remains of the cache of dedications found buried beneath the sacred way in the vicinity of the aire. Many show signs of fire damage and seem to have been buried there as part of one or more reorganization of the sanctuary in the sixth and fifth centuries. The ivory and gold (chryselephantine) statues of, we think, Apollo are extremely rare. But to me the most incredible is the re-created silver bull statue on display in the room. Archaeologists and conservators have painstakingly re-created the hundreds of smashed and damaged fragments to offer us at least something of this wonderful dedication, offered by an Ionian dedicator in the sixth century
BC
(see
chapters 4
and
5
). Notice how the sheets of silver were fastened together using the strips of metals and hundreds of nails, covering a wooden frame.

Room V
(
figs. 4.1
,
5.3
, 5.4): This is for me the best room in the museum. As you enter, the marble door frame of the treasury of the Siphnians is on your right: the intricate marble work gives you a great sense of how beautiful and ostentatious this treasury must have been. Right next to it is the Sphinx of the Naxians. This would have stood near the Athenian treasury on the site and originally atop of a high column. But its height in the museum allows you to see the sculpture in much more detail. A beautifully sculpted piece from the sixth century
BC
(see
chapters 4
and
5
), the mystery of the creature that is the sphinx (part human, part animal, part bird), the sphinx mirrors the mystery of Delphi itself.

But perhaps most extraordinary in this room are the pedimental sculptures and frieze reliefs belonging to the treasury of the Siphnians.
These were the crowning achievement of the structure, carved in Parian and Naxian marble, the constituency of which allows for delicate and intricate carving without the danger of the marble shattering (which the Siphnian marble used for the walls of the treasury could just not compete with). Notice the incredibly complex carving of the “gigantomachy” scenes (the battle of gods and giants), and in particular, my favorite, the lion sinking his teeth into the fighters. But notice also the very obvious difference in carving style between the frieze on one wall and on the other (very obvious if you look at the horses' tails in the other frieze). Whereas the gigantomachy is carved in the round so that a wonderful 3-D effect is created from whichever angle you look, the horses' tails are simply drilled back into the stone at a straight angle. Scholars have often argued that two different sculptural teams were working on the frieze, and each seems to have responded to how their section of sculpture would have been seen. The gigantomachy was placed on the north side of the treasury—the side everyone walks past as they walk up the sacred way. As such, people could see this sculpture from a number of different angles. But the other frieze, on the south side, was right up against the sanctuary boundary wall and could only be seen from more of a distance and, so, responds to that by being sculptured in a technique that works best only from a frontal viewpoint.

Room VI
(
figs. 5.1
,
7.1
): In this room are displayed the remains of the pedimental sculpture of the temples of Apollo from the sixth and fourth centuries
BC
. Look, right by the entrance, for the fourth-century statue of Apollo, which once sat (Apollo is represented sitting almost hunched on his oracular tripod) in the middle of the east pediment of the temple. Likewise, look for the statue of the god Dionysus, which once adorned the west pediment of the same temple.

Room VII
(
fig. 5.4
): This room contains the remaining metopes of the treasury of the Athenians. They all display the heroic labors of either Heracles or Theseus. These two heroes were brought together for the first time, here on the treasury of the Athenians at Delphi, in a single sculptural unit (i.e., in the same building). Heracles was a mythical hero well-known throughout Greece. He was also extremely popular as
a sculptural subject at Delphi in the sixth and fifth centuries
BC
, not least because of the mythical story that he tried to take Apollo's oracular tripod from him. But Theseus was very much an Athenian hero. In bringing Heracles and Theseus together in this building, many scholars have argued that the Athenians were attempting to raise up Theseus to the kind of national, and international, renown that Heracles already enjoyed. They were in short trying to make Theseus a man as famous as Heracles, and, as a result, making a statement about the glory and importance of Athens in the ancient world.

Room VIII
(
fig. 5.4
): Above all in this room, your eyes are drawn to the stones etched with writing. The marble blocks come from the wall of the treasury of the Athenians, and the inscriptions are the words and musical notations for a hymn sung in praise of Apollo as part of an Athenian festival procession (the Pythaïs) to the sanctuary in either 138 or 128
BC
(see
chapter 9
). This hymn, when it was first discovered as part of the initial “big dig” at the sanctuary in the late nineteenth century quickly became world famous and was “played” in Greece and around the world.

Room XI
(
figs. 1.3
,
2.1
): This room contains a number of important sculptures, but particularly the “acanthus dancers.” This monument, originally a high column placed on a base to the north of the temple terrace in the Apollo sanctuary, was topped by a number of carved dancers and acanthus leaves supporting a copy of the omphalos—the stone that sat in the temple at Delphi and supposedly marked the center of the world. It was erected, we think, in the fourth century
BC
by, it is often argued, the Athenians (see
chapter 8
).

Room XII
(
fig. 11.1
): This room contains some of Delphi's Roman period history. Most striking is the statue of Antinous, dedicated at Delphi as part of the establishment of a religious cult to Antinous following his mysterious death in the Nile. The cult was established by the Roman emperor Hadrian in memory of his dear friend and onetime lover. But also visible in this room is the sculptured relief that went on the monument dedicated by the Roman general Aemilius Paullus after his stunning victory over Greek forces at the battle of Pydna in 168
BC
. Paullus took over the monument the Greek commander had planned to dedicate at
Delphi, carved this war relief on to it alongside an inscription in Latin, and put a statue of himself on top (see
chapter 9
).

Room XIII
(
plate 6
): This room contains Delphi's crown jewel: the original bronze Delphic charioteer found buried in the terrace just to the north of the temple. It was part of a much larger group: the charioteer stood in a bronze chariot with life-size bronze horses and a servant holding the reins. The image depicts the calm just before the start of a race in which this charioteer was the victor, thus giving the owner of the horses the right to put up a monument to his victory in the sanctuary. The owner in this case was the Syracusan tyrant Hieron, the occasion that of the Pythian games in the first half of the fifth century. The dedicating inscription for this monument also survives and shows that it was rededicated some years later by Hieron's successors on the occasion of their own victory (see
chapter 6
).

The find is fascinating because it is so rare to have original bronze statues from the Greek world. Bronze is a precious metal and most bronze sculptures were melted down at some point in antiquity so that their metal could be reused. It is only when the sculptures were hidden from view (either buried like the charioteer or at the bottom of the sea following a shipwreck) that they are likely to have survived to us today. Notice also the rich and expensive detailing of the charioteer's face: the inlaid teeth, eyes, and eyelashes, all in expensive and precious materials.

Room XIV
(
fig. 10.1
): Don't leave without finding the bust of what is thought to be Plutarch that sits at the exit of the museum. As we saw in
chapter 10
, Plutarch was a priest of Apollo at the sanctuary and one of our most important sources for understanding the sanctuary, its festivals, and its oracle. Here, too, on display are some elements of Delphi's Christian history, particularly lamps decorated with Christian symbols. There is also a very useful
3D model of the Apollo sanctuary made by the Greek archaeological service.

IN THE MODERN TOWN OF DELPHI

If you have time, it is worth heading into the modern town of Delphi. In the entrance to the town hall on the main street, you can find another 3D model of the Apollo sanctuary created by the French excavators in the 1990s.

If you take the upper road and follow it around to the right, you will come across some miniature versions of the famous monuments from the sanctuary, in particular the Plataean serpent column (inscribed with the names of the city-states that fought in the Persian Wars) and the Messenian and Naupactian triangular column.

For the more adventurous, continuing on this road up the mountainside leads you eventually to the start of the ancient pathway that linked the sanctuary of Apollo to the Corycian cave 800 meters above Delphi on the high plateau of the Parnassian mountains (
fig. 0.2
).

ABBREVIATIONS