Panhellenic Sanctuaries Research Articles

Zeuxias’ Monetary Deposits at the Sanctuary of Olympia

This bronze plaque, found in 1879, contains two monetary deposits made by an individual named Zeuxias at the sanctuary of Olympia in the second half of the fifth century BC. It constitutes one of the few preserved documents of this type, making it a valuable testimony of banking activities at Panhellenic sanctuaries. Due to the fragmentary status of the text, a comparison with other analogous inscriptions and literary testimonies is here offered, with the aim of casting some light on the reason behind the deposit, and the formulaic language used.

Dedication by the Thessalians at Delphi of a Bronze Statue Portraying Pelopidas Signed by Lysippus

In the first half of the 4th century BC (369 or 363/362 BC), in the pan-Hellenic sanctuary of Delphi, the Thessalians dedicate an inscription and a bronze statue in honour of the Theban commander Pelopidas, probably to celebrate his deeds against Sparta, in defence of Thessaly. The offering also bears the signature of the artist Lysippos

A Brief Essay on Sport and Greek Unity in the Late Archaic and Early Classical Period

This essay argues that athletics contributed significantly to whatever unity there was in the Greek world in the late archaic and early classical period. It does so by considering the significance of the so-called Panhellenic sanctuaries as one of the few contexts in which the collective appellation ‘the Greeks’ was appropriate and by emphasizing that what the four great sanctuaries of the periodos had in common was athletic competitions of great prestige. The crowds which assembled for the contests at the Panhellenic sanctuaries were discursively constructed as ‘the Greeks’ by contemporary sources. The athletic centrality of the four Panhellenic sanctuaries was a reflection of the fact that the festivals here were the ones that the athletes of the leisured elites valued most highly. By the classical period the agon gymnikos on the model of the Olympics had, by peer polity interaction, become a Panhellenic phenomenon and this allowed athletes to travel from festival to festival and compete in their chosen speciality.

Mantica della madre, profeta del padre Una genealogia in Aesch. Eum. 1-20

This paper aims to discuss the genealogical contents and structure of the opening verses of Aeschylus’ Eumenides. Considering genealogies as mythical digressions ideologically orientated, I will outline those elements that do not appear elsewhere in traditions concerning the foundation of the Delphic oracle. By analysing the connections between the poetic imagery and the audience’s ritual and mythological competence, I will demonstrate how Aeschylus enhances Athens’ positive cultural role in the establishment of a panhellenic sanctuary such as Delphi. Thus, these opening verses allow us to observe the mechanisms of identity construction through mythopoesis.

Classical Art: A Life History from Antiquity to the Present

Classical Art: A Life History from Antiquity to the Present

Panhellenic Sanctuaries and Monetary Reform: Elis and Epidauros’ Adoption of the Symmachic Weight Standard

Mints associated with the sanctuaries of Olympia and Epidauros transitioned from striking silver coinage on the Aiginetan weight standard to the symmachic standard, ca. 16% lighter, in the 250s or 240s BC, decades before other states in southern Greece. The light weight of these new coins dissuaded foreign visitors from removing them when they departed, stabilising the local money supply, while their types advertised the prestige of the local penteteric festivals amid increased competition from new festivals of similar status throughout the Mediterranean. This is an example of how Panhellenic sanctuaries could exert influence over monetary trends in the Hellenistic period.

Marking the Victory in Ancient Greece: some Remarks on Classical Trophy Monuments

Victory monuments played a vital role in the life of individuals and the civilisation as a whole in ancient Greece. They were an embodied celebration and memorial, both of a specific triumph and of military conflict as such, keeping alive the memory of past actions that would otherwise be forgotten. They carried a message of success both for the present era and for future generations, who thus found a focus in which to admire and honour the courage of their ancestors. The Greeks believed that just as the gods directed and influenced individual human lives, they also decided on the outcomes of conflicts and they therefore considered it their duty to give thanks to them. At first, they gave thanks immediately after a battle by erecting a tropaion on the battlefield, which from the time of the Greek-Persian Wars began to be built from more durable materials. A further gesture was made later by dedicating other weapons captured from the enemy to the gods either at a Pan-Hellenic sanctuary such as Delphi, Olympia or Isthmia, or at a local temple. This was an established custom that was supposed to ensure the support and favour of the gods in subsequent conflicts. Another custom was that a certain period after the end of a war, permanent monuments would be erected by the winning side away from the battlefield and dedicated to a specific god – either within the structure of the victorious polis or at a sanctuary.

III Architectural Sculpture

The erection of a building – whether temple, treasury, colonnade, or theatre – argues purpose, means, advance planning, and commitment over many years. The number of people involved in any communal project, from sponsors (whether states, individuals, or sanctuary officials) to designers, architects, masons, and sculptors, was enormous. In studying architectural sculpture, we are face to face with originals, usually found in context, with some closely dated on the basis of inscriptions and references in written texts; although the later writers who held free-standing sculpture in such high regard had little to say about architectural compositions. The embellishment was usually added to religious buildings: the temples and treasuries that were erected in local and Panhellenic sanctuaries. The subjects chosen were mainly myths, with themes repeated down the centuries (Battles of the Gods versus the Giants, and Greeks versus Amazons, Centaurs, or Trojans) – they became the default choice, the stock-in-trade, and raise the question of the extent to which there was indeed any specific programmatic intent or local significance behind these mythical encounters. Who chose the subjects? With what purpose? To instruct, to underline social cohesion, to express political identity, to demonstrate superiority? Who were the viewers the designers had in mind? As the brightly coloured sculptures were integral to the building and came to be placed high above the heads of viewers, visitors, and pilgrims, they were obviously intended to take notice of them. Can we know what their reactions were and how deep their understanding was? Euripides in his tragedy Ion (412 BC) presents a chorus of Athenian women on their first visit to Delphi (vv. 184–218). They look up at the sculptures on the outside of the Apollo temple and express wonder and excitement at the figures they can recognize: Herakles, Pegasos, the battle of the Gods and the Giants, and particularly their own patron goddess, Athena. Euripides fits their reactions to their status – they are just glad to identify their favourites, and delight, as it were, at meeting old friends.

Art, myth, and ritual in classical Greece

1. The temple of Zeus at Olympia, heroic models, and the Panhellenic sanctuary 2. The Athenian Akropolis, female power, and state religion 3. Making heroes in Athenian agora 4. Myth and religion at Delphi 5. The cult of the individual and the realm of the dead.

Integrating Legacy Data into a New Method for Studying Architecture: A case study from Isthmia, Greece

This article outlines a new methodology developed to disentangle the hitherto incomprehensible maze of poorly preserved architecture at the Archaic through late Roman period Panhellenic sanctuary at Isthmia, Greece, into clearly defined buildings with their relative construction phases. The methodology combines on-site architectural analyses with the digitisation and reintegration of the site's legacy data within a GIS. The results of this study, still in its preliminary stages, reveal an area east of the Temple of Poseidon at Isthmia as a built environment of rather large and complex units in contrast to the conventional interpretation of a series of small and unimportant structures.

KING OR PRIVATE CITIZEN: FIFTH-CENTURY SICILIAN TYRANTS AT OLYMPIA AND DELPHI

AbstractWe possess an array of contemporary evidence relating to the fifth-century Deinomenid tyrants of Sicily. Epinician poetry and physical monuments that the tyrants themselves commissioned still survive. The poems and dedications celebrate the tyrants at roughly the same time, sometimes in response to the same events. These documents do not demonstrate the constitutional or legal position of the historical tyrants. Instead they allow us a view into how the tyrants represented themselves as political actors in different contexts and before different audiences. Whether occasioned by an athletic or martial victory, both poetry and monuments depicted the tyrants as panhellenic figures who benefited their city and their subjects. Yet when placed side by side, the poetry and monuments reveal a striking disconnect between the representation of political power within their respective genres. The poets tackled the problem of tyranny head on. Before a local audience, epinician poetry portrayed the tyrant Hieron as a benevolent epic king. The monuments erected at Olympia and Delphi took a less direct approach. While celebrating the Deinomenids as private benefactors of the panhellenic sanctuaries, the dedicatory inscriptions avoided explicit articulation of the tyrants' political status at home.

Greek Sanctuaries: New Approaches

Preface 1. Early sanctuaries, the eighth century and ritual space: fragments of a discourse Christiane Sourvinou-Inwood 2. The origins of Panhellenism Catherine Morgan 3. Ritual dining at Corinth Nancy Bookidis 4. Three related sanctuaries of Poseidon: Geraistos, Kalaureia and Tainaron Rob W.M. Schumacher 5. Greek sanctuaries as places of refuge Ulrich Sinn 6. The sanctuary of Demeter and Kore at Eleusis Kevin Clinton 7. The Heraion at Samos Helmut Kyrieleis 8. The evolution of a Panhellenic sanctuary: from archaeology towards history at Isthmia Elizabeth R. Gebhard 9. Concorida Discors: the literary and archaeological evidence on the sanctuary of Samothrace Walter Burkert 10. Twenty-five years of research on Greek sanctuaries - a bibliography Erik Ostby 11. What were Greek Sanctuaries? A synthesis Nanno Marinatos

A Day in a Greek Gymnasium

JUST outside the walls of Athens, the marble portico of the palaestra gleamed a brilliant greeting to the early athletes who had begun to gather in the library, the baths, and music room, and on the field of the large gymnasium. Now only a few groups stood about, but soon the whole youthful free-born population of the city would be thronging here for at least an hour of daily training. One group of three young men particularly attracted attention. They had cast off their white himatia, the simple garment worn by Greek men, and were standing like strong and graceful statues come to life. With oil from little round flasks, called oinochoi, they were anointing their gleaming bodies in order to increase their suppleness and endurance. These youths had come here so early in the morning for their daily work-out preparatory to entering the greatest athletic event of their world, the Olympic Games, which were held every four years at the beautiful PanHellenic sanctuary of Olympian Zeus. The tall, broad Athenian with bronze hair and noble brow, who vied with Apollo himself in beauty, was Hipponax, son of Hyponachus, a most promising entrant in the Great Games. Standing next to him was his cousin Androcles, wiry and slight of build, and Endius, their friend, finely proportioned and full of grace, completed the group. All three belonged to that favored class which took war, politics, and athletics for its profession and left the work of the world to be done by slaves.