Treasury of the Athenians
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The Treasury of the Athenians in Delphi was used to store gifts from the city of Athens . It was on the holy road that led to the Temple of Apollo , with the Oracle of Delphi . There is no exact date for the treasure house (Greek Thesauros ) built from Parian marble and decorated with late Archaic paintings . Based on style and architectural comparisons, it is generally believed that it was in the period between 510 and 480 BC. Chr. Was built.
Buildings and picture decorations
The building, built in the form of an antic temple according to the Doric order , consisting of a cella and a two-column pronaos as an entrance, had a gable roof with acroter in its original state . However, the acroter is no longer preserved. The Thesaurus measures 6.62 × 9.69 m in plan and reaches a height of 7.60 m.
In accordance with the Doric order, the decorations were distributed over the gable and metopes . On the metopes, deeds of the Greek heroes Theseus and Heracles were depicted. The Attic Theseus theme was depicted on the metopes on the south and probably also on the east side and visitors to the sanctuary could see it from the Holy Street. The metopes on the north and west side, however, showed Heracles. Many reliefs of the metopes as well as most of the gable figures are today badly destroyed or even lost, which is why a complete reconstruction of the ancient picture composition is difficult and controversial.
interpretation
The establishment of the treasury in the prestigious and influential Apollon sanctuary at Delphi was intended to demonstrate the importance and power of Athens compared to the other Greek city-states ( Poleis ). In addition to Athens, many other cities in Delphi had their own treasure houses. As an example, of the more than 30 thesauroi unearthed, this is after 570 BC. The treasure house of the Sikyonians , which was built in BC , was also located on the Holy Road to the Temple of Apollo and is said to have been extremely richly furnished. In this context it is also the case before 525 BC. To mention the treasure house of the Siphnians , dated to the 3rd century BC .
Different approaches to the closer interpretation of the Athens treasure house narrow the possible construction period further.
- On the one hand, the treasure house is interpreted as a sign of the success of the Athens under Kleisthenes 508/507 BC. Chr. Carried out reforms after Delphi was founded.
- The victory of the Athenians under Miltiades against the Persians under Darius I in the battle of Marathon in 490 BC offers a further interpretation . The consecration of the treasure house to the Apollon sanctuary was made out of gratitude for the happy outcome of the battle. In this regard, Pausanias reports that the construction was financed from the spoils of the Persian war. But Pausanias was probably wrong here, who wrongly assigned the inscription of a votive gift dedicated to the marathon battle to the treasury.
Research History and Reconstruction
The treasure house of the Athenians was excavated in 1893 by French archaeologists under the direction of Théophile Homolles and the find was first published by Homolle in 1894. Due to the large number of components found, around two thirds of the original building size, the decision was made to rebuild the destroyed treasure house. In the years 1903–1906 this was implemented on the occasion of an anniversary of the city of Athens under the direction of the French archaeologists Albert Tournaire and Joseph Replat . The missing parts were replaced by limestone blocks and in architecturally important places, such as the ante and pillars, by blocks of Pentelic marble . In 1933 the architecture of the building was published by Jean Audiat . In 1957, the building sculpture was published by Pierre de La Coste-Messelière .
Footnotes
- ↑ Pausania's description of Greece, Book X, 11, 5 f.
literature
- Klaus Hoffelner: The metopes of the Athens treasure house. A new attempt at reconstruction . In: Communications of the German Archaeological Institute, Athenian Department, Vol. 103. 1988, Appendix 5, pp. 77–117. ISSN 0342-1325
- Heiner Knell : Myth and Polis. Image programs of Greek architectural sculpture . Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 1990, pp. 52-62, ISBN 3-534-13810-4
- John Boardman : Greek sculpture. The archaic time. A manual (= cultural history of the ancient world . Volume 5). 4th edition. Philipp von Zabern, Mainz 1994, ISBN 3-8053-0346-7 , pp. 190-1.
- Hermann Büsing : The Athens Treasury in Delphi. New research on architecture and painting . Marburg an der Lahn 1994. (Marburg Winckelmann program, 1992) ISBN 3-8185-0161-0
Web links
Coordinates: 38 ° 29 ′ N , 22 ° 30 ′ E