Delphi - Table of Contents   ....................   Architecture Around the World

Museum at Delphi, Greece


2001 Photos


Omphalos
4th-century B.C. marble egg, a Hellenistic or Roman copy of the yet older egg (or "omphalos") in the temple of Apollo that symbolized Delphi's unique position as the center (or naval) of the world. When Zeus wanted tot determine the earth's center, he released two eagles fro Olympus. When the eagles met over Delphi, Zeus had his answer. You may still see eagles in the sky.
 

 

Naxian Sphinx on an Ionic column

Stood on a tall Ionic column, 10 m high. It is an impressive work, dedicated to the sanctuary by the inhabitants of Naxos in about 560 BC. This mythical fiendish animal with breast and wings of a bird, body of a lion and the head of a woman, was a much beloved theme, especially in Archaic art.

Stood on a tall Ionic column, 10 m high. It is an impressive work, dedicated to the sanctuary by the inhabitants of Naxos in about 560 BC. This mythical fiendish animal with breast and wings of a bird, body of a lion and the head of a woman, was a much beloved theme, especially in Archaic art.





Naxian Sphinx on an Ionic column

Stood on a tall Ionic column, 10 m high. It is an impressive work, dedicated to the sanctuary by the inhabitants of Naxos in about 560 BC. This mythical fiendish animal with breast and wings of a bird, body of a lion and the head of a woman, was a much beloved theme, especially in Archaic art.

Stood on a tall Ionic column, 10 m high. It is an impressive work, dedicated to the sanctuary by the inhabitants of Naxos in about 560 BC. This mythical fiendish animal with breast and wings of a bird, body of a lion and the head of a woman, was a much beloved theme, especially in Archaic art.


Chryselephantine statue

Among the amazing ivory and gold finds made by French archaeologists in 1939, within a repository beneath the paving stones of the Sacred Way, in front of the Stoa of the Athenians.

They were precious votives of wealthy Greeks from Asia Minor (some perhaps from the famous king of Lydia, Croesus) which were destroyed in some conflagration and were buried in a pit, since it was forbidden to remove them from the area of the sanctuary.

The majority are works of the 6th century BC, though some are of earlier date (7th century BC) and others slightly later (until the middle of the 5th century BC).

In antiquity chryselephantine statues had a wooden core to which were attached the exposed parts of the face and body, made of ivory, and the garments and hair, which were of gold.

The middle case contains fragments supposedly belonging to a statue which constituted the central figure of the votive, a seated male on a throne, perhaps Apollo. The face with its marked features is preserved, framed by gilded ringlets, the gilded phiale for libations, parts of the naked feet and two gold plaques from the elaborate dress of the figure. Each plaque is divided into eight squares and in each division, hammered with astonishing dexterity, is a mythical beast or wild animal, such as griffins, lions, bulls, pegasoi et al.

















Chryselephantine statue                     Medusa




Silver statue of a bull

The enormous bull is larger than life size (2.30 x 1.25m x 25m) and was made of silver leaf (some gilded) affixed to a wooden frame. From the surviving fragments, the bull has been reassembled so that we have some idea of the rich, impressive and wonderfully wrought original. It is dated to the second half of the 6th century BC


Siphnian Treasury
The Athenian Treasury was not a temple but a small buillding where offerings of money and precious objects were presented to the gods.



Section of the frieze of the Siphnian Treasury: Below: the battle between gods and giants for the dominion of the world. Zeus and his two brothers would emerge victorious.



Siphnian Treasury - Detail: two giants, Herakles, Kybele, giant, lion, Apollon, Artemis


Siphnian Treasury -  Detail: Herakles is wearing his Nemean Lion skin



Siphnian Treasury - Trojan War. - Detail - Aphrodite, Artemis, Apollo watching the battle



Siphnian Treasury - Trojan War detail - Aeneas, Hector fight the Greeks




Siphnian Treasury - Trojan War detail



Siphnian Treasury - Trojan War detail



Siphnian Treasury - Trojan War detail



Siphnian Treasury - Trojan War detail



Siphnian Treasury - Trojan War detail: 3 giants


Kleobis and Biton

Herodotus informs us that they were the two sons of a priestess in the temple of Hera at Argos and that one day, because the oxen which drew their mother's chariot to the sanctuary were late, they yoked themselves, in an act of filial piety and dedication, to the chariot and carried their mother the 45 stadia (approx. 8 km). When they lay down to rest after their feat the goddess rewarded them with the gift of eternal sleep.

The two youths are here portrayed larger than life size (2.16 m) in the typical, somewhat rigid stance of kouroi: they are nude, standing with the left foot in front and the arms, with clenched fists, glued to the side of the body. Particularly impressive is the robust and athletic modeling of the bodies and their powerful muscles. An inscription on their base tells us that they were made by the Argive sculptor Polymedes. They are dated to the years 610 - 580 B.C.












Kleobis and Biton Herodotus informs us that they were the two sons of a priestess in the temple of Hera at Argos and that one day, because the oxen which drew their mother's chariot to the sanctuary were late, they yoked themselves, in an act of filial piety and dedication, to the chariot and carried their mother the 45 stadia (approx. 8 km). When they lay down to rest after their feat the goddess rewarded them with the gift of eternal sleep.

The two youths are here portrayed larger than life size (2.16 m) in the typical, somewhat rigid stance of kouroi: they are nude, standing with the left foot in front and the arms, with clenched fists, glued to the side of the body. Particularly impressive is the robust and athletic modeling of the bodies and their powerful muscles. An inscription on their base tells us that they were made by the Argive sculptor Polymedes. They are dated to the years 610 - 580 B.C.


Funerary stele
 (a stone or wooden slab, generally galler than it is wide, erected in the ancient world as a monument) of a young athlete. 
From the east cemetery of Delphi. Mid 5th c. B.C