Ex voto of the Tarentines

Last updated

One of the important ex votos of the Greek cities in the sanctuary of Delphi was the bronze sculpted ex voto of the Italian city of Tarentum in commemoration of their victory against the Messapians.

Delphi archaeological site and town in Greece

Delphi, formerly also called Pytho (Πυθώ), is famous as the ancient sanctuary that grew rich as the seat of Pythia, the oracle who was consulted about important decisions throughout the ancient classical world. Moreover, the Greeks considered Delphi the navel of the world, as represented by the stone monument known as the Omphalos of Delphi.

Taranto Comune in Apulia, Italy

Taranto is a coastal city in Apulia, Southern Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Taranto and is an important commercial port as well as the main Italian naval base.

Messapians Illyrian tribe

The Messapians were a Iapygian tribe that inhabited Salento in classical antiquity. Two other Iapygian tribes, the Peucetians and the Daunians, inhabited central and northern Apulia respectively. All three tribes spoke the Messapian language, but had developed separate archaeological cultures by the seventh century BC. The Messapians lived in the eponymous region Messapia, which extended from Leuca in the southeast to Kailia and Egnatia in the northwest, covering most of the Salento peninsula. This region includes the Province of Lecce and parts of the provinces of Brindisi and Taranto today.

Description

As the visitor moves along the Sacred Way, having on the left hand side the eastern side of the Polygonal wall, one sees the remains of a row of famous monuments. The first one, according to Pausanias, [1] was the base where stood the ex votos of the Tarentines: it consisted of the bronze statues of a dolphin, of the Lacaedemonian hero Phalanthus and of the eponymous hero Taras, son of Poseidon, as well as of some other figures not mentioned specifically by Pausanias. The latter, however, mentions the foundation myth of Tarentum, according to which an oracle from Delphi had predicted that the Lacaedemonians, on their way to Italy, would found a city when there would be rain in clear weather. Phalanthus, leader of the expedition, was hopeless, as no matter how many efforts he made he could not prevail among the locals and get a piece of land to found his colony. His wife, who was called Aethra (=clear weather) would take him in her arms and cry over his head out of compassion for her husband. Phalanthus, then, realized the meaning of the oracle and attacked Taras right away, in the middle of the night, thus managing to capture the city. The ex voto was made by the famous sculptors Onatas from Aegina and Ageladas from Argos and dates to the beginning of the 5th century B.C. Behind the monument stands a base with a circular plinth, where the citizens of Croton in Southern Italy had erected a tripod, dating possibly also to the same period. [2]

Sacred Way

The Sacred Way, in ancient Greece, was the road from Athens to Eleusis. It was so called because it was the route taken by a procession celebrating the Eleusinian Mysteries. The procession to Eleusis began at the Sacred Gate in the Kerameikos on the 19th Boedromion.

Taras (mythology)

In Greek mythology, Taras was the eponymous founder of the Greek colony of Taras, in Magna Graecia

Onatas

Onatas was an ancient Greek sculptor of the time of the Persian Wars and an exponent of the flourishing school of Aegina. Many of his works are mentioned by Pausanias; they included a Hermes carrying the ram, and a strange image of the Black Demeter made for the people of Phigalia; also some elaborate groups in bronze set up at Olympia and Delphi. For Hiero I, king of Syracuse, Onatas executed a votive chariot in bronze dedicated at Olympia. In Delphi he was one of the sculptors who executed the Ex voto of the Tarentines.If we compare the descriptions of the works of Onatas given us by Pausanias with the well-known pediments of Aegina at Munich we shall find so close an agreement that we may safely take the pedimental figures as an index of the style of Onatas. They are manly, vigorous, athletic, showing great knowledge of the human form, but somewhat stiff and automaton-like. His artistic style contribute to the formation of the so-called "severe" style.

Related Research Articles

Croesus King of Lydia

Croesus was the king of Lydia who, according to Herodotus, reigned for 14 years: from 560 BC until his defeat by the Persian king Cyrus the Great in 546 BC.

Laius mythological king of Thebes

In Greek mythology, King Laius, or Laios of Thebes was a key personage in the Theban founding myth.

Sibyl mythical character

The sibyls were oracles in Ancient Greece. The earliest sibyls, according to legend, prophesied at holy sites. Their prophecies were influenced by divine inspiration from a deity; originally at Delphi and Pessinos, the deities were chthonic deities. In Late Antiquity, various writers attested to the existence of sibyls in Greece, Italy, the Levant, and Asia Minor.

Sacrificial tripod three-legged piece of religious furniture associated with Apollo and the Delphic oracle

A sacrificial tripod is a three-legged piece of religious furniture used for offerings or other ritual procedures. As a seat or stand, the tripod is the most stable furniture construction for uneven ground, hence its use is universal and ancient. It is particularly associated with Apollo and the Delphic oracle in ancient Greece, and the word "tripod" comes from the Greek meaning "three-footed".

Perseus Ancient Greek hero and founder of Mycenae

In Greek mythology, Perseus is the legendary founder of Mycenae and of the Perseid dynasty. He beheaded the Gorgon Medusa for Polydectes and saved Andromeda from the sea monster Cetus. He was the son of Zeus and the mortal Danaë, as well as the half-brother and great-grandfather of Heracles.

Delphic Sibyl

The Delphic Sibyl was a woman from before the Trojan Wars mentioned by Pausanias writing in the 2nd century AD about stories he had heard locally. The Sibyl would have predated the real Pythia, the oracle and priestess of Apollo, originating from around the 8th century BC.

Metapontum Greek colony of Magna Graecia

Metapontum or Metapontium was an important city of Magna Graecia, situated on the gulf of Tarentum, between the river Bradanus and the Casuentus. It was distant about 20 km from Heraclea and 40 from Tarentum. The ruins of Metapontum are located in the frazione of Metaponto, in the comune of Bernalda, in the Province of Matera, Basilicata region, Italy.

Claros

Claros was an ancient Greek sanctuary on the coast of Ionia. It contained a temple and oracle of Apollo, honored here as Apollo Clarius. It was located on the territory of Colophon, one of the twelve Ionic cities, twelve kilometers to the north. The coastal city Notion lay two kilometers to the south. The ruins of the sanctuary are now found north of the modern town Ahmetbeyli in the Menderes district of Izmir Province, Turkey.

Serpent Column sculpture

The Serpent Column, also known as the Serpentine Column, Plataean Tripod or Delphi Tripod, is an ancient bronze column at the Hippodrome of Constantinople in what is now Istanbul, Turkey. It is part of an ancient Greek sacrificial tripod, originally in Delphi and relocated to Constantinople by Constantine the Great in 324. It was built to commemorate the Greeks who fought and defeated the Persian Empire at the Battle of Plataea. The serpent heads of the 8-metre (26 ft) high column remained intact until the end of the 17th century.

Athenian Treasury Building in Delphi, Greece

The Athenian Treasury at Delphi was constructed by the Athenians to house dedications and votive offerings made by their city and citizens to the sanctuary of Apollo. The entire treasury including its sculptural decoration is built of Parian marble. The date of construction is disputed, and scholarly opinions range from 510 to 480 BCE. It is located directly below the Temple of Apollo along the Sacred Way for all visitors to view the Athenian treasury on the way up to the sanctuary.

Xenoclea

Xenoclea, who appears as a character in the legend of Hercules, was the Pythia, or priestess and oracle, of the temple of Apollo at Delphi.

Among the famous ex votos of Delphi was that of Craterus, friend and general of Alexander the Great, attributed to Lysippus.

The tenth book of the work Description of Greece by the traveler Pausanias is dedicated to Phocis; its larger part constitutes a description of the sanctuaries and buildings of Delphi. His work constituted a precious aid to travelers and archaeologists who attempted to identify the monuments revealed by the excavations, although in some cases their identifications were not enough.

After the naval Battle of Aegospotami, the Lacedaemonians dedicated a majestic ex voto in Delphi.

One of the most famous ex votos in the sanctuary of Apollo in Delphi was the bronze bull dedicated by the citizens of Corfu in remembrance of a remarkable tuna fish catch.

Next to the Bull of the Corcyreans close to the entrance to the sanctuary of Apollo in Delphi lay a grandiose monument dedicated by the Arcadians, particularly the Tegeates.

The city of Argos dedicated several ex votos within the sanctuary of Apollo in Delphi. It was, after all, one of the most powerful cities of the archaic and classical period.

References

  1. Pausanias 10.10.6-8
  2. Bommelaer, J.-F., Laroche, D.,1991, Guide de Delphes. Le site, Paris