Visual Culture

Panhellenic sanctuaries (Archaic age)

Zeus at Olympia

Zeus at Nemea

Poseidon at Isthmia

Apollo at Delphi

What were panhellenic sanctuaries characterised by?

Extra-urban location

Supranational power (extends past the boundaries)

Involved several *poleis*

Attracted competitors from all over Greece & Magna Graecia

Athletic and artistic contests

Games were originally connected to funerary celebrations of heroes

What was an athletes participation to all four panhellenic games called? And what were all the games?

*Periodos*

Olympian, Pythian, Nemean, Isthmian

Sanctuary of Zeus, Olympia

Who was the sanctuary of Apollo originally dedicated to?

Gaia

Sanctuary of Apollo, VII (7th) c. B.C.?

First temple of Apollo built

Peribolos = to separate the sacred space from the ‘profane’ space around it

What was a peribolos?

A space enclosed by a wall, like an altar or shrine

Delphi, sanctuary of Apollo, 582 B.C.?

Establishment of Pythian games

Delphi, sanctuary of Apollo, VI (6th) c. B.C.?

Spread of thesauroi

After fire in 548, reconstructed temple of Apollo (thanks to the financial contribution of the Alcmeonids)

What buildings were used for the competitions in the sanctuary of Apollo at Delphi?

A stadium and hippodrome (IV, 4th c. B.C.)

Which god was the sanctuary in Delphi dedicated to?

Apollo

Which god was the sanctuary in Isthmia dedicated to?

Poseidon

Sanctuary of Poseidon at Isthmia, VII (7th) c. B.C.?

Hekatompedon altar

Terrace

Peribolos

Doric temple

Sanctuary of Poseidon at Isthmia, 582 B.C.?

Isthmian games (funerary celebrations for local hero Melikertes-Palaimon)

Construction of the stadium

Sanctuary of Poseidon at Isthmia, V (5th) c. B.C.?

Reconstruction of temple after 470 B.C. as a peripteral Doric edifice

Sanctuary of Poseidon at Isthmia, IV (4th) c. B.C.?

New stadium (S-E of temenos)

Restoration of the temple

Theatre built

Which god was the sanctuary in Nemea dedicated to?

Zeus

Where was the sanctuary of Nemea?

Territory of Cleonae in Argolis

Where was the sanctuary of Isthmia?

Near Corinth

Where was the sanctuary of Delphi?

Slopes of Mount Parnassus in Phocis

What was the sanctuary of Zeus at Nemea originally dedicated to?

The funerary games of the local hero Opheltes

Sanctuary of Zeus at Nemea, 573 B.C.?

Institution of Nemean games

Sanctuary of Zeus at Nemea, VI (6th) c. B.C.?

*Peribolos*

Heroon of Opheltes

A temple with altar

Sanctuary of Zeus at Nemea, 500 B.C.?

Temple reconstruction

Sanctuary of Zeus at Nemea, V (5th) c. B.C.?

*Oikoi*

Sanctuary of Zeus at Nemea, III c. B.C.?

Temple reconstruction

*Xenon*

*Balaneion*

Stadium

What were *thesauroi*?

Small, magnificent buildings

Dedicated by cities/tyrants

Safeguarded offerings of the *polis* and stood as offerings to the gods

Symbols of *eusebeia*, devotion, and self-representation in front of all other Hellenic communities

TREASURIES

How were *thesauroi* normally planned?

Simple plan

Usually rectangular

Consisted of a cella and vestibule with two columns in *antis*

Usually characterised by high quality architecture and sculpture

Which buildings had a ritual focus in Olympia?

Altars

Which buildings had a identitarian/economic focus in Olympia?

Temple of Zeus (chryselephantine statue)

Temple of Hera (where winners’ list & crowns preserved)

Which buildings had an athletic/military focus in Olympia?

Stadium

Hippodrome

Gymnasium

Service structures

Which buildings had an administrative focus in Olympia?

Bouleuterion

Prytaneion

Which buildings had a mythological focus in Olympia?

Pelopion

House of Oenomaus

Which buildings had a political focus in Olympia?

Traesures’ terrace

Which buildings had a productive focus in Olympia?

Phidias’ workshop

Metal workshop

What kind of landscape did Olympia have?

Sacred, with overlapping visual and semantic layers

Sanctuary of Zeus, Olympia, X (10th) c. B.C.?

Ashes altar

Tumulus for Pelops

Sanctuary of Zeus, Olympia, 776 B.C.?

Institution of Olympian Games

Creation of dromos and hippodrome east of the Altis

Sanctuary of Zeus, Olympia, VI (6th) c. B.C.?

Construction of temple to Hera (and possibly Zeus)

Erection of thesauroi from foreign cities (including from cities in Sicily and Magna Graecia)

Sanctuary of Zeus, Olympia, mid VI (6th) c. B.C.?

Erection of sanctuary management buildings


1. bouleuterion
2. prytaneion

What was the function of the prytaneion?

Hosted sacred fire of Hestia

Used for collective meals

Sanctuary of Zeus, Olympia, 470-454 B.C.?

Construction of great temple of Zeus after project of Libon of Elis

Sanctuary of Zeus, Olympia, mid IV c. B.C.?

Sanctuary peribolos

Pelopion peribolos

Temple of Meter Theon

Stoa of Echo

Defined the sanctuary’s eastern limit

Sanctuary of Zeus, Olympia, 338 B.C.?

Philippeion

Sanctuary of Zeus, Olympia, Hellenistic period?

Gymnasium

Leonidaion

Baths…

Sanctuary of Zeus, Olympia: who was the Pelopion dedicated to?

Pelops

Sanctuary of Zeus, Olympia, Pelopion I

proto-historical circular earth tumulus delimited by stones (30m diameter)

Sanctuary of Zeus, Olympia, Pelopion II

VI (6th) c. B.C.

Encircling peribolos wall

Sanctuary of Zeus, Olympia, Pelopion III

IV (4th) c. B.C.

Poligonal peribolos

Enclosing statues and trees

Inside, a black ram was sacrificed

Sanctuary of Zeus, Olympia, altar

Altar of ashes

22m high (described by Pausanias)

Location based on modern hypothesis

Temple of Hera, Zeus at Olympia

Doric (16)

Peripteral (single row of pillars)

Six columns on front and back

Sixteen columns on each side

Had a pronaos, cella, and opisthodomos

The cella ensures the view of the cult statue

Upper elements = mudbrick and wood

Lower elements = masonry

Replaced an earlier edifice from around 650 B.C.

Wood columns substituted by stone ones

Which *thesauroi* were dedicated to the sanctuary of Zeus at Olympia?

Sikyon

Siracuse

Epidamnos

Sybaris

Cyrene

Selinous

Metapontum

Megara

Byzantium

Gela

When were the *thesauroi* in the sanctuary of Zeus at Olympia built?

648 - 480 B.C.

What was the function of the bouleuterion?

Hosted meetings of the *boule*

*Boule* originally covered whole of Elis region, later restricted to admin of sanctuary and festivals, originally indicated power of Elis over the sanctuary

Apsidal structure with internal central colonnade

Home of Olympic judges

Statues of victorious athletes around it

Temple of Zeus at Olympia

Planned by architect Libon of Elis

470 - 450 B.C.

Spartans dedicated golden shield as an offering after winning the battle of Tanagra (457 B.C.)

Doric temple

6 columns on front and rear, 13 on each side (one more than double the facades)

Pronaos

Cella

Opisthodomos

Maybe constructed for the victory of Elis over Pisa (480 - 460 B.C.)

Parian marble decorative sculpture.

Chryselephantine statue of Zeus

Temple of Zeus at Olympia, eastern pediment

Chariot race between Pelops (founder of Pan-Hellenic games) & King Oinomaos of Pisa

They stand on either side Zeus

Hippodamia unveils herself (marriage) - indicates Pelops will win

Different moments of the same story depicted simultaneously

Scene full of foreboding

Reclining figures = seer Lamon (balding head, heavy flesh), other = personification of river

Movement

Variety of gestures

Study of male anatomy

Female figures wearing peplos

Masterpiece of severe style

Temple of Zeus at Olympia, western pediment

Centauromachy

Fight between Lapiths and Centaurs at wedding of Perithoos

Allusion to the fight between the rational *polis*, and the barbaric, irrational centaurs

Theseus represented

Apollo, centre, raises hand to mark victory of Lapiths

Apollo = severe style = stern, calm expression, big chin, flat cheeks, heavy eyelids.

The rest shows a restless struggle, but he is a god who needs not get involved.

Centaurs try to grab Lapith women - animalistic, biting

Studies of muscle and flesh movement, how clothes react

Temple of Zeus at Olympia, metopes of the pronaos (front) & opisthodomos (back)

Twelve labours of Hercules, performed for King Eurystheus of Argos for his service, ordered by the Oracle of Delphi:


1. Slay the Nemean Lion
2. Slay the nine-headed hydra
3. Take the Stymphalian birds
4. Capture the Cretan bull
5. Capture the Cerylian hind
6. Obtain the belt of Hippolyta (Queen of Amazons)
7. Capture Erymanthian boar
8. Steal mares of Diomedes
9. Obtain the cattle of the monster Geryon
10. Steal apples of the Hesperides
11. Capture and return Cerberus
12. Clean Augean stables in a single day

Offerings left by buildings in Olympia

Victorious athletes dedicated statues (*andriantes*)

Originally made of wood

Exposed around wooden pillar of house of Oenomaus (central area of sacred area, possibly)

Earliest winners mentioned by Pausanias = Praxidamas (544) & Rhexibius (536 B.C.)

Later, statues placed around *Bouleuterion* (athletic visual focus)

Votive offerings, plaques, and stelae left around temples to praise the gods (ritual focus)

Tropaia (helmets, greaves, shields, sometimes entire panoplies) left at Stadium for military victories (military focus)

What was the *prytaneion*? (Olympia)

North-West of temple of Hera

used for celebrations and feasts by winners of the games

Housed altar of Hestia where original Olympic flame burnt

Acted as a civic building for port of Elis, admin for temenos

Philippeion (Olympia)

Celebration and visualisation of human power

Hosted Chryselephantine statues of Argeads

Statues in Olympia

**Nike, Paionoios, 425-420 B.C.**

Eastern front of temple of Zeus

Dedicated by Messenians and Naupaktians

**Hermes with infant Dionysus, Praxiteles**

Mortals engaged in human activities

How were the Panhellenic games announced?

Messengers

What games happened during the Panhellenic games?

Footraces, hoplite races (running wearing a helmet & shield), chariot and horse racing, boxing, wrestling, *pankration* (boxing/wrestling), *penthatlon* (wrestling/long jumping/running/discus & javelin throwing)

What did winning the Panhellenic games give?

Reverence for winners and their family & *polis*

Home cities bestowed privileges upon their winners & provided them with free dinners for life

How did the athletes prepare for the Panhellenic games?

They arrived a month before to train under the authority of judges, travelling from all over Greece.

They had to swear to Zeus they would perform without cheating.

How did the Olympic games end?

They were supressed by Theodosius in 393 A.D.

Women in the Olympic games

Could not compete

Sixteen women weave a robe for Hera every fourth year and hold games called Heraea = foot races for maidens

Describe the Heraea

The first to run were the youngest, until they reach the oldest

Hair hangs down, tunics reached the knee, bare the right shoulder as far as the breast

Olympic stadium reserved for the game

Winner received a crown of olives and a portion of cow sacrificed to Hera

Dedicated statues with their names inscribed

How was the Heraea created?

To thank Hera for her marriage to Pelops, Hippodamia assembled sixteen women and inaugurated the Heraea.

Came from the cities/tribes of Elis

Why were funerary buildings created?

Created for the most important social figures of the *polis*, built close to highly frequented areas (*agorai*, stadiums, gymnasiums, main streets…)

Main streets where funerary buildings are located

Via Ostiensis

Via Latina (Sepolcro dei Barberini o dei Corneli, Sepolcro dei Valerii, dei Pancrazi)

Via Appia (Sepolcro degli Scipioni)

Halicarnassus

Alexandria

Eretria

Ephesos

Athens

Mausolea near gymnasia/stadia

Syracuse = 2nd half 4th c., Tyrant Timoleon of Syracuse, later gymnasium built on top (Timoleonteion)

Miletos = Hellenistic-Roman Heroon II close to largest city gym, where a famous Milesian athlete was buried (possibly Antenor, Olympic champion of 308 B.C.)

Messene

Priene

Athens

Gortyn

Ephesos

Prusa

Why were funerary monuments built close to highly visited buildings?

Gave the tombs extreme visibility

Exalted & celebrated local personalities who benefitted their *polis* in some way

Nereid Monument

Temple tomb

380-370 B.C.

Mausoleum of Halicarnassus

Temple tomb

350 B.C.

Belevi Mausoleum

Temple tomb

350 - 300 B.C.

Palmyra Tower tomb

Valley of the tombs

Elahbel tomb

Giamblico tomb

Location & features of Mausoleum of Augustus

Inside, graves for Augustus and family

His corpse was burnt in the garden area

On Campus Martius

Beside the Tiber

Near Ara Pacis

Mausoleum of Augustus context

First building of his regime

Largest building he executed ever

Some scholars believe it was built due to his failing health, or possibly his anxiety to establish a dynsasty

OR

Was the antithesis to Marc Antony’s staunch desire to be buried in his city of Alexandria, announced his commitment to Rome

Inspired by the Maus. of Halicarnassus (Greek & Egyptian), the victory “captured” Egypt’s architectural heritage and expropriated Egyptian victory symbols in obelisks

More than just demonstrating wealth and power: a monumental trophy, a visual Res Gestae

What was the Res Gestae?

Official autobiography of Augustus

Mausoleum of Hadrian

125-139 AD

Became the Castel Sant’Angelo

Sanctuary of Apollo, 570 B.C.?

Naxians offered marble sphinx on a marble column

What did the Sanctuary of Apollo include beside the temple?

Chapel of Gaia

Fountain of Muses

Bouleuterion

Sanctuary of Apollo, end of VI (6th) c. B.C.

Enlargement of peribolos

New treasures dedicated

Altar of Poseidon north of temple terrace

Island of Chios financed new altar in front of the temple

The 5 temples of Apollo at Delphi

1. hut made with laurel branches
2. round structure made of beeswax & feathers
3. wooden temple with bronze inserts
4. stone temple built after the project by architects Trophonios & Agamedes, destroyed by fire in 548 B.C.
5. built thanks to support of Alcmeonids, destroyed by earthquake in 373 B.C.
6. finished in 320 B.C., ruins visible today

Temple of Apollo plan

Doric

Peripteral

Six columns front

fifteen on sides

Organised in pronaos, cella (including further inner room), opisthodomos

Optical corrections: Stylobate shows upward curving (to correct optical illusion that the straight lines sink into the midpoint)

Many divine entities worshipped beside it:

Dionysus

Hermes

Hestia altar

Carved into entrance:

“know thyself”

“nothing in excess”

What happened at the temple of Apollo at Delphi?

The oracle only gave prophecies during the 9 warmest months

Apollo deserted his temple in the winter, where it was taken over by his half brother Dionysus (his tomb also in the temple)

Who was the Pythia?

Delivered true prophecies, but hard to interpret

Seated over a tripod in the *adyton* of the temple where there was a natural cleft where the sacred *pneuma* (blow) emerged

The vapours apparently made her fall into a trance from the vapours/fumes

Originally a maiden, then a woman over 50

Prepared herself by:

Ablutions in Castalian spring

Drink waters of Cassotis spring

Eat laurel leaves

After goat sacrifice, oracle was opened

Her answers interpreted by *prophetes*

there were also *hosoi* (holy ones)/ officiants (role unclear)

Thesauros of Sikyonians in Sanctuary of Apollo, Delphi

Reconstructed as a *monopteros*

Probably dedicated on the victory in Delphic games of tyrant Cleisthenes, 600-565 B.C.

Open-sided, roofed structure

Supported by 14 small columns (4x5)

Doric frieze - 14 metopes of unusual width (3:2)

Experimentalism - Argo episode occupies several

Metopes, Thesauros of the Sikyonians

1. boar, Kalydonian?
2. Idas, Kastor, Polydeukes (names inscribed) with cattle, the booty of a raid. (long hair & garments details, oxen heads frontal & profile, sense of recessive planes)
3. woman on a bull (Europa on Zeus?)

High relief, use of painting

Thesauros of Siphnians, Apollo, Delphi

530 B.C.

Thanks to income generated by exploitation of gold & silver mines

Cam be compared with Erechtheion (421 - 405 B.C.) in Athens, new visual language

Sculptor’s signature on a giant shield

Every suitable surface has sculpture, paint, and metal additions

Thesauros of Siphnians, east pediment

Apollo and Herakles struggling for Delphic tripod

Thesauros of Siphnians, north frieze

Gigantomachy

Themis on chariot, Artemis & Apollo, firing together at giants

Thesauros of Siphnians, east frieze

War of Troy

Seated gods and heroes getting down from their chariots over fallen warrior in foreshortened pose

Horse & chariots in three-quarter view

Thesauros of the Athenians, Apollo at Delphi

Metopes = exploits of Heracles & Theseus

Pentelic marble

Cleobis and Biton

Apollo at Delphi

Twin kouroi

580 B.C.

The two brothers that pulled the cart up the hill for their mother and were immortalised by Athena for their glory

Monument of Marathon, Delphi

On the left side of the sacred way

Apollo, Athena, Miltiades & 10 eponymous heroes (statues)

Dedictaed by Kymon

450 B.C.

Copies of the bronze statues in Delphi