Zeus : a study in ancient religion - Warburg Institute

172
The Delphic Omphalos
Fig. 118.
upon it. The flattened top is best explained on the assumption that the ape.\ was made in
a separate piece, though it is possible that at some period it served as the pedestal for a
statuette (W. H. Roscher op. cit. p. 82 f. : but see infra p. 175 n. o). The band cut
away round the bottom has been taken to imply that the whole omphalos was let into a
larger base (G. Karo loc. cit. iv. 199, W. H. Roscher op. cit. p. 82), but may rather indi-
cate that it was adorned with a metal collar of acanthus-leaves like that shown in the
vase-painting (fig. 117).