Zeus : a study in ancient religion - Warburg Institute

The Delphic O^nphalos 183
and sundry associated deities. This magnificent slab of Pentelic
marble (pi. x)' fits into a large pillar-like base o{ poros, which is
inscribed— partly in prose and partly in verse—as follows :
'Xenokrateia, wife of Xeniades from the deme Cholleidai, as daughter (before
her marriage) and mother (after it) set up by way of oblation and dedicated to
Kephisos and the gods that share his altar this gift to instruct whoso will to
sacrifice with a view to the consummation of blessings^.'
It would seem that Xenokrateia had gained her heart's desire, a
man-child born in lawful wedlock, by promising this tablet to
Kephisos and the other fertility-powers that shared his altar. Their
names are recorded on a sacred boundary-stone from the same
site: 'To Hestia, Kephisos, ApoUon Pythios, Leto, Artemis Lochia,
Eileithyia, Acheloios, Kalliroe, the Geraistian birth-nymphs, and
Rhapso^.' The list serves as a key to the composition of our relief*.
On the left is Apollon Pythios :
he
sits on a tripod-throne with a
griffin for arm-rest, two coiled snakes for rings and back, and the
oinpJialos with its eagles for foot-stool. Beside him in the back-
ground stands Leto binding her hair with a fillet, once added in
colour. Before him Artemis holds a torch, similarly put in with
paint. Next to these august persons are Xenokrateia and her boy,
mere mortals and therefore figured on a smaller scale : they make
^ B. Staes ' 'Ara^ij/xarf/coy a.v6.y\vov e/c ^aXijpoi' ' in the 'E(^. 'Apx. 1909 pp. 239— 264
pi. 8, map, and figs, i— 3, id. ' ^ Kva.'^Ko.ia TrpoadriKTi' ib. 1910 pp. 173— 176, Stais Marbres
L't Bronzes: Athenes'^ p. 45 ff. no. 2756 fig., Svoronos Ath. Nationaliiius. p. 493 ff.
pis. 181 f. (pi. 181 =my pi. x), G. Karo in the Archiv f. Rel. 1913 xvi. 271 f., W. H.
Roscher Omphalos Leipzig 1913 p. 86 f. pi. 8, 2. Height o'j/'", breadth i "oj"'.
- Aei'o/cpctTeia K770icrui(t) lip\ov idptjaaro Kal avidr)Kev |
ToSe Sijbpov, SftaSou dvydT\7ip Kal /xyjTrjp, (k XoXeiScSv, |
6>J€iv
^vv^uofj-ois re deots 5i8aaKa\\ias
rCoi. ^ovKo/n^vioi eVi |
TekfarGiv
a-yadOiv. Staes read the concluding words as TeXearwv ^Ayd6uiu[os Kal toO Setva'] ; but
Svoronos could discover no certain trace of any letters after dyaduiv, and certainly no
trace of any further line such as would be needed to contain the name of Agathon's
(e\hnv-ie/c'slc's. The queer diction and arrangement of the sentence is, I think, sufficiently
explained by the exigencies of metre, an attempt being made to hitch the whole into
dactylic hexameters and a final pentameter (?) thus : 'iSe(i)voKpdTeia \
Kal dveOrjKev \
eK XoX(\)€i5u!i>, I
^v/j.^di/j.ois re 0eoi(j(L) 5i5a(rKa\ias rode SQjpov, \
'S.i(t)vi.dbov
Kij^icraj
iepof idpudaro
dvydrrip Kal /xriTrip,
6}j(iv T(^ povXa/n^vij) iwl TeKecxTCov dyadwv. Xenokrateia was no Sappho.
* 'Ecrriat, 'K-ri