Zeus : a study in ancient religion - Warburg Institute

The Delphic Tripod 199
offerings tend to repeat the pattern of the local chose sacree^. Ac-
cordingly the Chigi base at Dresden (pi. xii)^, which itself seems to
have carried a columnar tripod^, represents in one of its three
archaistic panels a Pythian priest and priestess dedicating a similar
tripod on the top of a pillar. Moreover, archaising reliefs of the
imperial age (figs. 140, 141 )^ made in all probability to commemorate
^ On the principle underlying this multiplication see Folk-Lore 1903 xiv. 271.
2 This marble base (height i'3o'"), which came to the Dresden Museum along with
the Chigi collection, portrays (a) the rape of the Delphic tripod by Herakles, {b) the
dedication of a columnar tripod by the Pythla and the neokSros, (c) the dedication of a
torch by a priest and priestess. Various archaeologists have attempted to combine the
three scenes in a consistent whole. According to K. O. Midler Handbuch der Ai-chaeologie
der Kunsfi Stuttgart 1878 p. 78, P. Pervanoglu in the Ann. d. Inst. i86i xxxiii. 119 ff.,
Friederichs—Welters Gipsabgiisse p. 169!?". no. 423, the central panel represents the
struggle between Herakles and Apollon as the mythical prototype of a Pythian contest for
a prize-tripod, the panel to the right shows the consecration of the prize, the panel to the
left that of the torch with which the victor had won his race. The base as a whole sup-
ported the tripod thus gained, which, to judge from the kneeling Sileiiot, the Sdtyroi with
drinking-cups, etc., was dedicated to Dionysos. Hence the ivy-wreath and ' Sardana-
palos ' type (E. Thraemer in Roscher Lex. Myth. i. 1 1 17 flf., P. Wolters in \ht Jahrb. d.
kais. dentsell. arch. Inst. 1893 viii. I79f., K. A. McDowall in iht Joitr7t. Hell. Stud.
1904 xxiv. 255 ff., V. Macchioro in (he Jahresh. d. oest. arch. Inst. 1909 xii. 189 ff.,
W. Helbig Fiihrer durch die offentlichen Sammlungen klassischer Altertiimer in Rom^
Leipzig 1912 i. 2iof. no. 320) of the neokoros. Avery different and far less probable
explanation was given by C. Boetticher Das Grab des Dionysos ( Winckclmannsfest-Progr.
Berlin xviii) Berlin 1856 with figs, i f. and 'Zu den Bildwerken der dreiseitigen Basis in
Dresden' in the ^rc,^. Zeit. 1858 xvi. 197
ff. pi. 117. He took {a) as the rape of the
tripod, marking the locality, (b) as the consecration of the tripod in which were the
remains of Dionysos, torn to pieces by the Titans, (c) as the consecration of a bdkchos or
phanSs, symbolising the resuscitation of the god. He also supposed that the priest and
priestess were the neokSros and the principal thyids, and that the base carried a phanSs,
not a tripod. See further W. G. Becker Atignsteum Dresden^s atitike Denkmdler enthaltend
Leipzig 1804 i. 42 ff. pis. 5— 7, B. Leplat Rectceil des marbres antiques qui se trouvent
dans la galerie dti roy de Pologne d, Dresden Dresde 1733 pi. 3, H. Hettner Die Bildwerke
der konigUchen antiken Sammhmg zu Dresden* Dresden 1881 no. 80, L. Stephani in the
Compte-rendu St. Pet. 1868 p. 46 f., Overbeck Gr. Ku7tstmyth. Apollon p. 405 Atlas
pi. 24, 14, id. Gr. Plastik* i. 260 ff. fig. 70 a, b, ib. p. 298 n. 203, Brunn—Bruckmann
Denkm. der gr. und rdni. Sculpt, pi. 150, Midler—Wieseler—Wernicke Ant. Denkin. ii.
3. 328 f. pi. 27, 7, Reinach Rdp. Reliefs ii. 60 nos. i— 3. My illustrations are made from
the cast at Cambridge.
3 This is the inference usually, and in my opinidn correctly, drawn from the fact that
the upper surface of the base is triangular in shape with a smooth circular mark ( i2| inches
across) in the centre of it : see the diagrams given by C. Boetticher in the Arch. Zeit.
1858 xvi. 227 f. F. Hauser Die neu-altischen Reliefs Stuttgart i88g p. 52 f. no. 69 and
p. 117 holds that the base bore a moveable object such as a candelabrum, but admits
(p. 52) that its reliefs must have been copied from those of a tripod-base.
* (i) In the Villa Albani (G. Zoega Li bassirilievi antichi di Roma Roma 1808 ii
pi. 99, T. Schreiber Die hellenistischcn Reliefbilder pi. 34 (=my fig. 140), Brunn—Bruckmann
Denkm. der gr. und rdm. Sculpt, pi. 344a, Welcker Alt. Denkm. ii. i"]--)! pi- 2, 3
( = Baumeister Denkm. i. 97 fig. 103), Reinach Rip. Reliefs iii. 151 no. 3, Overbeck Gr.
Kiinstmyth. Apollon pp. 260, 262 ff., W. Helbig Fiihrer durch die offentlichen Sa»imlufigen
klassisclier Altertiimer in Rom"^ Leipzig 1913 ii. 426 f. no. 1876). Restored: