DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14696#0251
The Delphic Tripod
r93
account for the awful sanctity attaching to the Delphic omphalos,
for the manifest meaning of its name, and for the peculiar character
of its decoration1.
The Delphic Agyzeils-piWar with its side-posts and lintel was in
a manner duplicated by the Delphic tripod. Sir Arthur Evans, when
discussing the libation-table found in the Dictaean cave, traced
briefly but convincingly the whole pedigree of the columnar tripod2.
He showed that the simplest form of sacred pillar, on the top of
which libations were poured (fig. 132)3, had already in the third period
of the Late ' Minoan ' age given rise to a trlpod-ISes with a central
stem (fig. 133)4; and that this in turn became the parent of such
types as the tripod from Corinth with three lion-goddesses for its
supports5 or the Plataean tripod at Delphoi with a coil of three
1 The cowrie-covered case, in which the umbilical cord of the king of Uganda was
preserved (W. Ridgeway The Dramas and Dramatic Dances of non-European Races
Cambridge 1915 p. 375 fT. figs: 85—87), bears a superficial resemblance to the fillet-
covered omphalos at Delphoi.
2 Sir A. f. Evans in the Journ. Hell. Stud. 1901 xxi. 117 f.
In the same context (p. 113 fT.) Sir Arthur traces the analogous evolution of the
'baetylic altar,' regarding it as essentially an 'offertory table placed above the sacred
pillar,' and illustrating its ultimate shape from an imperial copper of the Cretan com-
munity (J. N. Svoronos Numismatique de la Crete ancienne Macon 1890 i. 353 pi. 35, 36
( = my pi. xi, a), cp. id. pi. 35, 37, K(oivbv) K(pr)Tuiv)). At a recent auction of Egyptian
and Hellenistic antiquities I acquired a small bronze altar (pi. xi, b: extreme height 7^-ins.),
which closely resembles that of the Cretan coin. It has four legs, a thick central stem,
and an upper tray, with widely projecting horns, so contrived that it can be lifted off from
the pillar-like legs and the flat-topped barrel. This curious arrangement strongly confirms
Sir Arthur's contention that the central cylinder was the original idol.
3 Fig. 132 = Sir A. J. Evans loc. cit. p. 117 fig. 13 an impressed glass plaque found by
Ch. Tsountas in a grave of the lower town at Mykenai. Cp. supra i. 36f. fig. 9.
4 Fig. 133 = Sir A. J. Evans loc. cit. p. 117 fig- 14 a similar plaque found by Ch. Tsountas
in the same place.
5 A. Michaelis Ancient Marbles in Great Britain trans. C. A. M. Fennell Cambridge
1882 p. 592 f., P. Gardner 'A stone tripod at Oxford' in the Journ. Hell. Stud. 1896 xvi.
275—280 with figs. if. and pi. 12, C. Dubois in Daremberg—Saglio Diet. Ant. v. 475
fig. 7068. Height o'66"\ lower diameter o'54m, upper diameter o'36m.
(0) The Delphic Tripod.
Fig. 132.
Fig- 133-
C. II.
T3
r93
account for the awful sanctity attaching to the Delphic omphalos,
for the manifest meaning of its name, and for the peculiar character
of its decoration1.
The Delphic Agyzeils-piWar with its side-posts and lintel was in
a manner duplicated by the Delphic tripod. Sir Arthur Evans, when
discussing the libation-table found in the Dictaean cave, traced
briefly but convincingly the whole pedigree of the columnar tripod2.
He showed that the simplest form of sacred pillar, on the top of
which libations were poured (fig. 132)3, had already in the third period
of the Late ' Minoan ' age given rise to a trlpod-ISes with a central
stem (fig. 133)4; and that this in turn became the parent of such
types as the tripod from Corinth with three lion-goddesses for its
supports5 or the Plataean tripod at Delphoi with a coil of three
1 The cowrie-covered case, in which the umbilical cord of the king of Uganda was
preserved (W. Ridgeway The Dramas and Dramatic Dances of non-European Races
Cambridge 1915 p. 375 fT. figs: 85—87), bears a superficial resemblance to the fillet-
covered omphalos at Delphoi.
2 Sir A. f. Evans in the Journ. Hell. Stud. 1901 xxi. 117 f.
In the same context (p. 113 fT.) Sir Arthur traces the analogous evolution of the
'baetylic altar,' regarding it as essentially an 'offertory table placed above the sacred
pillar,' and illustrating its ultimate shape from an imperial copper of the Cretan com-
munity (J. N. Svoronos Numismatique de la Crete ancienne Macon 1890 i. 353 pi. 35, 36
( = my pi. xi, a), cp. id. pi. 35, 37, K(oivbv) K(pr)Tuiv)). At a recent auction of Egyptian
and Hellenistic antiquities I acquired a small bronze altar (pi. xi, b: extreme height 7^-ins.),
which closely resembles that of the Cretan coin. It has four legs, a thick central stem,
and an upper tray, with widely projecting horns, so contrived that it can be lifted off from
the pillar-like legs and the flat-topped barrel. This curious arrangement strongly confirms
Sir Arthur's contention that the central cylinder was the original idol.
3 Fig. 132 = Sir A. J. Evans loc. cit. p. 117 fig. 13 an impressed glass plaque found by
Ch. Tsountas in a grave of the lower town at Mykenai. Cp. supra i. 36f. fig. 9.
4 Fig. 133 = Sir A. J. Evans loc. cit. p. 117 fig- 14 a similar plaque found by Ch. Tsountas
in the same place.
5 A. Michaelis Ancient Marbles in Great Britain trans. C. A. M. Fennell Cambridge
1882 p. 592 f., P. Gardner 'A stone tripod at Oxford' in the Journ. Hell. Stud. 1896 xvi.
275—280 with figs. if. and pi. 12, C. Dubois in Daremberg—Saglio Diet. Ant. v. 475
fig. 7068. Height o'66"\ lower diameter o'54m, upper diameter o'36m.
(0) The Delphic Tripod.
Fig. 132.
Fig- 133-
C. II.
T3