DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14696#0254
196
The Delphic Tripod
lebes resting on a central shaft, which is conceived as a bay-trunk
and entwined with a snake—Python presumably, since the god's
quiver is hanging beside it. Similarly a statuette in Greek marble
that forms part of the same collection (fig. 137)1 represents Apollon
Fig. 136. Fig. 137.
standing by a tripod, whose lebes again rests on a bay-trunk en-
twined with a snake. These examples remind us that the name
tripos was given to a species of bay-tree with three roots-. But a
statuette in Italian marble at Dresden (fig. 138)3, which presupposes
a Greek bronze4 of Praxitelean character5, shows Apollon leaning
on a columnar tripod of a much earlier type6. If it be objected that
the column necessary in a marble copy would have been absent
from the bronze original, we can point not only to reliefs7 and vase-
1 Clarac Mus. de Sculpt, pi. 346 fig. 925 ( = my fig. 137), Frohner Sculpt, du Louvre i.
97 f. no. 73, Reinach Rip. Stat. i. 175 no. 5. Height o 535m. The parts restored are the
plinth, both feet of Apollon, the tip of his nose, a patch over his left breast, his right hand
with the bay-branch (tenon antique), his left hand with the snake's tail, the middle of the
snake's body, and the greater portion of the tripod-hoops.
2 Lact. Plac. in Stat. Theb. i. 509 tripos species est lauri, tres habens radices,
Apollini consecrata propter triplicem vim divinationis.
3 B. Leplat Recueil des marbres antiques qui se trouvent dans la galerie du roy de
Pologne a Dresden Dresde 1733 pi. 49, H. Hettner Die Bildwerke der kbniglichen antiken
Sammlung zu Dresde7ii Dresden" 188 r no. 160, Overbeck Gr. Kunstmyth. Apollon
p. 211 Atlas pi. 22, 40 ( = myfig. 138), Reinach Re'p. Stat. ii. 94 no. 6. Height 4 ft. 6ins.
4 Overbeck Gr. Kunstmyth. Apollon p. 211.
5 Overbeck op. cit. p. 208 ff., W. Klein Praxiteles Leipzig 1898 p. ■ 58 ff.
6 Note that the supporting column tapers downwards like those of 'Minoan' art.
7 E. Fabricius in the /ahrb. d. kais. deutsch. arch. hist. 1886 i. 186 cites the Chigi base
The Delphic Tripod
lebes resting on a central shaft, which is conceived as a bay-trunk
and entwined with a snake—Python presumably, since the god's
quiver is hanging beside it. Similarly a statuette in Greek marble
that forms part of the same collection (fig. 137)1 represents Apollon
Fig. 136. Fig. 137.
standing by a tripod, whose lebes again rests on a bay-trunk en-
twined with a snake. These examples remind us that the name
tripos was given to a species of bay-tree with three roots-. But a
statuette in Italian marble at Dresden (fig. 138)3, which presupposes
a Greek bronze4 of Praxitelean character5, shows Apollon leaning
on a columnar tripod of a much earlier type6. If it be objected that
the column necessary in a marble copy would have been absent
from the bronze original, we can point not only to reliefs7 and vase-
1 Clarac Mus. de Sculpt, pi. 346 fig. 925 ( = my fig. 137), Frohner Sculpt, du Louvre i.
97 f. no. 73, Reinach Rip. Stat. i. 175 no. 5. Height o 535m. The parts restored are the
plinth, both feet of Apollon, the tip of his nose, a patch over his left breast, his right hand
with the bay-branch (tenon antique), his left hand with the snake's tail, the middle of the
snake's body, and the greater portion of the tripod-hoops.
2 Lact. Plac. in Stat. Theb. i. 509 tripos species est lauri, tres habens radices,
Apollini consecrata propter triplicem vim divinationis.
3 B. Leplat Recueil des marbres antiques qui se trouvent dans la galerie du roy de
Pologne a Dresden Dresde 1733 pi. 49, H. Hettner Die Bildwerke der kbniglichen antiken
Sammlung zu Dresde7ii Dresden" 188 r no. 160, Overbeck Gr. Kunstmyth. Apollon
p. 211 Atlas pi. 22, 40 ( = myfig. 138), Reinach Re'p. Stat. ii. 94 no. 6. Height 4 ft. 6ins.
4 Overbeck Gr. Kunstmyth. Apollon p. 211.
5 Overbeck op. cit. p. 208 ff., W. Klein Praxiteles Leipzig 1898 p. ■ 58 ff.
6 Note that the supporting column tapers downwards like those of 'Minoan' art.
7 E. Fabricius in the /ahrb. d. kais. deutsch. arch. hist. 1886 i. 186 cites the Chigi base