DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14144#0179
CONTEST FOR THE DELPHIAN TRIPOD.
M3
redoubtable antagonists could only be stopped by the thunderbolt of
their common father, Zeus. Both God and hero are almost entirely
nude; Heracles with his usual attributes, lion's skin, helmet and bow,
is bearing off the tripod, on which Apollo, crowned with the Delphian
bays, and holding his bow, lays his hand, claiming his own. Between
the combatants is a cone-shaped stone, the sacred o/jl^oKos, the navel
of the earth, hung with ribbons ending in round pendants. The sub-
ject is very frequently treated in a freer and more lively manner on
vases (fig. 60), and may be seen on a marble slab in the Louvre,
where a great difference is to be remarked in the style in which the
two figures are executed.1
The relief on the second side represents the consecration of a tripod
(fig. 61), which consisted in wrapping it round with ribbons or fillets.
This office is being performed by a priestess in presence of a priest,
who is crowned with laurels, and holds a broom in his hand as
cleanser of the temple.
On the third side the subject is tlie consecration of a torch, on
which may be observed a kind of hilt to protect the hand of the
holder from the falling ashes.
Fig. 59.
Fig. 60.
contest for the DELPHIAN tripod.
1 Conf. the fine Greek relief on a vase at Vulci in the Brit. Mus., first vase room,
Athens, and the obverse of a crater from table-case N. No. 172.
M3
redoubtable antagonists could only be stopped by the thunderbolt of
their common father, Zeus. Both God and hero are almost entirely
nude; Heracles with his usual attributes, lion's skin, helmet and bow,
is bearing off the tripod, on which Apollo, crowned with the Delphian
bays, and holding his bow, lays his hand, claiming his own. Between
the combatants is a cone-shaped stone, the sacred o/jl^oKos, the navel
of the earth, hung with ribbons ending in round pendants. The sub-
ject is very frequently treated in a freer and more lively manner on
vases (fig. 60), and may be seen on a marble slab in the Louvre,
where a great difference is to be remarked in the style in which the
two figures are executed.1
The relief on the second side represents the consecration of a tripod
(fig. 61), which consisted in wrapping it round with ribbons or fillets.
This office is being performed by a priestess in presence of a priest,
who is crowned with laurels, and holds a broom in his hand as
cleanser of the temple.
On the third side the subject is tlie consecration of a torch, on
which may be observed a kind of hilt to protect the hand of the
holder from the falling ashes.
Fig. 59.
Fig. 60.
contest for the DELPHIAN tripod.
1 Conf. the fine Greek relief on a vase at Vulci in the Brit. Mus., first vase room,
Athens, and the obverse of a crater from table-case N. No. 172.