DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4263#0057
56 OF THE CHORAGIC MONUMENT OF LYSICRATES.
the largest, and is in the centre of this upper surface, a ballister was in all likelihood inserted ; its use
was to support the tripod, and to give it that stability which its situation required.
Every body knows that the games and -plays which the ancient Grecians exhibited at the
celebration of their greater festivals were chiefly athletic exercises and theatric or musical performances ;
and that these made a very considerable, essential, and splendid part of the solemnity. In order,
therefore, to engage a greater number of competitors, and to excite their emulation more effectually,
prizes were allotted to the victors ; and these prizes were generally exhibited to public view during
the time in which these games were celebrated.
" In view amid the spacious circle laya
The splendid gifts, the prizes of the day,
Arms on the ground, and sacred tripods glow,
With wreaths and palms to hind the victor's brow."
pitt's translation of vihgil. jEneid v., vekse 140.
None of these prizes seem to have been in higher estimation than tripods b, or more frequently
the reward of superior force, address, and genius.
Homer, when he describes the games which were celebrated at the funeral of Patroclus, intro-
duces Achilles proclaiming tripods as the principal prizes to be contended for, both by the charioteers and
by those who engaged in wrestling0. Pindar celebrates Castor and Iolaus for their excellence in the
chariot race, the naked and the armed course, throwing the javelin, and tossing the discus ; and he
represents them adorning their houses with tripods, and other prizes, which they had won in these
games'1. But Hesiod celebrates his own victory: he obtained it in the games which were solemnized
at Chalcis. On this occasion, he describes himself bearing off the prize tripod from his competitors
in poetry, and consecrating it to the Musesc.
It was the usual custom, and a very ancient one, for the victors to dedicate these tripods to some
divinity, and to place them, either in temples already builtf, or upon the top of some consecrated
edifice erected for that purpose8; thus they participated of the sanctity of the place, and were secure
from injury and violence: to have destroyed or defaced them, had doubtless been esteemed an act of
sacrilege. A tripod thus dedicated, was always accompanied with an inscription; so that it became
a permanent, authentic, and public monument of the victory, and of the person who had obtained it.
The tripod seems to have been the peculiar reward bestowed by the people of Athens on that
Choragus who had exhibited the best musical or theatrical entertainment: for we find these kind of
tripods had obtained a particular name from this custom, and were called Choragic tripods. The
gaming of this prize was attended with considerable expense11: each Choragus disbursed the money
a Munera principio ante oculos, circoque locantur
In medio : sacri tripodes, viridesque corona,
Et palmse, pretium victorious, armaque,—
jEneidos, liber V. verse 109.
b Donarem pateras, grataque commodus,
Censorine, meis rera sodalibus:
Donarem tripodas, prsemia fortium
Graiorum:—Hor. Carm. Lib. iv. Od. 8. [jed.]
c Iliad XXIII, verse 264.
d Pindar's Isthmia. Ode I.
e Hesiod, Works andDays. Book II. v. 272.
f Those most ancient tripods cited by Herodotus, Book V. to
prove the similitude of the Cadmean characters to those used by
the Ionians, were dedicated in the temple of Ismenian Apollo.
One of these he attributes to Laius, a great grandson of Cadmus.
According to the usual way of computing, it is more than 3000
years since this dedication.
e Plutarch in the life of Nicias.
h In one of the orations of Lysias which is still extant, he
enumerates his public services ; and among others, the expenses
he was at in discharging the office of Choragus, and consecrating
a tripod. It may possibly gratify the curiosity of some readers,
to see this account inserted here.
"In the year that Theopompus was Archon,"says he, "I under-
went the scrutiny, and was appointed a Choragus in the exhibi-
tion of tragedies : in this I expended 30 minas (or 125/. ster-
ling). Three months afterwards the chorus of men which I
provided for the Thargelia (a festival in honour of Apollo)
obtained the victory; and in this I laid out 2000 drachmas
(83/. 6s. 8d.~). In the year that Glaucippus was Archon, it
cost me 800 drachmas (33/. 6,?. 8d.) for Pyrrhic dancers, on
the great Panathcnasan Festival. Under the same Archon, I
was again a Choragus, and provided a chorus of men on the
Dionysia, or Festival of Bacchus; here I was victor, and in
this chorus, together with the charge of consecrating my tripod,
I expended 5000 drachmas (208/. 6s. 8d.)", &c. He then sets
forth the expenses and dangers he sustained during the seven
J*
ted, but •
also-
many
ritbio
<T j 0n temp
**'
ttenti
lDd the r
:>aor
Option, -
^ore include,'
thesculptu
ibited at h
gttefebrated during t
;gjie custom of giv
ijKdjectore.
.;::», or sh
il ;:?A home, J
.;Games; into
::.'el83.
iid ml theatric ent
wldMc pines, bvt
, Mb Pollux
v-Mted
srffepiMc. Jul. F
/ grains o
'Wht present 6j
-i ounce, an
-'■-Mat drachm
' ;vS if
I^Wtoour
THternnl.
.Mnas.
Wiiia,
Sis*
■' "ft
V '
the largest, and is in the centre of this upper surface, a ballister was in all likelihood inserted ; its use
was to support the tripod, and to give it that stability which its situation required.
Every body knows that the games and -plays which the ancient Grecians exhibited at the
celebration of their greater festivals were chiefly athletic exercises and theatric or musical performances ;
and that these made a very considerable, essential, and splendid part of the solemnity. In order,
therefore, to engage a greater number of competitors, and to excite their emulation more effectually,
prizes were allotted to the victors ; and these prizes were generally exhibited to public view during
the time in which these games were celebrated.
" In view amid the spacious circle laya
The splendid gifts, the prizes of the day,
Arms on the ground, and sacred tripods glow,
With wreaths and palms to hind the victor's brow."
pitt's translation of vihgil. jEneid v., vekse 140.
None of these prizes seem to have been in higher estimation than tripods b, or more frequently
the reward of superior force, address, and genius.
Homer, when he describes the games which were celebrated at the funeral of Patroclus, intro-
duces Achilles proclaiming tripods as the principal prizes to be contended for, both by the charioteers and
by those who engaged in wrestling0. Pindar celebrates Castor and Iolaus for their excellence in the
chariot race, the naked and the armed course, throwing the javelin, and tossing the discus ; and he
represents them adorning their houses with tripods, and other prizes, which they had won in these
games'1. But Hesiod celebrates his own victory: he obtained it in the games which were solemnized
at Chalcis. On this occasion, he describes himself bearing off the prize tripod from his competitors
in poetry, and consecrating it to the Musesc.
It was the usual custom, and a very ancient one, for the victors to dedicate these tripods to some
divinity, and to place them, either in temples already builtf, or upon the top of some consecrated
edifice erected for that purpose8; thus they participated of the sanctity of the place, and were secure
from injury and violence: to have destroyed or defaced them, had doubtless been esteemed an act of
sacrilege. A tripod thus dedicated, was always accompanied with an inscription; so that it became
a permanent, authentic, and public monument of the victory, and of the person who had obtained it.
The tripod seems to have been the peculiar reward bestowed by the people of Athens on that
Choragus who had exhibited the best musical or theatrical entertainment: for we find these kind of
tripods had obtained a particular name from this custom, and were called Choragic tripods. The
gaming of this prize was attended with considerable expense11: each Choragus disbursed the money
a Munera principio ante oculos, circoque locantur
In medio : sacri tripodes, viridesque corona,
Et palmse, pretium victorious, armaque,—
jEneidos, liber V. verse 109.
b Donarem pateras, grataque commodus,
Censorine, meis rera sodalibus:
Donarem tripodas, prsemia fortium
Graiorum:—Hor. Carm. Lib. iv. Od. 8. [jed.]
c Iliad XXIII, verse 264.
d Pindar's Isthmia. Ode I.
e Hesiod, Works andDays. Book II. v. 272.
f Those most ancient tripods cited by Herodotus, Book V. to
prove the similitude of the Cadmean characters to those used by
the Ionians, were dedicated in the temple of Ismenian Apollo.
One of these he attributes to Laius, a great grandson of Cadmus.
According to the usual way of computing, it is more than 3000
years since this dedication.
e Plutarch in the life of Nicias.
h In one of the orations of Lysias which is still extant, he
enumerates his public services ; and among others, the expenses
he was at in discharging the office of Choragus, and consecrating
a tripod. It may possibly gratify the curiosity of some readers,
to see this account inserted here.
"In the year that Theopompus was Archon,"says he, "I under-
went the scrutiny, and was appointed a Choragus in the exhibi-
tion of tragedies : in this I expended 30 minas (or 125/. ster-
ling). Three months afterwards the chorus of men which I
provided for the Thargelia (a festival in honour of Apollo)
obtained the victory; and in this I laid out 2000 drachmas
(83/. 6s. 8d.~). In the year that Glaucippus was Archon, it
cost me 800 drachmas (33/. 6,?. 8d.) for Pyrrhic dancers, on
the great Panathcnasan Festival. Under the same Archon, I
was again a Choragus, and provided a chorus of men on the
Dionysia, or Festival of Bacchus; here I was victor, and in
this chorus, together with the charge of consecrating my tripod,
I expended 5000 drachmas (208/. 6s. 8d.)", &c. He then sets
forth the expenses and dangers he sustained during the seven
J*
ted, but •
also-
many
ritbio
<T j 0n temp
**'
ttenti
lDd the r
:>aor
Option, -
^ore include,'
thesculptu
ibited at h
gttefebrated during t
;gjie custom of giv
ijKdjectore.
.;::», or sh
il ;:?A home, J
.;Games; into
::.'el83.
iid ml theatric ent
wldMc pines, bvt
, Mb Pollux
v-Mted
srffepiMc. Jul. F
/ grains o
'Wht present 6j
-i ounce, an
-'■-Mat drachm
' ;vS if
I^Wtoour
THternnl.
.Mnas.
Wiiia,
Sis*
■' "ft
V '