DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4265#0097
9G OF THE AQUEDUCT OF HADRIAN.
nasiarch ; of these there are several at Athens, some enriched with sculpture j others plain, but all of
marble a.
a These marble seats called thronoi by the ancients, it is evi-
dent were not applicable to the purposes of domestic life, but
generally appertained to public edifices, where they were allotted
to distinguished personages or public functionaries, Archons,
Gymnasiarchs, Agonothetae, &c. They are found throughout
Greece; that at the Piraeus (made sepulchral when the original
purpose was lost sight of) has been described in Vol. I. p. 20.
Rhamnus possesses one, which, from an inscription on it, appears
to have belonged to the theatre. There is one at Chaeronia which
the natives call i Quotas w n^vra^ou, " the Throne of Plutarch."
There are fragments of one at Delphi. A representation of that
of the rhetorician Potamon at Lesbos, termed npoEAPIA ' pre-
sidental scat' in the inscription on it, may be referred to in Vol.
IV. Dr. Clarke remarks, that " The discovery of a single
marble chair, either within or near to almost every one of the
celebrated theatres of Greece, is a circumstance not sufficiently
regarded." Lord Elgin, in the memorandum of his pursuits
in Greece, is spoken of as having been permitted to appro-
priate a Gymnasiarch's chair in marble, found in a church or mo-
nastery at Athens, " on the back of which are figures of Har-
modius and Aristogiton, with daggers in their hands, and the
death of Leaena ", but no such monument appears to have arrived
in England. Marble thronoi were sometimes made for the
reception of statues of divinities; in the Vatican are original
fragments of several which were probably devoted to that pur-
1 Oil in modern times has been by age also constituted an object of consider-
able interest and value; it is when very old esteemed by the Italians as a balsam,
and a panacea. In a private chamber of the Palazzo Vecchio at Florence,
pose ; and the venerated bronze statue of St. Peter, in the nave
of St. Peter's at Rome, which is said formerly to have been a
statue of Jupiter, is seated on a thronos of white marble. The
magnificence with which on many occasions the ancient Greeks
decorated the 0go»ot of their divinities may be known from the
description of Pausanias of that of Apollo at Amyclae, and of
that of the Olympian Jupiter which was designed and executed
by Phidias. In this, gold and precious stones, ivorv, and rare woods
were introduced for the embellishment of a design, in which
a profusion of symbolic figures formed its component parts. M.
Quatremere de Quincy has devoted singular attention to the re-
storation of those remarkable monuments in his original and or-
namental work entitled, " Le Jupiter Olympien." The thronos,
the subject of this note, as well as those mentioned at the head
of the previous chapter, doubtless belonged to Gymnasia; for
on the sides of them, tables are represented, on which are placed
wreaths of olive, and vases or jars of precious oil1 produced from
the sacred trees called Moriai, which were the trophies contended
for at the Panathenai'c games.
V. Walpole's Mem. V. I. p. 309, on the Q/int and A»ppo» of
the Greeks. DodwclFs Travels, V. I. p. 222. Clarke's Travels,
V. III. p. 617. Mus. Pio Clem. T. VII. Tav. XLIV. V. Mem.
on Lord Elgin's Pursuits in Greece, p. 20. Paus. L. III. C.
XVIII. and XIX. L. V. C. XI. Le Jup. Olym. PI. VII. and
XIII. Meursii Panathenaea, C. XI. CED-J.
formerly occupied by Catherine de Medici, we observed inscribed over the circular
opening of a depot beneath the pavement of the floor—
OLIO
CHE PASSA
CINQVANTA
ANNI VENVTO
L'AVGVSTO
MCLXXII
M
nasiarch ; of these there are several at Athens, some enriched with sculpture j others plain, but all of
marble a.
a These marble seats called thronoi by the ancients, it is evi-
dent were not applicable to the purposes of domestic life, but
generally appertained to public edifices, where they were allotted
to distinguished personages or public functionaries, Archons,
Gymnasiarchs, Agonothetae, &c. They are found throughout
Greece; that at the Piraeus (made sepulchral when the original
purpose was lost sight of) has been described in Vol. I. p. 20.
Rhamnus possesses one, which, from an inscription on it, appears
to have belonged to the theatre. There is one at Chaeronia which
the natives call i Quotas w n^vra^ou, " the Throne of Plutarch."
There are fragments of one at Delphi. A representation of that
of the rhetorician Potamon at Lesbos, termed npoEAPIA ' pre-
sidental scat' in the inscription on it, may be referred to in Vol.
IV. Dr. Clarke remarks, that " The discovery of a single
marble chair, either within or near to almost every one of the
celebrated theatres of Greece, is a circumstance not sufficiently
regarded." Lord Elgin, in the memorandum of his pursuits
in Greece, is spoken of as having been permitted to appro-
priate a Gymnasiarch's chair in marble, found in a church or mo-
nastery at Athens, " on the back of which are figures of Har-
modius and Aristogiton, with daggers in their hands, and the
death of Leaena ", but no such monument appears to have arrived
in England. Marble thronoi were sometimes made for the
reception of statues of divinities; in the Vatican are original
fragments of several which were probably devoted to that pur-
1 Oil in modern times has been by age also constituted an object of consider-
able interest and value; it is when very old esteemed by the Italians as a balsam,
and a panacea. In a private chamber of the Palazzo Vecchio at Florence,
pose ; and the venerated bronze statue of St. Peter, in the nave
of St. Peter's at Rome, which is said formerly to have been a
statue of Jupiter, is seated on a thronos of white marble. The
magnificence with which on many occasions the ancient Greeks
decorated the 0go»ot of their divinities may be known from the
description of Pausanias of that of Apollo at Amyclae, and of
that of the Olympian Jupiter which was designed and executed
by Phidias. In this, gold and precious stones, ivorv, and rare woods
were introduced for the embellishment of a design, in which
a profusion of symbolic figures formed its component parts. M.
Quatremere de Quincy has devoted singular attention to the re-
storation of those remarkable monuments in his original and or-
namental work entitled, " Le Jupiter Olympien." The thronos,
the subject of this note, as well as those mentioned at the head
of the previous chapter, doubtless belonged to Gymnasia; for
on the sides of them, tables are represented, on which are placed
wreaths of olive, and vases or jars of precious oil1 produced from
the sacred trees called Moriai, which were the trophies contended
for at the Panathenai'c games.
V. Walpole's Mem. V. I. p. 309, on the Q/int and A»ppo» of
the Greeks. DodwclFs Travels, V. I. p. 222. Clarke's Travels,
V. III. p. 617. Mus. Pio Clem. T. VII. Tav. XLIV. V. Mem.
on Lord Elgin's Pursuits in Greece, p. 20. Paus. L. III. C.
XVIII. and XIX. L. V. C. XI. Le Jup. Olym. PI. VII. and
XIII. Meursii Panathenaea, C. XI. CED-J.
formerly occupied by Catherine de Medici, we observed inscribed over the circular
opening of a depot beneath the pavement of the floor—
OLIO
CHE PASSA
CINQVANTA
ANNI VENVTO
L'AVGVSTO
MCLXXII
M