The statue of Dionysos, here described, originally decorated a choragic monument, of which some scanty remains may still be seen below the southern wall of the Acropolis of Athens, and immediately above the Dionysiac theatre. The monument was in the form of a portico, the architrave of which rested on three pilasters which masked the entrance to a cavern in the rock. Until removed by Lord Elgin the statue stood above the façade. Since the removal of the statue the portico itself has been destroyed, and at present only the base and lower portions of the pilasters stand in position, while fragments of the inscription lie close at hand. We learn from the inscription on the centre of the face of the monument that it was dedicated by Thrasyllos to commemorate the victory gained by his tribe in the dramatic contest in which he was himself choragos, in the archonship of Neaichmos (320 B.C.); _C. I. G._, 224; _C. I. A._, ii., 1247. On the right and left were inscriptions recording the dedication of tripods by Thrasycles, son of Thrasyllos, who was agonothetes in the archonship of Pytharatos (271 B.C.); _C. I. G._, 225, 226; _C. I. A._, ii., 1292, 1293. At some date intermediate between these two, probably about 310 B.C., the state had assumed the burden of providing the chorus, and the agonothetes or director of the contest took the place of the choragos, or provider of the chorus. (Hermann, _Lehrb. d. Griech. Antiq._, Müller's ed., iii., pt. ii., p. 339.) It has commonly been supposed that the statue belongs to the dedication of Thrasyllos. Stuart made the infelicitous conjecture that it held the votive tripod on its lap. The most recent writer on the subject, Reisch (in the _Athenische Mittheilungen_, xiii., p. 383), conjectures that the monument of Thrasyllos was originally surmounted by a pediment on which was a tripod; and that the pediment was removed by Thrasycles, who placed the statue in the centre, and bases for his tripods at the sides. It is left unexplained what became of the tripod of Thrasyllos. From the style of the statue we cannot decide between the two dates. Reisch well points out that in composition and spirit there is an attempt, only partially successful, to preserve the manner of Pheidias as seen in the Parthenon pediments. The figure is majestic, but the drapery is rather heavy. The influence of the younger Attic school hardly makes itself felt.