Olympic Victor Monuments and Greek Athletic ArtHyde, Walter Woodburn
History
Olympic Victor Monuments and Greek Athletic Art
Hyde, Walter Woodburn
Olympics; Sculpture, Greek; Sports -- Greece
Music victors played a greater role at Delphi than elsewhere, since
music from the first was the chief interest there. Monuments to such
victors, though few in number, by little-known artists were set up
there, but they seem to have enjoyed the same meagre honor at Delphi
as the statues of athletic victors.[2003] We have record of a statue
of the Epizephyrian Locrian _kitharoidos_ Eunomos, set up in his
native town in honor of his Pythian victory over Ariston of Rhegion.
Timaios says that this monument showed a cicada seated on the singer’s
lyre.[2004] Whether such monuments at Delphi or elsewhere were regarded
as victor or votive in character, we can not say.[2005] Pausanias
mentions several statues of poets and musicians, mostly mythical, on
Mount Helikon, which were set up partly in consequence of victories
won there or elsewhere.[2006] Of these the statue of the Thracian
or Odrysian Thamyris was represented as a blind man holding a broken
lyre;[2007] that of Arion of Methymna as riding a dolphin;[2008] that
of Hesiod, seated, as holding a lute on his knees; and that of the
Thracian Orpheus with Telete at his side and round about beasts in
stone and bronze listening to his song. Of the statue of the Argive
Sakadas, Pausanias says that the sculptor, not understanding Pindar’s
poem on the victor, made the flutist no bigger than the flute.[2009]
The epigram on the statue of the Sikyonian flutist Bacchiadas,
mentioned by Athenæus as standing on Mount Helikon,[2010] was votive
in character. The inscribed base of the statue of the _kitharoidos_
Alkibios has been found on the Athenian Akropolis.[2011] Musical
contests are pictured on many imitation Panathenaic vases, and many
Greek reliefs seem to have been set up in honor of such victors. Among
the latter we might instance the one in the Louvre representing Apollo,
Artemis, and Leto,[2012] and another found in Sparta in 1885, which
represents Artemis pouring a libation before Apollo.[2013]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account