Delphi

Home > Fantasy > Delphi > Page 40
Delphi Page 40

by Michael Scott


  30. Lamprias: SEG 1.181; Jones 1971: 10. Homonoia: Syll3 843. In the late second century AD, citizens of Chaeronea would be made citizens of Delphi: Syll3 824. Plutarch’s Roman citizenship: Syll3 829A; Barrow 1967: 12. Traveling and education: Plutarch was asked when in Sardis for his advice on how to carry out public duties, for which he wrote a treatise on the precepts of government: Plut. Mor. 798A–825F; Barrow 1967: 132. Friends with Sosius: Plut. Vit. Thes.; Barrow 1967: 41. His brother’s son: Apul. Met. 1.2.

  31. First visit to Delphi: Barrow 1967: 30. Roles at Delphi: Barrow 1967: 31. See also Syll 3 829A (as epimelete supervising the erection of a statue in honor of the Emperor Hadrian). Procurator: Jones 1971: 33–34. Plutarch also held a series of offices in his home town of Chaeronea, and was a boeotarch for Boeotia: Barrow 1967: 13. Friendship with Nigrinus: Barrow 1967: 36–40, Jacquemin 1991a: 217. Portrait bust: Jacquemin 106; CID IV 151. There is also a surviving bust (on display at the museum at Delphi), which has been identified with Plutarch: Picard 1991: 135.

  32. See Mossman 1997, Pelling 2002.

  33. Plut. Mor. 384D. See Barrow 1967: 32.

  34. Plut. Mor. 384D–394C.

  35. Ibid., 394D–409D.

  36. Ibid.,. 409E–438E.

  37. Particularly in comparison to the claim of Juvenal that the oracle had fallen silent, and rival claims in other Roman literature: Juv. 6.555. Contrast Mart. 9.42 and Stat. Theb. 3.474.

  38. Ignorant guides: e.g., Plut. Mor. 386B, 400D. See Jacquemin 1999: 263–64; 269–70. Rhodopis: Plut. Mor. 401A. For confusion and discussion over the meaning of dedications, such as the frogs and water snakes of the Corinthians and Axes of Tenedus: Plut. Mor. 399F–400D.

  39. Memory at Delphi: Jacquemin 1991a: 218–20. Treatises on dedications: Jacquemin 1991a: 221–22. Corycian cave: Jacquemin 1984b, Jacquemin 1999: 270.

  40. Division of year between Apollo and Dionysus: Plut. Mor. 388E; Roux 1976: 175. Pythia: see Roux 1976: 171–73. The traditional laurel wreath prize for victors would be swapped, probably in the time of Hadrian, for a prize of apples (which were supposed to be a special kind of Delphic apple—obtained by mixing an apple and quince tree) to evoke Delphi’s Cretan ancestry: Perrot 2009.

  41. Another festival seems only to have been begun by the Hypatians in the second century AD, in honor of Neoptolemus at Delphi: Heliod. Aeth. 2.34; Pouilloux 1983: 274–76.

  42. Roux 1976: 206, Bommelaer 1991: 23.

  43. Theoxenia: Paus. 9.23.3. See the calendar in Bommelaer 1991: 29. For discussion of the Theoxenia: Hoyle 1967: 84. For the involvement of the worship of Neoptolemus as part of the Theoxenia: Downie 2004: 155. Worship of Dionysus: Plut. Mor. 365A; Hoyle 1967: 84–85, Roux 1976: 180.

  44. Thyades of Delphi and Athens: Plut. Mor. 249E; Hoyle 1967: 91–92, Roux 1976: 178. Herois: Roux 1976: 168–69. Charila: Plut. Mor. 293D–F; Hoyle 1967: 86–87, Roux 1976: 169–71.

  45. Septerion: Roux 1976: 166–68. Dispute over festivals: Bommelaer 1991: 30, 146. Plut. Mor. 417F–418D.

  46. Only one priestess: Plut. Mor. 414B. The banality of questions now asked of the oracle: Plut. Mor. 386C, 407D, 408C (whether to purchase a slave, about one’s job, whether to get married, go on a journey, risk a loan, etc.), see Parke and Wormell 1956a: 393–94. But, there seem to have been people, known as exegetai, on hand in the sanctuary whose role was to instruct those not familiar with the consultation or sacrificial procedure on how to do it (suggesting that people were coming to consult). And even at the end of the third century AD, jokes circulated in Athenaeus’s writings about how Delphians always had a sacrificial knife in their hands ready to perform ritual (at a price) at any moment: Ath. Deipnosophists 173D–E; Jacquemin 1991a: 221.

  47. The families: the Memmii, Babbii, and Gellii occupied key positions in the Delphic polis: Jacquemin 1991a: 217. Dramatis personae list, which includes members of the Memmii and Mestrii families: Inv. 3569 (unpublished); Weir 2004: 54.

  CHAPTER 11. FINAL GLORY?

  1. Letters from Hadrian: FD III 4 300; 301. See Flacelière 1971, Weir 2004: 168–73. Statue of Hadrian from Amphictyony: Syll3 829 A (CID IV 150). The city of Delphi’s statue: Syll3 829 B.

  2. Honors for Memmius: Vatin 1965: 65–73. Hadrian putting Prudens in charge: Syll3 830. Archon of city: See Syll3 836: Delphic honors for a Catillius Macer Nicaieus, whose inscription proclaims that Hadrian was archon in that year. Questions for oracle: Parke and Wormell 465; Anth. Pal. 14.102. This is despite the fact that some biting texts survive from this period complaining about the uselessness of oracles, e.g., Oenomaus of Gadara complaining about the oracle of Apollo at Clarus in Asia Minor: Parke and Wormell 1956a: 286. Statue for Hadrian: Syll3 835B.

  3. Jacquemin 252; Jacquemin 1991a: 229.

  4. Coins: Bommelaer 1991: 36. Coins with Corycian cave: Weir 2004: 104.

  5. For the series of Delphic coins with Antinous: Blum 1913, Roux 1976: 200, Jacquemin 1991a: 229. The cult statue: indeed the incredibly good condition of the statue on its discovery during the major excavation of Delphi at the end of the nineteenth century has prompted scholars to think the cult was not left to fail after the death of Hadrian in AD 138, but continued to be cared for (and thus function) for a long time afterward. See Picard 1991: 133.

  6. Columns for running track: Bommelaer 1991: 76. It’s uncertain whether new baths were also added to the gymnasium precinct in this period or slightly later: Bommelaer 1991: 73. Roman agora: Weir 2004: 95–96. One of the workshops in this area—a glass manufacturer—dates to the second and third centuries AD. Asclepieion: Bommelaer 1991: 233.

  7. Changes to tradition: CID IV 152; see Vatin 1965: 7–21, Jacquemin 1999: 275. For reorganization of the territory belonging to Delphi, see: Vatin 1965: 74–127, 157–95, Ferrary and Rousset 1998, Rousset 2002a: 231. For discussion of the damiourgoi, and the degree to which this constituted a new part of the civic system at Delphi: Vatin 1965: 232–40. Correspondence between Hadrian and Delphi: FD III 4 302, 303, 304, 305, 306, 307, 308. For the “peace of the universe” letter (FD III 4 307) see Flacelière 1971: 175.

  8. FD III 4 302 (CID IV 152), col. II.3–6. For Nero’s rearrangement, see the previous chapter and Jacquemin 1991a: 229.

  9. See Jacquemin 1991a: 230. The comparison between the Amphictyony and modern international organizations will be discussed in the conclusion.

  10. Aim of the Panhellenion: see Spawforth and Walker 1986: 104. Requirement for membership: Spawforth and Walker 1985: 81–82, Romeo 2002: 21, 31. Delphi original heart of Panhellenion: Romeo 2002: 24–25. Report of Senate: FD III 4 78 col II.1–6; Daux 1975: 355–58, Sanchez 2001: 434–35, Spawforth 2012: 252. Panhellenion at Athens: Spawforth and Walker 1985: 82–100.

  11. Syll3 835 A; Jacquemin 311.

  12. Coins: Bommelaer 1991: 36, Weir 2004: 173–75. Statue of Antoninus Pius: CID IV 161; Jacquemin 1999: 75.

  13. See Weir 2004: 113. The philosophical maxims of Delphi (“know thyself,” etc.) were visible at Delphi from the fifth century BC. But the earliest mention of the story in which the Seven Sages were said to have been responsible for inscribing the Delphic them onto the temple is in Diodorus Siculus, writing in the first century BC (Diod. Sic. 9.10.4). See also Dio Chrys. 72.12; Paus. 10.24.1. Once again, Delphi’s Roman world audience seems to be augmenting and rearticulating Delphi’s history and as a result its place and role within the Mediterranean world.

  14. Aulus Gellius: Aul. Gell. 12.5.1. For the full list of attested philosophers at Delphi during this period, see Weir 2004: 115–16. The city of Delphi erected a statue in honor of a sophist from Byblus (in Lebanon) at the end of the second century AD: FD III 3 244; Ephesus put up a statue of the Sophist Soterus circa AD 150: FD III 4 265; Hypata erected a statue of a Sophist at around the same time: CID IV 158; and a group of disciples erected a monument for T. Flavius Phoinix of Hypata during the second century AD: Jacquemin 471. Some statues from this period of individuals rendered in “philosopher-like” style, yet without identification as such through an inscribed base, we
re also found during the excavation of the site: Picard 1991: 135.

  15. E.g., Amphictyony honoring agonothetes with statues in the second century AD: Jacquemin 023, 027. Argos erected a statue in AD 176 to M. Aurelius Ptolemaius, a victorious poet, which they placed in their centuries’-old dedication, the Argive semicircle at the southeast corner of the Apollo sanctuary: FD III 1 89; Bommelaer 1991: 115. Nicomedia (in Bithynia in Asia Minor) erected a statue to one of its Pythian musical victors during the Antonine period: Jacquemin 375.

  16. Ancyra: Jacquemin 064. Myra: FD III 1 548. Sardis: Jacquemin 429, 430, 431.

  17. A well-known tradition in the Roman world was to make copies of classical Greek works of art in order to export them around the empire. This seems to have been going on at Delphi, too, in this period: some remains of casts (particularly heads) have been found at the site: Picard 1991: 131.

  18. Herodes Atticus: Graindor 1930. Building at Delphi: Weir 2004: 110–11. Stadium: Aupert 1979, Amandry 1981a: 720–21, Bommelaer 1991: 215–17. Statues of Herodes Atticus, his wife, and Polydeucion put up by the city of Delphi: FD III 3 66; 71; Jacquemin 188. Statues set up by Herodes Atticus and his family: Jacquemin 088, 89, 90, 91, 92, 95.

  19. Confirming independence of the sanctuary: FD III 4 313. Lengthy correspondence, e.g., FD III 4 328. For further discussion: Pouilloux 1971: 380.

  20. For general discussion of these burial areas: Maass 1997: 70–73. Underground crypt: Bommelaer 1991: 221. Sarcophagus: Zagdoun 1977: 107–32, Bommelaer 1991: 41, Picard 1991: 130.

  21. Spartan theopropos: FD III 1 215; Galen: Parke and Wormell 463; Parke and Wormell 1956a: 409.

  22. Lucian J. Conf. 12; J. Trag. 6, 28; Philopat. 5; Phal. 1, I–II, 2, 9. See Parke and Wormell 1956a: 286–87.

  23. Pausanias saw Antinous: Juul 2010: 15. Age: Habicht 1988: 12–13. His genre of writing: Habicht 1988: 2.

  24. On the debate around the nonsurvival of an original eleventh book: Juul 2010: 16.

  25. Indeed they decided to excavate in the same order as Pausanias recounted his visit to Delphi so that they could make the best use of the text in identifying the many monuments Pausanias described: Amandry 1992a: 75, Radet 1992: 144.

  26. Criticism of von Wilamovitz Moellendorff: Juul 2010: 17. Difficulties of using Pausanias for archaeology: see Lacroix 1992, Jacquemin 2001.

  27. Goal of Pausanias’s narrative: Habicht 1988, Elsner 2001: 18, Elsner 2004: 262, Hutton 2005b, Hutton 2005a. Pausanias’s focus: Daux 1936b: 179, Heer 1979: 288, Alcock 1996: 250. Nothing after 260 BC: Daux 1936b: 173, Habicht 1988: 23, 134–35, Weir 2004: 105. For discussion of the implications of his agenda for his description of different sites: Heer 1979: 280–300; Bommelaer 2001; Pretzler 2007: 8; Scott 2010: 229–33.

  28. Not read in antiquity: Habicht 1988: 1. See “it is indeed a blessing that what this loner achieved can still be read today”: Habicht 1988: 27. Spluttering Hellenism: Habicht 1988: 25.

  29. Stadium: Bommelaer 1991: 216–17. Sacred land: Paus. 10.37.5

  30. Response of Septimius: FD III 4 329; Pouilloux 1971: 380. Restoration of temple: FD III 4 269, 270, 271; Weir 2004: 93. Archaeological evidence for restoration of the temple at this time: Bommelaer 1991: 101, 181. They may also date to the period of Emperor Julian the Apostate well over a century later: Amandry 1989. See also Rousset 2002a: 280.

  31. M. Junius Mnaseas: FD III 1 553; Jacquemin 1991a: 218. Statues by Delphians of family members: Jacquemin 259, 260. Important officials: M. Aurelius Niciades (the last of the epimeletai known in the surviving records although the position certainly continued) Syll3 874B (also honored by the Amphictyony FD III 6 96), see Pouilloux 1980: 293. Tib. Claudius Callippianus (proconsul of Achaea): Jacquemin 160; and G. Publius Proculeianus: FD III 4 473. The proconsul of Asia would also be honored jointly by the Amphictyony and the city of Delphi in AD 225–50: Jacquemin 058.

  32. Statues of Leonticus: Jacquemin 244, 245, 246, 247, 248. See FD III 4 269–71. On Leonticus and his status, see: Vatin 1965: 143, 153–56. Roman agora: this is an area not yet fully published or understood, with a mix of Roman and early Christian period housing: Bommelaer 1991: 89, 236–37.

  33. Clement of Alexandria: Clem. Al. Protr. l.c.; Parke and Wormell 1956a: 288. Origen: Origen C. Cels. 3.25, 7.3. Indeed Porphery, writing in the third century AD, now credits Delphi with being the first oracle to sanction sacrifice using ox, pig, and sheep in the earliest days of Greek civilization, strengthening Delphi’s claim to historic and cultic significance: Parke and Wormell 536; Parke and Wormell 1956a: 364.

  34. Hypatians: Heliod. Aeth. 2.34; Pouilloux 1983: 274–76, Weir 2004: 59. Expansion of Pythian games: for the full list of new games, see Weir 2004: 179–80. Wide variations in the games at different places, e.g., the Pythian festival at Perinthus copied Delphi in having no cash prizes, but the games at Ancyra made financial awards to its victors: Weir 2004: 176. Expansion not known at Delphi: Weir 2004: 176.

  35. Publicity through the minting of coins in host cities: Weir 2004: 194. Wider change in emperor worship: Mitchell 1990, Mitchell 1993: 221, Weir 2004: 177. Pythian festival at Thessalonike: Weir 2004: 198. For a description of the atmosphere in the mid-to late second century AD at the games: Weir 2004: 124–29. Decline in numbers AD 217–59: Weir 2004: 130.

  36. Rise of Apollo Helios: Weir 2004: 89, 210. “Third century crisis” for the empire, see Mennen 2011.

  37. Gordian III: FD III 4 274. Gallienus: Jacquemin 168. Valerian: Jacquemin 204. Gallienus seems to have engaged in correspondence with the sanctuary (although only fragments of the inscribed letter survived (to do with Pythian games): Vatin 1965: 250. Claudius Gothicus: Jacquemin 167. Carus: Jacquemin 153, Syll3 897. This statue base was seen by Cyriac of Ancona in the fifteenth century; Jannoray 1946: 259–61.

  38. Eastern baths: Bommelaer 1991: 196. Sinope: Jacquemin 440. Mercenaries: Jacquemin 472.

  39. Last dual Amphictyonic and Delphic statue: Jacquemin 1991a: 231. Last Amphictyonic statue of Philiscus: Jacquemin 051; FD III 4 273. Last known record: FD III 2 161; Jacquemin 1991a: 231, Jacquemin 1999: 79. Debate over ability to act: see Daux 1975, Weir 2004: 59.

  40. Claudius: Syll3 801 A (Jacquemin 157); Pharsalians: Jacquemin 389. See Jacquemin 1999: 230. Athenian treasury: FD III 2 142; Bousquet 1942–43: 124–26, Weir 2004: 90. For a wider assessment of this period of Roman history: Mitchell 2007.

  41. Meetings of damiourgoi: Weir 2004: 54. Statues of philosophers: Picard 1991: 138.

  42. For the wider history of this period, see Harries 2012.

  43. Last major building project: Bousquet 1952c: 660. Inscription from AD 319: SEG 12.266; Weir 2004: 54. Menogenes’ role in Athens: Bousquet 1952c: 653–57. This donation is accepted officially by the damiourgoi; the Amphictyony are not even mentioned: Bousquet 1952c: 657, Ginouvés 1955. Donation used for: Bousquet 1952c: 660, Bommelaer 1991: 196. It is perhaps at this time (or slightly later) that the stoa and terrace of Attalus is completely reconstructed so as to serve as a massive cistern for the baths: Bommelaer 1991: 191–92, Etienne 1996: 183.

  44. Vatin 1962: 229. The remains of the serpent column from Delphi still stand today in the middle of Constantine’s hippodrome in Istanbul, flanked by obelisks taken from Egypt, one in the fourth century AD and one in the tenth century AD. One of the golden serpent heads from the Plataean column is on display in the Istanbul Archaeology Museum. Constantine may have chosen this monument in particular because of its ongoing memorialization of the clash between East and West: Jung 2006: 378–81, Spawforth 2012: 273.

  45. Syll3 903A; Syll3 903B.

  46. Roman agora: Bommelaer 1991: 89. The stylobate of the north portico is composed entirely of reused material: Weir 2004: 94. Place for Imperial statues: Weir 2004: 94.

  47. Dalmatius: Jacquemin 165. Hadrian: Jacquemin 169.

  48. Statue for Flavius Constantius: Vatin 1962: 232–35. Reuse of base: Jacquemin 1999: 230.

  49. See Freeman 2009: 215.

  50. Reassurance of Delphic cult liberty, following comp
laint received: Vatin 1965: 253–64, Pouilloux 1980: 294.

  51. Euseb. Praep. Evang. 5,16; Parke and Wormell 1956a: 287.

  52. Parke and Wormell 475; Barrow 1967: 36.

  53. See Prudent. Apotheosis 438; Parke and Wormell 518; Parke and Wormell 1956a: 288–89.

  54. For Julian’s defense of Delphi: Julian Or. 6.188a; Gal. 198c. The irony is that not a single inscription from Delphi survives praising Julian: Vatin 1962: 235. Julian’s inquiry of the oracle: Parke and Wormell 1956a: 290. The last response: Parke and Wormell 476. Consultation not at Delphi but Daphne: Vatin 1962: 236–37.

  55. Amandry and Hansen 2010: 145–47.

  56. Jacquemin 203; Jacquemin 1999: 79.

  57. Meritt 1947, Vatin 1962: 240–41.

  58. Vatin 1962: 240.

  59. Ibid., 241.

  CHAPTER 12. THE JOURNEY CONTINUES

  1. Claud. 4.2.5; IV Cons. Hon. 144 (AD 398); Parke and Wormell 1956a: 290. The city was well-known enough to catch the attention of the Emperor Theodosius II in 424 AD: Cod. Theod. 15.5.4; Vatin 1962: 229. For a discussion of the image of Delphi in Christian texts: Déroche 1986: 153–59. Discussion of slow absorption of pagan beliefs, see Spieser 1976.

  2. Gymnasium: Pentazos 1992a. Habitation around Apollo sanctuary: Déroche 1986: 143–45. Perimeter of Apollo sanctuary: in particular the buildings to the south of the Apollo sanctuary employed parts of the Sicyonian treasury in their masonry. The number of baths is also high, perhaps due to the ease of accessing water sources at the site: Déroche 1986: 143–45, Déroche 1996: 184–86.

  3. Redevelopment of northern sector of Apollo sanctuary: Laurent 1899: 271, Bommelaer 1991: 101, Déroche 1996: 183. Development of Apollo sanctuary into commercial center: Bommelaer 1991: 92. For the development of habitation around the south of the Apollo sanctuary: Bommelaer 1991: 237, Maass 1997: 74–75. For the Roman agora: Daux 1965: 1049, Amandry 1981a: 724. Sacred way: Déroche 1986: 130–37, Picard 1991: 192. And indeed the name “sacred way” has no ancient precedent at all. It was probably constructed in order to allow access for wagons to the heart of the site: Déroche 1996: 183.

 

‹ Prev