Objects and Sites Flashcards
Is the Acropolis panhalenic?
No, it’s an Athenian site
What is the entrance to the Acropolis called?
The Propylaia
What are the two sanctuaries to Asclepius?
The sanctuary on Kos
And the Asclepieion at Epidarus
The sanctuary on Kos was a medical school for Physicians but also a hospital and therapeutic centre.
The Asclepieion at Epidaurus was a centre for for pilgrims all over Greece. It had a huge range of facilities including a stadium!
What was the Abaton within the temples of Asclepius.
This was a ‘dream chamber’ where they would go to sleep in the hope that when they awoke they were healed or had been told how to heal in a dream.
Where was the tree oracle?
Dodona, priests would interpret the rustling of the trees as an awnser to a question.
It became a panhelenic site as it featured in homers works such as the Odyssey.
What was the earliest building in Eleusis?
The Telesterion is the earliest identifiable building and was
used as the Great hall of initiation.
What benefit did the Eleusinion mysteries offer?
The Great mysteries offered initiates a relationship to Kore, who would rule over them in the underworld. (ensuring a better life here)
In life there were also benefits, as they were taught about agriculture, (as Demeter was the god of this)
Was the cult at Eleusis panhellenic?
Yes, it was also very inclusive, the only requirement was a small sum of money to join and to not have committed a bad crime.
Who was put to trial for supposedly exposing the secret process of the mysteries?
Alcibiades. It happened at a party where he got too drunk.
How did the mysteries at Eleusis come about according to the ‘hymn to demeter’
The tale states that Demeter taught cultivation to the Eleusinian prince ‘Triptolemus’, who spread this wisdom to mankind.
What are some key points about the ‘Kylix depicting Aegeus’s consultation’
A ‘Kylix’ is a bowl thing, a drinking cup that was used in formal occasions.
It depicts a scene in which the Pythia (oracle) is being consulted.
Note the pillar which shows us that this is inside (the temple of Apollo
in Delphi) also note the dorric frieze, same as the temple!!!
Also note the laurel leaves in her hand, which we know she would have consumed to enhance the effects (also a symbol of Apollo)
The black background suggests it is very dark in the room, secretive!!
The man consulting the oracle is ‘Aegeus’, a king of Athens
Finally we see also see how private and personal it is by the fact that there are only two people
What are the three key monuments on the sacred way (not treasuries)
The ‘serpent column’
This was a 9ft tall column, it was built to commemorate the Greek city states who fought and defeated the Persian Empire.
The ‘charioteer’
This was a lifesize charioteer statue, a votive offering in thanks to the Apollo from Polyzalus (a tyrant)for helping him win a chariot race.
The ‘sphinx of Naxos’
This is a 2 metre tall statue of a sphinx made of marble. It was built as a votive offering to Apollo
What were the two key treasuries at Delphi?
The Athenian treasury (Doric)
It was built as a ‘thank you’ to Apollo for Athenian victory at the battle of Marathon although its more likely a political flex, a staple of Athenian
wealth and victory for everyone that visited the site to see.
The Siphnian treasury (Ionic)
Fully marble, the appearance and location was to promote the Siphnos island which was remote, very wealthy - and very far from the site. For this reason they felt they should make an impression.
Why is the delphi site significant according to myth?
The tale goes that Zeus released two eagles, sending one east and one west. According to the tale they met at Delphi.
Therefore the site was deemed the ‘belly button’ of the earth.
How did the oracle at delpi come about acording to tale?
It tells of a goat herder who noticed a goat had fallen into a crack in the earth and was acting strangely.
Upon entering this crack he was filled with ‘divine presence’ and could see the past and future. Excited he shared this with nearby villagers. A shrine was set up here where people began worshipping.
Many experienced convulsions and trances -, though some disappeared. After several male deaths the villagers chose a young woman who would speak on the behalf of the gods.
The Pythia (the name for the female oracle person) would be a young pure virgin from Delphi, however after an incident where one of the Pythia is taken and violated they changed this to an elderly woman (around 50)
The Pythia would spend 9 days a year (once a month except 3 winter ones) eating laurel leaves and inhaling the fumes, people from all over the ancient world would come for prophecy and divine guidance, imagine the line!!!
The effects of this treatment however was terrible, they were in constant seizure and under the harsh influence of intense hallucinogens. This was of course interpreted as the power and voice of Apollo. They would often have to retire or die.
How many times a year would the Delphi oracle operate?
The Pythia would spend 9 days a year (once a month except 3 winter ones when dionysis presided over the site) eating laurel leaves and inhaling the fumes, people from all over the ancient world would come for prophecy and divine guidance, imagine the line!!!
What gods preside over Delphi?
Apollo for 9 months of the year (also the months the Oracle operates once a month)
And Dionysis for three winter months.
What is the temple to Apollo (architecturally)
It is a ‘doric hexastyle peripteral temple’
Dorric is simply the style (Doric frieze, doric columns etc.)
Hexastyle means there are 6 collums on the front of the temple.
Peripteral means that the temple is surrounded by columns the whole way round.
