These sacrifices are traces left by the most glorious period of the site, from the 9th century to the 5th century. There are quite a few bronzes among them: this alloy was quite rare in the 8th century, so it became a precious material, and it was presented in large quantities in Delphi in the form of figurines and ding.
These bronze statues date from the 9th century to the 8th century and were made by lost wax casting. The general process of this disappearing technology is: making a prototype with wax, making a mold on this basis, melting the wax, then casting the melted bronze, and finally breaking the mold to take out the finished product. In this process, the prototype and mold are disposable, so each finished product is unique. These figurines show that there was no image of God at that time, but they generally represented men, women and soldiers, of which the latter was the image of a person sitting in a chariot or immediately; Their shapes are very similar to those in painting materials.
Many sacrifices in the form of bronze tripod were also found (Petya usually sits on the tripod). At first, the tripod was used to place a small pot for cooking holy vegetables, which was very symbolic. Sometimes the tripod and the pot are presented together, and sometimes they are presented separately. Some small pots have handles (called "protozoa"), usually the faces of legendary creatures, such as the image of a Griffin. These legendary elements are an oriental image from Babylon, which was copied by Greek craftsmen in the wave of "Orientalization" at that time.
Other precious offerings stored include:
A small sculpture made of ivory shows an upright male god (Apollo? ), with a spear in one hand and the other hand on the head of his domesticated beast. This is also a portrait borrowed from the East. The size of this god is quite large, and there is a small circle around the base, with typical Greek decorations on it: the winding river (seventh century BC);
An image showing Odysseus stabbing cyclops Polyphemus in Ithaca;
An image of "Kouros" (plural form of boy "Kouroi"): a naked young man standing with his left foot slightly across;
Some wood carvings covered with gold (or ivory), including: Griffin (the head and wings of a raptor, the body of a lion); The Sphinx originated from eastern culture and was transformed into a female image by the Greeks. She has a woman's head, wings and a cat's body; People endowed her with the power of prophecy);
The remains of a full-size silver bull.
Later sacrifices (after the fifth century BC) described the body curves and costumes more delicately and truly. At the foot of the holy land, there is a path leading to the temple. On both sides of this narrow "God Road", there are some patchwork memorial buildings, which are mainly used to store offerings to god to express gratitude to him or to commemorate festive events.
From the 6th century to the 4th century, people built three kinds of medium-sized buildings:
1. Treasure;
2. prayer bar;
3. Sculpture Library.
treasure-house
Treasure house is a medium-sized building built on holy land. Their distribution is unplanned and built by the city-states themselves during the festival. As a "prayer hall", they store all kinds of sacrificial objects and works of art to celebrate the glory of the city-state. Treasure houses have been built in various holy places in Greece, and Delphi is the place where the treasure houses are most concentrated, with more than twenty. Many sacrifices stored in the treasure house have been lost, but the charm of the building itself is still very precious.
The earliest treasure houses, such as the Corinthian treasure house built by the tyrant Sepp Selous about 600 years ago, were all simple rooms. However, since the first 530 years, the foyer with two Ione or Taurik columns has become popular.
The most famous treasures are:
The treasure house of Fernos Island (about 525 BC) was built by the inhabitants of West Vernas Island. This is a real treasure chest building, and the decoration and sculpture in the Ionian style have been brought to the extreme: the eaves and walls are continuous, and a theme is carved on each facade. The most vivid one shows that the Olympians are sitting there discussing the fate of Troy, while the Greeks are fighting hard in front of them.
Delphi's Athens Treasure House:
The treasure house of Athens rose about 485 years ago, and it was carefully selected. It is located at the last corner of Shen Dao Road in front of the Temple, so it can be seen from the entrance of the Holy Land and the Temple. It covers an area of 6.5m× 9.5m and was built to commemorate the victory of the marathon. Its decoration consists of stalls on the Doric column, showing different story scenes in Greek mythology: the scene in front of it depicts the battle between Greeks and Amazon; The heroic deeds of theseus, the symbol of Athens, are painted on the left, because the latter is the legendary first king of Athens and the founder of the city. exist
On the right wall is the heroic deeds of Hercules, symbolizing the Peloponnesian people's resistance to barbarians; Finally, on the back wall, it depicts the story of the cow that Heracles brought back to Rougnon with great personality. This is the political motive of the building, which shows that the Athenians protected Greece from barbarians under the protection of Apollo. This motivation is close to the limit of the so-called "hybris" in Greek morality, that is, trying to surpass the status of mortals and challenge the gods.
The latest treasures are Thebes (about 370 BC) and Cyrene (350 BC-325 BC), so it can be concluded that this architectural trend lasted less than two centuries in Delphi.
Prayer column
Since the 4th century, perhaps in order to save space, another form of sacrifice has become popular, that is, prayer columns and columns. Columns (single or two) are used to hold sacrifices high to show their value, usually some bronze sculptures representing rulers.
The column of Naxos Island was built about 575 years ago and is one of the earliest monuments of this kind. It is very high, and its top is even close to the ground of the temple of Apollo. It is located at the foot of the building itself, which is the original area of the belief of Ketonius. In order to make it visible in every corner, it has a long column, a spectacular Ionian stigma and a two-meter-high sphinx ("The Sphinx of Naxos"). This beast may be guarding the tomb of Dionysus, the patron saint of Naxos. There is a small inscription on the pillar, which indicates that Naxos people may have the priority to consult the Oracle because of this sacrifice. The Dancer's Column is a work dating back to the first 370 years. It is decorated with acanthe and supports a novel top decoration: three young women support a tripod with symbols of Weng fallows and Delphi.
The pillars of Rhode Island, also known as "Sipos's Sun Chariot", were admired 325 to 300 years ago. This pillar supports a gold-plated Xu chariot, on which the sun god sits. This building faces the temple of Apollo.
Sculpture group
In the lower part of the holy land, on the left side of the entrance, there used to be a very magnificent memorial sculpture, which was later replaced by different themes in competitive cities. Now we can see two monuments symbolizing the beginning of this competition: the statue of Miltiades and the statue of Lysander, or the "Admiral Statue". The statue of Miltiades was donated by the Athenians to commemorate the marathon battle in which the Greeks defeated the Persians. It consists of thirteen sculptures by phidias, the designer and builder of the Parthenon. These sculptures show Athena, Apollo and Miltiades in the same scene, as well as ten victorious heroes and three archons of Athens. The statue of Lysander is next to the statue of Miltiades. It has a pedestal with a whole set of bronze sculptures on it, and 28 sculptures behind it show all the people who participated in the battle of the Egos River. In this naval battle, Lysander led the Spartan navy to defeat the sea power of Athens with fewer enemies and more. There are ten sculptures in front, showing the scene of "Son of Zeus". These figures are Castor and Pollux, Zeus, Apollo, themis and Poseidon, Lysander with garlands, an emissary and a flagship helmsman. The arrangement of these statues has very important political considerations, hoping to be higher than the monuments in Miltiades, and their purposes are similar. Because Lysander didn't want to be criticized as blasphemy, he put the gods first. In Miltiades's sculpture, they appeared in the same scene as mortals.
The center of the world
The ancient Greeks believed that if you want to know the important information of God, you should go to the Oracle Hall to listen. They believe that the gods will talk to people, show people the maze and the future, and communicating with them is an indispensable part of their daily life.