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I.—A Stone Tripod at Oxford

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 December 2013

Percy Gardner
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Extract

The tripod represented in Pl. XII. and in Fig. 1 is 26½ inches (m. 0·66) in height; the diameter is at the bottom 21½ inches (m. 0·54) and at the top 14 inches (m. 0·36). The material is limestone of a kind common in most parts of Greece, especially the Peloponnesus.

The tripod was presented to All Souls' College in 1771 by Anthony Lefroy. The stand bears an inscription recording the gift, which contains a curious phrase in which the tripod is spoken of as ‘aram tripodem olim matri deum in templo S. Corinthi consecratum.’ I know not what the S before Corinthi may stand for. But the important thing is that the monument comes from Corinth. This is again asserted in the lettering of a print of it published by Gori in the Numismata Lefroyana, and repeated in a Magazine called The Topographer (November, 1789, p. 514), where Gori writes ‘Trovato a Corinto.’ It may be doubted whether Lefroy had any solid reason for supposing that the tripod came from a temple of the Mother of the Gods. Such a temple did exist at Corinth on the slope of the Acropolis Hill, as we learn from Pausanias. But, so far as I know, no remains of that temple have been observed in modern times. It can scarcely be regarded as likely that Lefroy had any reason to suppose that the tripod came from the actual site of that temple: it is far more probable that the figures of women standing on lions were to him a sufficient proof that the monument came from the temple of the Mother of the Gods which is mentioned by Pausanias.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Hellenic Studies , Volume 16 , November 1896 , pp. 275 - 279
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies 1896

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References

page 276 note 1 ii. 4, 7.

page 276 note 2 Olympia, iii. p. 26.

page 277 note 1 In a private letter Dr. Treu informs me that he has now no doubt that the basis of the Olympian tripod was not continuous. He writes, ·Insbesondre scheint es mir sicher, dass der untere Ring sich, wie bei Ihrem Exemplar, auf drei Füsse stützte. Selbst die Höhe der Füisse ist durch die Linie gegeben, welche aussen in der Mitte des Ringes entlang läuft, und die nun erst ihre Erklärung findet.’

page 277 note 2 Earlier, they had been called snakes, whence the figure passed as one of the Eu-menides. The objects in the right hands end in a tuft: those in the left hands do not. Dr. Treu says that he did for a moment think of the lion's tail, l.c. p. 28. note.

page 278 note 1 Figured in Collignon, , Hist. Sculp. Gr. i. 123Google Scholar.

page 278 note 2 Athen. Mittheil. xvii. p. 41, pl. 7.

page 278 note 3 iv. 152.

page 278 note 4 iii. 18, 7.

page 278 note 5 Bull. de Corresp. hell. 1894, p. 180.

page 278 note 6 Pottier, , Vases Antiques de terre cuite, p. 168Google Scholar, no. 396a. Mr. J. L. Myres, to whom I owe this reference, informs me that the figures are draped, and hold their hands to their breasts in the conventional pose.

page 278 note 7 Pl cxxxiv. 1: one winged figure and two plain supports.

page 278 note 8 E.g. Richter, pl. cxxxiv, 2.

page 279 note 1 Perrot et Chipiez, i. p. 713.

page 279 note 2 Ibid. ii. pp. 643, 647 etc. Cf. the wellknown coins of Tarsus, of which the type is a deity standing on a horned lion.

page 279 note 3 Martha, , Ľart Etusque, p. 475Google Scholar.