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45-461: The Serpentine Column has one of the longest literary histories of any object surviving from Greek and Roman antiquity. Together with its original golden tripod and cauldron (both long missing), it constituted a trophy , or offering reminding of a military victory, dedicated to Apollo at Delphi . This offering was made in the spring of 478 BC, several months after the defeat of the Persian army in

90-529: A bronze serpent with three heads (or three serpents intertwined), with a list of the states that had taken part in the war inscribed on the coils of the serpent. The golden bowl was carried off by the Phocians during the Third Sacred War (356–346 BC); the stand was removed by the emperor Constantine to Constantinople in 324, where in modern Istanbul it still can be seen in the hippodrome ,

135-468: A general rate; for private individuals cannot be expected to bear the burden of such a handsome present." Odyssey , 13.10–15 [tr. S. Butler] They also were used as dedicatory offerings to the deities, and in the dramatic contests at the Dionysia the victorious choregus (a wealthy citizen who bore the expense of equipping and training the chorus) received a crown and a tripod. He would either dedicate

180-609: A land force in Thrace , under the command of general Mardonius . He retook Athens in the spring of 479 BC and the war continued. On learning that a Spartan force was coming from the Peloponnese , Mardonius set fire to Athens again and removed his force to a strategic position in Boeotia , north of the river Asopus . The Greeks under the leadership of Pausanias , Regent of Sparta, drew up on high ground in defensive positions south of

225-431: A simple support for a cooking vessel placed over a fire. As a seat or stand, the tripod is the most stable furniture construction for uneven ground, hence its use is universal and ancient. Tripods had two types and several functions. Firstly, some oracles sat on large tripods to pronounce. Far more common were the tripods and bowls in which smaller sacrifices were burnt. These are particularly associated with Apollo and

270-573: A tithe for the god of Delphi. From this was made and dedicated that tripod which rests upon the bronze three-headed serpent, nearest to the altar... 41°00′20.33″N 28°58′30.43″E  /  41.0056472°N 28.9751194°E  / 41.0056472; 28.9751194 Sacrificial tripod A sacrificial tripod , whose name comes from the Greek meaning "three-footed", is a three-legged piece of religious furniture used in offerings and other ritual procedures. This ritual role derives from its use as

315-535: Is a simple oversight by a copyist. Although the cities inscribed on the column exclude other cities mentioned by Herodotus as participating in the war, it is clear that the memorial relates to the Great Persian War as a whole, not just the battle of Plataea. Coils 12 and 13 have been scarred and dented by sabre cuts, which made the inscriptions difficult to decipher. The dedication, said by Diodorus to have been composed by Simonides, has not been found. One of

360-707: Is described by Edward Gibbon , citing the testimony of the Byzantine historians Zosimus , Eusebius , Socrates , and Sozomenus . When the Persians invaded Greece under Xerxes in 480 BC, they were initially victorious at the Battle of Thermopylae , and the Battle of Artemisium in August. The Greeks defeated the Persian navy at the Battle of Salamis in September. After Salamis, Xerxes withdrew from Greece, but left

405-512: Is now placed on them. In the museum there is a distinctive specimen: on a fine, bronze tripod standing on cast legs, lay a large globular cauldron. On its lip there are developed heads of griffins and lions, as well as winged female figures, possibly sirens. These creatures originate from the Middle East, whereas the technique of casting followed by hammering also alludes to oriental workshops. In reference to Ancient Greek tripod cauldrons, after

450-606: The Atmeydanı , although in damaged condition: the heads of the serpents have disappeared, however one is now on display at the nearby Istanbul Archaeology Museums. The inscription, however, has been restored almost entirely. Such tripods usually had three ears (rings which served as handles) and frequently had a central upright as support in addition to the three legs. Tripods were frequently mentioned by Homer as prizes in athletic games and as complimentary gifts; in later times, highly decorated and bearing inscriptions, they served

495-649: The Battle of Plataea (August 479 BC) by those Greek city-states in alliance against the Persian invasion of mainland Greece , during the Greco-Persian Wars . Among the writers who allude to the Column in the ancient literature are Herodotus , Thucydides , pseudo- Demosthenes , Diodorus Siculus , Pausanias the traveller, Cornelius Nepos and Plutarch . The removal of the column by the Emperor Constantine to his new capital, Constantinople ,

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540-575: The Delphic oracle in ancient Greece . These were also given to temples as votive offerings , awarded as prizes in contests associated with religious festivals, and just given as gifts between individuals. The most famous tripod of ancient Greece was the Delphic Tripod on which the Pythian priestess took her seat to deliver the oracles of the deity. The seat was formed by a circular slab on

585-610: The Third Sacred War , an act of extreme sacrilege, which resulted in the expulsion of Phocians from the Amphictyonic league, by Philip II of Macedon , and to the imposition on them of a fine of 400 talents. Even at the time of Pausanias’ visit, the Sacred Way, leading up to the temple of Apollo , was lined on both sides with monuments, statues and treasuries commemorating important events in Greek History. "Closest to

630-455: The Turkish conquest of Constantinople, the jaw of one of the three serpent heads was documented missing. The accepted version states that Mehmed II shattered it upon entering the city in triumph as its conqueror. Edward Gibbon recounts a version of this event: The conqueror gazed in satisfaction and wonder on the strange though splendid appearance of the domes and palaces, so dissimilar from

675-670: The 8th century most increased in both size and amount of detail, becoming more decorative, and were used almost exclusively as dedication to the gods in sanctuaries. Tripod pottery has been part of the archaeological assemblage in China since the earliest Neolithic cultures of Cishan and Peiligang in the 7th and 8th millennium BC. Sacrificial tripods were also a common type of ritual bronze , also sometimes appearing in ceramic form. They are often referred to as " dings " and usually have three legs, but some have four legs. The Chinese use sacrificial tripods in modern times, such as in 2005, when

720-705: The Geometric period, the tripods were fastened to the cauldrons they supported. In the Museum of Delphi there are fragments of such tripods, most distinctive of which is the one with a ring-shaped handle. Another well-known tripod in Delphi was the Plataean Tripod ; it was made from a tenth part of the spoils taken from the Persian army after the Battle of Plataea . This consisted of a golden basin, supported by

765-612: The Persians and set up the offering. Pseudo- Demosthenes gives a significantly different account of the train of events. In a speech, "Against Neaira", the orator recalls the conduct of Pausanias after the defeat of the Persians in the battle of Plataea over the Serpentine column: "Pausanias, King of the Lacedaemonians, caused a diptych to be inscribed on the tripod at Delphi, [which those Greeks, who had fought as allies in

810-738: The Persians and the Helots of Sparta to stage a rebellion, and set himself up as Tyrant . Although his treachery was, at first, disbelieved in Sparta, it was eventually confirmed by the Ephors of Sparta through his personal slave, and he was killed. Thucydides describes the Spartan suspicion that Pausanias was at the point of committing treason and going over to the Persians, citing the Serpentine column affair as evidence. Pausanias provided other causes for suspicion in his disregard of laws, his admiration of

855-477: The Persians, and his dissatisfaction with the status-quo. Upon examination of the rest of his behaviour, the Spartans recalled that when the tripod at Delphi was first erected, Pausanias had thought fit, of his own accord, to have a diptych engraved upon it with the inscription: The Lacedaemonians , at once, removed the diptych from the tripod and engraved the names of the cities, who had joined together against

900-474: The Plataeans obtained leave to bring a suit, on behalf of the allies, against the Lacedaemonians for 1,000 talents at the Amphictyonic council; and they compelled the Lacedaemonians to erase the inscription and inscribe the names of those cities which had shared in the work". The orator goes on to argue that this action rankled the Lacedaemonians and was a strong motive, 50 years later, in their influencing

945-516: The Pythia sat in order to pronounce her oracles. Apollo tried to prevent him and this resulted in a fight between the god and the hero. Finally, Zeus had to intervene in order to end this quarrel. The mytheme of Heracles contesting with Apollo for the tripod appears in vase-paintings older than the oldest written literature. The oracle originally may have been related to the primal deity, the Earth. In

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990-606: The Theban night attack on Plataea in 431 BC, which was the first action in the Peloponnesian war described in Thucydides book 2. Diodorus Siculus , writing in the 1st century BC, says that a couplet composed by the poet Simonides , replaced Pausanias’ haughty personal dedication: The saviours of Greece at large dedicated this, having delivered the cities from wretched servitude. In the second century AD, Pausanias ,

1035-515: The altar", as Herodotus says, was the Serpentine column, the base of which has been found, as has the base of the altar, which was dedicated by the Chians. Above these loomed the great bronze statue of Apollo, and, on the architrave of the temple, shields commemorating a Greek victory over the Gauls . Pausanias also mentions the offering to Zeus at Olympia , [paragraph above] and listed the names of

1080-611: The battle of Plataea and in the naval engagement at Salamis had together made from the spoils taken from the Barbarians and had set up in honour of Apollo as a memorial to their bravery], as follows: 'Pausanias, commander-in-chief of the Greeks, when he had destroyed the army of the Medes dedicated this memorial to Phoebus (Apollo)', as if the work and the offering were his alone, and not from the allies together. The Greeks were enraged and

1125-442: The battle, and then records the decision of the Greek cities to dedicate an offering to Apollo at Delphi: Having brought all the loot together, they set apart a tithe for the god of Delphi. From this was made and dedicated that tripod which rests upon the bronze three-headed serpent, nearest to the altar. The bronze column consisting of three intertwined snakes, was intended to commemorate the 31 Greek city-states that participated in

1170-467: The battle. A golden tripod topped the column, made by Persian weapons, and the whole monument was dedicated to the god Apollo and was placed next to the altar of Apollo at Delphi. In the same chapter, Herodotus records that dedications were also made to Zeus at Olympia and to Poseidon at the Isthmus . It is significant that precedence was given to Apollo at Delphi , despite the ambiguities in

1215-580: The cities engraved upon it. Constantine the Great moved the Serpent Column to Constantinople to decorate the spina (central line) of the Hippodrome of Constantinople , where it still stands today. According to W. W. How and J. Wells, it was converted into a triple-mouthed fountain by a later Emperor, and was seen and described by travellers from 1422 onwards. Many Ottoman miniatures show

1260-541: The end of the 17th century, all three of the serpent heads were destroyed. Silahdar Findiklili Mehmed Aga relates in Nusretname ("The Book of Victories") that the heads simply fell off on the night of October 20, 1700. The upper jaw of one of the heads is on display at the Istanbul Archaeology Museum . Marcus N. Tod says the level of the ground was raised in 1630, and the inscribed portion of

1305-543: The invasion of Greece to an end. The Persian Empire would never again launch an attack on mainland Greece. Following these victories, Athens established itself as the head of the Delian League , reaching its height under the leadership of Pericles . After describing the Greek victory at Plataea, in 479 BC, Herodotus recounts the collection of rich spoils, by the Helots , (the Spartan underclass), who had taken part in

1350-422: The jaw to show their strength. The column is quite extensively described along with a dissertation about its history by Petrus Gyllius , who visited Constantinople in 1550. No mention about any damage of the column. The column is then described by Pietro Della Valle , who visited Constantinople in 1614. Again no mention about damages, but he reports the folkloristic tale about the column as a talisman. Later, at

1395-470: The monument was then hidden. The base of the column was excavated in 1855, under the supervision of Charles Thomas Newton . Fifteen of the serpents’ coils had been hidden and the inscription, beginning at the 13th coil and ending at the 3rd was revealed. It was deciphered by C. Frick in 1856, by Ernst Fabricius in 1886 and by others since. The 13th coil carries the Laconic inscription: "Those who fought

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1440-487: The number of soldiers and/or money they had contributed to the force that had assembled at Plataea. Herodotus adds the Styreans, Mantineans, Crotoniats, Cephalonians, Lemnians, and Seriphians. συμφορήσαντες δὲ τὰ χρήματα καὶ δεκάτην ἐξελόντες τῷ ἐν Δελφοῖσι θεῷ, ἀπ᾽ ἧς ὁ τρίπους ὁ χρύσεος ἀνετέθη ὁ ἐπὶ τοῦ τρικαρήνου ὄφιος τοῦ χαλκέου ἐπεστεὼς ἄγχιστα τοῦ βωμοῦ... Having brought all the loot together, they set apart

1485-475: The responses of the Delphic oracle about the outcome of the invasion, and a suspicion that Delphi was sympathetic to the Persians. Pausanias, full of arrogance over his victory at Plataea and the subsequent ease with which he punished the Theban leaders for their support of the Persians, ordered a dedication on the column ascribing victory to himself alone. Later, it was discovered he had been in negotiations with

1530-452: The river Asopus and above the plain of Plataea. After days of skirmishing and changes of position on the Greek side, Mardonius launched a full attack. The result of the complex battle was complete victory for the Spartans, under the leadership of Pausanias. Mardonius was killed and the Persians fled in confusion led by Artabazus , the Persian second in command. The Greek victories at Plataea and contemporaneous naval battle at Mycale brought

1575-465: The same purpose. They appear also to be precious gifts for the guests, as in the case of the Phaeakes, who offered a cauldron and tripod to Odysseus. "Our guest has already packed up the clothes, wrought gold, and other valuables which you have brought for his acceptance; let us now, therefore, present him further, each one of us, with a large tripod and a cauldron. We will recoup ourselves by the levy of

1620-502: The serpent heads survives in the Museum of Antiquities, Istanbul . This head has its under-jaw missing, in line with the story of Mehmet II striking it off. In 2015 a bronze cast copy of the serpent column was made and set up in the Archaeological Site of Delphi . On the coils of the column, an inscription was written that mentioned the Greek city states that had fought the war. They are more or less arranged according to

1665-525: The serpent heads were intact in the early decades following the Turkish conquest of the city. Ahmed Bican , from Gallipoli , gave a short description of the Column in his Dürr-i Meknûn , written around the time of the Fall of Constantinople . He states that it is a hollow bronze of intertwined snakes, three-headed, a talisman for the citizens against snake bites. Between fifty and one hundred years after

1710-483: The style of Oriental architecture. In the hippodrome, his eye was attracted by the twisted column of the three serpents, and, as a trial of his strength, he shattered with his iron mace or battleaxe the under-jaw of one of these monsters, which in the eyes of the Turks were the idols or talismans of the city. Other Ottoman writers attributed the lost jaw to Selim II , Suleiman II or Murad IV , all said to have struck off

1755-538: The top of the Lysicrates monument, has been rendered variously by scholars since the 18th century. Martin L. West writes that the Pythia at Delphi shows many traits of shamanistic practices, likely inherited or influenced from Central Asian practices. He cites her sitting in a cauldron on a tripod, while making her prophecies, her being in an ecstatic trance state, similar to shamans, and her utterings, unintelligible. According to Herodotus (The Histories, I.144),

1800-417: The top of the tripod, on which a branch of laurel was deposited when it was unoccupied by the priestess. In this sense, by classical times the tripod was sacred to Apollo . According to the myth, Heracles went to the oracle of Delphi in order to ask what to do in order to be expiated from the murder of Iphitos . The oracle did not want to give him an omen. The enraged hero then grabbed the tripod on which

1845-462: The travel writer, noticed the monument at Delphi: "The Greeks together, from the spoils taken at the battle of Plataea, dedicated a gold tripod set on a bronze serpent. The bronze part of the offering was preserved there, even at my time, but the Phocian leaders did not leave the gold in place in the same way." The Phocian General Philomelus took the treasures in 354 BC to pay for mercenaries during

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1890-534: The tripod to some deity or set it upon the top of a marble structure erected in the form of a small circular temple in a street in Athens , called the street of tripods, from the large number of memorials of this kind. One of these, the Choragic Monument of Lysicrates , erected by him to commemorate his victory in a dramatic contest in 335 BC, still stands. The form of the victory tripod, now missing from

1935-483: The tripods were frequently decorated with figural protomes , in the shape of griffins , sphinxes and other fantastic creatures. Early sacrificial vessels were mostly in pottery, some made as tripods but others with a continuous round base below the bowl, swelling as it goes down. At the end of the Geometric period an innovation is introduced: the tripods are detached from the large bronze cauldron ( lebes ), which

1980-480: The victory tripods were not to be taken from the temple sanctuary precinct, but left there as dedications. Excavations at early sanctuaries, especially Olympia , yielded many hundreds of tripod-bowl vessels, mostly in bronze , deposited as votives . These had a shallow bowl with two handles raised high on three legs; in later versions the stand and bowl were different pieces. During the Orientalising period ,

2025-522: The war", followed on coils 12 to 3 by the names of 31 city states. This contains eight cities not named in Herodotus, book 9.28 as being present at the battle of Plataea, and excludes Pale , in Cephalonia , which Herodotus did include. In the aforementioned paragraph Pausanias lists the names on the offering to Zeus at Olympia, which exclude four cities inscribed on the Serpentine column. Perhaps this

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