Transcript the theatre and temple of apollo in mountainous country at delphi

THE THEATRE AND TEMPLE
OF APOLLOIN MOUNTAINOUS
COUNTRY AT DELPHI
INTRODUCTION
Delphi is both an archaelogical and modern town in Greece on the
South-western spur of Mount Parnassus. At the foot of mount
Parnassus is the Pan-hellenic sanctuary. Hellenic myths have it that
the site of the sanctuary, anciently known as Krissa, was regarded as
being sacred to mother earth. It was thus guarded by a god in the
form of aserpent python who dwelled in a gorge (valley) at the site.
Apollo fought the serpent python god and killed it. His victory over
python solidified him as Delphi’s lord. The sanctuary thus became
Apollo’s.
The cult of Apollo, established around the 8th century B.C
accompanied the dvelopment of the sanctuary. First stone temples of
Apollo were built towards the end of the 7th century B.C
THE TEMPLE OF APOLLO
The imposing ruins of the Temple of Apollo are one of the main
structures in the sanctuary. The temple was built three times. It was
first built around the 7th century B.C in stone by two legendary
architects; Trophonios and Agamedes aided by Apollo himself. It
was then destroyed by a fire in 548 B.C. The existence of this
temple is actually mythical. The myth about its existence survived in
plays such as staged during Pythian events.
A second temple came up as a reconstruction of the first. Its
construction, completed around 510 B.C was mainly funded by an
Athenian family, the Alkamaenoid family hence the temples name
Tempe of Alkmeonidae.It was stone built and partially clad in
marble ( the upper facades of the columns were clad in marble). This
temple was destroyed by an earthquake in 373 B.C.
Again a third temple was constructed with a similar
plan and dimensions as its predecessors. It construction
was accomplished by three Corinthian architects;
Xenodoros, Sphintharos and Agathon. It was
completely constructed by 320 B.C. This temple
survived to 390 A.D when the christian emperor,
Theodosius I of the Byzantine empire destroyed it and
most of the statues and works of art around the
sanctuary in an attempt to eliminate paganism.
The ruins remaining now of a peripteral Doric building
are those of the third/last temple.
THE THEATRE OF APOLLO
The ancient theatre of Apollo was built further up
the slope from the temple, giving spectators a
view of the entire sanctuary and the valley below.
It was originally built in 4th century B.C but was
remodeled on several occasions. Its 35 rows could
sit 5000 spectators.
The theatre is where formal gatherings of the
Hellenic people, theatrical as well as musical
contests of the Pythian games took place.
ARCHITECTS
• As already pointed above, a number of architects took part in the
construction of the sanctuary of Apollo i.e the Theatre and Temple
of Apollo. However research has not revealed any substantially clear
biographies for each of the architects. This is owing to the fact that
the existence of the temples was majorly realized through
reconstruction of the past from the ruins of the temples and other
materials like statues found on the site of the sanctuary. Moreover
some of the architects are actually mythical characters and the only
information available about them is what the myths had regarding
them.
• Atmost; Xenodoros, Sphintharos and Agathon are known to be
Corinthian architects. On the other hand Hellenic myths had it that
the two legendary architects , Agamedes and Trophonios arrived at
Kirrha, the port of Delphi accompanied by the god Apollo in the
guise of a dolphin.
ARCHITECTURE
A.PROJECTS UNDERTAKEN
The architects saw to the construction, reconstruction and restoration
activities in the sanctuary. In any case, they supervised: the selection of the
stone to be used;managed its extraction;supervised its cutting and shaping
in the quarry ;oversaw the final carving of the stones by master stone
masons. They also supervised the erection of any structure, sculpturing of
the structures by professional sculptors ( they curved metopes and
pediments of temples) and painting.
B. DESIGN STYLE AND ESSENCE
In the construction of the temple, a Greek architectural order known as the
Doric style mainly characterized by columns (vertical beams or posts ) was
adopted. The temple had fifteen columns on the flanks and six columns at
the back and front.
This style regulated shapes and proportions and had well-speculated rules
regarding the positioning of architectural sculptures apart from
accomodating aesthetic values.
For an instance, the temples were built on a crepidoma so that the effects of
the bright Greece sunlight could be clearly viewed on its surfaces from ant
angle.
Interiorly, the division of the temple according to the Doric style favoured
its purpose as a site of deity worship and prophecy whereby an uper level
of its two levels was the residence for Apollo and a lower level where
Pythia (an oracle ) resided.
These factors are basically the most favourable and critcal for overall
awesome apperance and effective perfomance especially of a cult temple.
On the other hand, the Apollo theatre was constructed in an open air style
which was also a cost effective one because the theatre was built as an
enhancement of a naturally occuring sloping site.Therefore the style cut on
the cost of constructing an artificial slope , apart from amaking use of
natural lighting and ventilation. It position was such that the spectators had
a clear view of the spectacular temple and the valley below it.
We can therefore conclude that the sanctuary o Apollo
had a refinement of form and a stylistic bravado that
was tailored to accommodate the deity Apollo, the
rich cultural worship surrounding him as well as
traditional entertaintment.
REFERENCES
• Wikipedia,the free encyclopedia.
• Apollo Research Paper, Sweet Briar College.
• Delphi:Temple of Apollo-Coastal Carolina
University at www.coastal.edu
• Greek architecture at www.visual-artscork.com
THE END
BANDA MOHAMED BANDARI
B02/0911/2013