Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Delos: Birthplace of Apollo and Artemis

Photos by Jack Waldron

The Naxians erected a colossal statue of Apollo as a kouros in the 7th century BC, known as The Colossus of the Naxians (above, bust left, mid-section right), was roughly four times larger than life-size, and stood on the great base (pictured below) along the northern wall of the Oikos of the Naxians.
The inscription on the eastern side of the base reads,"I am of the same piece of marble, both statue and base".  The inscription on the western side of the base reads,"the Naxians of Apollo".
Athenian general Nicias erected a bronze palm tree in the corner of the stoa (marble base pictured below).  The palm tree was blown down by a strong wind and knocked over the Colossus of the Naxians in antiquity.
In the model below, the Colossus of the Naxians can be seen in situ next to the Oikos of the Naxians, with the palm tree set in the corner of the stoa.
The terrace of the lions was erected by the Naxians in the 7th century BC.  Five of the lions survive, and there were probably between nine and sixteen in total.
The Temple of Isis, pictured below, is in a fair state of preservation for its age.   The Dodecatheon, from where the picture was taken, is a sacred way with some statues remaining in situ (pictured below).
The Temple of Isis has an inscription on its epistyle that reads, "the Demos of the Athenians to Isis" (pictured below).
Mt. Cynthus (pictured above) is home to the Temple of Hercules, which can be seen in the lower left corner of the picture; a close-up of the Temple of Hercules is pictured below.
Below, the Temple of Hera, in the Heraion.
Below, the Portico of Philip V.
The Letoon (pictured above).  Below, one of the fine examples of exedra around ancient Delos.
Finely sculpted column drums and temple fragments are scattered throughout the ancient site.
Statue of Hercules
The Koinon of the Poseidoniasts of Beirut (pictured above).  Below, House of the Lake.
Below, Architrave or Epistyle, bull Metopes, Triglyphs, Mutules and Guttae of a temple.
In the Stoa of Antigonos once stood a small temple dedicated to Dionysus, known as the Stoivadeion, it was adorned with monumental marble phallus statues.  On the front on the monument below is a scene of a cockerel whose head and neck are elongated into a phallus.
Below, a statue of Gaius Billienus in the Portico of Antigonos.
Above, the Palaestra of Granite.
The theater quarter is dominated by Roman style houses.
Pictured below are some fascinating frescos from one of the Roman houses on Delos.
These frescos are decorated with mysterious colorful abstract images that are extremely similar to fresco decorations in the House of Mysteries (the room of mysteries) at Pompei.
I will be working on a thesis that will attempt to link the frescos  the House of Mysteries with the ones pictured here, and, similar frescos discovered throughout the Roman world.
Below, Mykonos Town . . . the only port to ancient Delos for day trips.

*All photos and content property of Jack Waldron (photos may not be used without written permission)


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1 comment:

  1. Thank you for the blog.
    As you might have already found out, birthplace of Artemis and Apollo is Letoom in Lycia.

    ReplyDelete

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