The chryselephantine statues of Apollo, Artemis and Leto occupy a hall in the

Delphi Archaeological Museum Delphi Archaeological museum (Modern Greek : ''Αρχαιολογικό Μουσείο Δελφών'') is one of the principal museums of Greece and one of the most visited. It is operated by the Greek Ministry of Culture (Ephorate of Antiquities o ...

looking rather like a treasury. They constitute excellent specimens of mid-6th century B.C. art, coming from workshops in

Ionia Ionia () was an ancient region on the western coast of Anatolia, to the south of present-day Izmir. It consisted of the northernmost territories of the Ionian League of Greek settlements. Never a unified state, it was named after the Ionian ...

, or, to a certain extent, Corinth.

History

During the excavations at the dump of the Sacred Way, opposite to the Halos, which was accidentally discovered in 1939, there were found several objects which had been buried because they were sacred and thus it was forbidden to sell or transform them. It seems that all these ex-votos in Delphi had been probably destroyed by fire around the mid 5th century B.C. Some of those probably constituted a gold-and-ivory group depicting the Apollonian triad, namely Apollo, Artemis and Leto. The scholars have related these finds to the sumptuous ex-votos of

Croesus Croesus ( ; Lydian: ; Phrygian: ; grc, Κροισος, Kroisos; Latin: ; reigned: c. 585 – c. 546 BC) was the king of Lydia, who reigned from 585 BC until his defeat by the Persian king Cyrus the Great in 547 or 546 BC. Croesus was ...

, king of Lydia, which Herodotus so eloquently describes. This identification is however uncertain; the only certain fact is that the works are magnificent creations of the mid-6th century B.C., coming from workshops in Ionia, or, to a certain extent, Corinth.

Apollo

Apollo bears the distinctive

archaic smile The archaic smile was used by sculptors in Archaic Greece, especially in the second quarter of the 6th century BCE, possibly to suggest that their subject was alive and infused with a sense of well-being. One of the most famous examples of the ar ...

. His hair is made of gilded silver, with two broad curls flanking the head and falling on the shoulders made of a single golden leaf. The front part of the feet is discernible, while the rest are covered by the long garment. He probably held in his hand a precious vessel, possibly a shallow bowl (phiale).

Artemis

The head attributed to Artemis bears a mild, sweet expression. She wears a golden tiara and rosette-decorated earrings. Her garment was decorated with two large rectangular lamellae of gold, positioned vertically and bearing depictions of existing or mythological animals: a gazelle, a lion, a bull, a deer, a

pegasus Pegasus ( grc-gre, Πήγασος, Pḗgasos; la, Pegasus, Pegasos) is one of the best known creatures in Greek mythology. He is a winged divine stallion usually depicted as pure white in color. He was sired by Poseidon, in his role as hor ...

, a

griffin The griffin, griffon, or gryphon (Ancient Greek: , ''gryps''; Classical Latin: ''grȳps'' or ''grȳpus''; Late Latin, Late and Medieval Latin: ''gryphes'', ''grypho'' etc.; Old French: ''griffon'') is a legendary creature with the body, tail ...

, a sphinx. As in the case of Apollo, her eyes and eyebrows were made with an inlay technique. The artist probably originated from

, possibly from Samos.

Leto and other figures

Apart from the third large head (attributed to Leto, the mother of the two gods) parts of other statues and five smaller ivory heads. Additional decorative elements are preserved, made of gold or ivory, among which stand out tiles with depictions of the Gorgon,

Pegasus Pegasus ( grc-gre, Πήγασος, Pḗgasos; la, Pegasus, Pegasos) is one of the best known creatures in Greek mythology. He is a winged divine stallion usually depicted as pure white in color. He was sired by Poseidon, in his role as hor ...

and a

, as well as rosettes, anthemia and floral items. Several decorative elements were probably attached to a wooden substratum, possibly to furniture.

Sources

*Amandry, P.,(1992) ''Guide de Delphes : le musée'', Paris *Kolonia, R.,(2006
''The Archaeological Museum of Delphi''
Athens

External links

{{Commons category-inline 6th-century BC Greek sculptures Collection of the Delphi Archaeological Museum Ivory works of art