Cnidus
Knidos or Cnidus (; grc-gre, Κνίδος, , , Knídos) was a Greek city in ancient Caria and part of the Dorian Hexapolis, in south-western Asia Minor, modern-day Turkey. It was situated on the Datça peninsula, which forms the southern side o ...
was represented at the Sanctuary of Apollo in
Delphi by the Treasury of the Cnidians of the late
Archaic period and by a late
Classical period building, called "
Lesche
Lesche ( grc, λέσχη) is an Ionic Greek word, signifying ''council'' or ''conversation'', and a ''place for council or conversation''.
There is frequent mention of places of public resort, in the Greek cities, by the name of ''leschai'' (, the ...
", a kind of club for social gatherings.
Description
The remains of the Treasury of the Cnidians are situated just next to the Sacred Way close to the
Siphnian Treasury
The Siphnian Treasury was a building at the Ancient Greek cult centre of Delphi, erected to host the offerings of the polis, or city-state, of Siphnos. It was one of a number of treasuries lining the "Sacred Way", the processional route throug ...
to which they bear resemblance, to the exception of the smaller size.
It was a marble building, erected before Cnidus was conquered by the
Persians
The Persians are an Iranian ethnic group who comprise over half of the population of Iran. They share a common cultural system and are native speakers of the Persian language as well as of the languages that are closely related to Persian.
...
in 544 B.C. Its features remind of the mid-sixth century B.C. The treasury was built in the
Ionian order
The Ionic order is one of the three canonic orders of classical architecture, the other two being the Doric and the Corinthian. There are two lesser orders: the Tuscan (a plainer Doric), and the rich variant of Corinthian called the composite o ...
, prostyle, but there is not much information on the exact plan of its elevation and the roof. It is possible that there were ''korae'' (
Caryatids) on the façade instead of plain columns. At the time of the
Great Excavation it was thought that the friezes and sculpted decoration of the Siphnian Treasury actually originated from the Treasury of the Cnidians, a misinterpretation which led archaeologists to overestimate its artistic and aesthetic value.
Pausanias Pausanias ( el, Παυσανίας) may refer to:
*Pausanias of Athens, lover of the poet Agathon and a character in Plato's ''Symposium''
*Pausanias the Regent, Spartan general and regent of the 5th century BC
* Pausanias of Sicily, physician of t ...
described the monument but was puzzled by its
architrave inscription: what he failed to notice was that it was written "
boustrophedon
Boustrophedon is a style of writing in which alternate lines of writing are reversed, with letters also written in reverse, mirror-style. This is in contrast to modern European languages, where lines always begin on the same side, usually the le ...
", i.e. from left to right and from right to left. The inscription bears a dedication of the building to the
Pythian Apollo
Apollo, grc, Ἀπόλλωνος, Apóllōnos, label=genitive , ; , grc-dor, Ἀπέλλων, Apéllōn, ; grc, Ἀπείλων, Apeílōn, label=Arcadocypriot Greek, ; grc-aeo, Ἄπλουν, Áploun, la, Apollō, la, Apollinis, label= ...
. Apart from the main inscription, its walls and
antae
The Antes, or Antae ( gr, Ἄνται), were an early East Slavic tribal polity of the 6th century CE. They lived on the lower Danube River, in the northwestern Black Sea region (present-day Moldova and central Ukraine), and in the regions aro ...
bear about sixty more inscriptions,
[Salviat, Fr.,1971, Inscriptions de Grèce centrale, Paris, pp. 35–61] mostly honorary decrees and
manumission acts, as well as two decrees of a fiscal character, quite enlightening on the finances of the time.
References
External links
Perseus project, the Treasury of the Knidians{{Authority control
Ancient Greek buildings and structures in Delphi
Buildings and structures completed in the 6th century BC