Choragic Monument of Nikias

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Coordinates: 37°58′13″N 23°43′37″E / 37.97028°N 23.72694°E / 37.97028; 23.72694

Reconstruction of the Choragic Monument of Nikias (on the right) as it might have appeared circa 160 BCE.

The Choragic Monument of Nikias is a memorial building built in the Acropolis of Athens in 320–319 BCE to commemorate the choregos Nikias, son of Nikodemos.[1] It was situated between the Theatre of Dionysos and the Stoa of Eumenes where its foundations remain along with some fragmentary elements of the structure. It was built in the form of a substantial hexastyle Doric temple with a square cella and might have been surmounted with the prize tripod of the Dionysia.[2] The monument was dismantled at some point in late antiquity and the masonry reused in the Buelé Gate.

Most of the surviving architectural remains of the choragic monument are built into the central portion of the Buelé Gate, which was uncovered and identified by its inscription[3] by Charles Ernest Beulé in 1852.[4]

The original site of the monument, however, was not excavated until 1885[5] by Wilhelm Dörpfeld, who four years later discovered the foundations of the building and some other fragmentary members. William Dinsmoor confirmed Dörpfeld's conclusions in a detailed analysis[6] and associated the foundations with the epistyle preserved on the Buelé Gate. The exact date of the destruction of the monument is unknown, however, Dinsmoor argued that it might have been at the same time as the demolition of the Stoa of Eumenes either in the late Roman period or at the time of the reconstruction of the Theatre of Dionysos by Phaidros in the 3rd or 4th century CE.[7]

Two of the major choragic monuments that have survived (Thrasyllos' and Nikias') belong to the period of oligarchic rule under the Macedonian regency, and it is perhaps significant that these are not on the Street of the Tripods, where most choragic prizes and monuments were placed.[8] The conspicuous display of wealth and prestige they represent may have been an attempt to further the political careers of the choregoi and as such prompted the sumptuary law of Demetrios of Phaleron.[9]

  • Present remains of the monument of Nikias.

  • Epistyle of the choragic monument located on the Buelé Gate.

  • Site of the choragic monument of Nikias.

Notes[]

  1. ^ Travlos p.370
  2. ^ Dinsmoor rejects the argument that the tripod was on the acroterion of the building as this is too small to accommodate it, and must therefore have been inside the cella. Dinsmoor, 1910, p.470.
  3. ^ IG II2 3055, which reads: "Nikias, son of Nikodemos, of the deme Xypete, dedicated this altar being victorious with Kekropis in the boys' contest. Pantaleon of Sikyon played the aulos. The song Elpenor of Timotheos. Neaichmos was Archon."
  4. ^ L'Acropole d'Athines, 1853, I, 100-106
  5. ^ W. Dörpfeld, "Das choragische Monument des Nikias", Ath. Mitt., X
  6. ^ W. Dinsmoor, "The Choragic Monument of Nicias", AJA 14, 1910, pp. 459-484
  7. ^ W. Dinsmoor, 1910, p.482. See also Alison Frantz, "The Date of the Phaidros Bema in the Theater of Dionysos", Hesperia Supplements, Vol. 20, (1982), pp. 34-39+194-195
  8. ^ Wilson p.226
  9. ^ Lara O'Sullivan, The Regime of Demetrius of Phalerum in Athens 317-307 BCE, Brill, 2009, p.178.

References[]

  • W. Dinsmoor, The Choragic Monument of Nicias, AJA 14, 1910, pp. 459–484
  • W. Dorpfeld, Das choragische Monument des Nikias., Ath. Mitt., X and XTV, 1885 and 1889
  • John Travlos, Pictorial dictionary of Ancient Athens, 1980
  • B. Perrin, The Choragic Monument of Nicias, American Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 15, No. 2 (Apr. - Jun., 1911), pp. 168-169
  • Peter Wilson, Athenian Institution of the Khoregia, 2001
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