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Choragic Monument of Nikias

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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 on 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 Beulé Gate.

Archaeology

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In 1889 Wilhelm Dörpfeld proposed a site in the area of the Odeon of Herodes Atticus for the foundations of the building,[3] which idea was eventually discarded. This identification was then used as a terminus ante quem for the destruction of the choragic monument and the building of the Beulé Gate before the construction of the Odeon in the middle of the second century. William Dinsmoor[4] finally identified the site in 1910.[5]

Most of the surviving architectural remains of the choragic monument, notably its inscription,[6] were later built into the central portion of the Beulé Gate, which was uncovered by Charles Ernest Beulé in 1852.[7] These remains were first studied in 1885 by Dörpfeld.[8][9]

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 in the late Roman period, before the reconstruction of the Theatre of Dionysos by Phaidros in the 3rd or 4th century CE.[10]

Choragic monuments

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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.[11] 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.[12]

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    Present remains of the monument of Nikias.
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    Epistyle of the choragic monument located on the Beulé Gate.
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    Site of the choragic monument of Nikias.

Notes

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  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. ^ W. Dörpfeld, "Das choragische Monument des Nikias", Ath. Mitt., XIV (1889)
  4. ^ Dinsmoor 1910.
  5. ^ Perrin 1911, p. 168.
  6. ^ 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."
  7. ^ L'Acropole d'Athènes, 1853, I, 100-106
  8. ^ W. Dörpfeld, "Das choragische Monument des Nikias", Ath. Mitt., X
  9. ^ Dinsmoor 1910, p. 459.
  10. ^ 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
  11. ^ Wilson p. 226
  12. ^ Lara O'Sullivan, The Regime of Demetrius of Phalerum in Athens 317–307 BCE, Brill, 2009, p. 178.

References

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  • Dinsmoor, William Bell (1910). "The Choragic Monument of Nicias". American Journal of Archaeology. 14 (4): 459–484. doi:10.2307/497149. JSTOR 497149.
  • Dörpfeld, Wilhelm (1885). "Das choragische Monument des Nikias". Mittheilungen des deutschen Archäologischen Institutes in Athen (in German). 10.
  • Frantz, Alison (1982). "The Date of the Phaidros Bema in the Theater of Dionysos". Hesperia Supplements. 20: 34–39, 194–195. doi:10.2307/1353943. JSTOR 1353943.
  • O'Sullivan, Lara (2009). The Regime of Demetrius of Phalerum in Athens, 317–307 BCE. Leiden: Brill. ISBN 9789004178885.
  • Perrin, Bernadotte (1911). "The Choragic Monument of Nicias". American Journal of Archaeology. 15 (2): 168–169. doi:10.2307/497212. JSTOR 497212.
  • Travlos, John (1980) [1971]. Pictorial Dictionary of Ancient Athens. London: Thames and Hudson. ISBN 9780500050125.
  • Wilson, Peter (2001) [2000]. The Athenian Institution of the Khoregia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 052155070X.
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