THE THEATRE AND TEMPLE OF APOLLOIN MOUNTAINOUS COUNTRY AT DELPHI
INTRODUCTION Delphi is both an archaelogical and modern town in Greece on the South-western spur of Mount Parnassus. At the foot of mount Parnassus is the Pan-hellenic sanctuary. Hellenic myths have it that the site of the sanctuary, anciently known as Krissa, was regarded as being sacred to mother earth. It was thus guarded by a god in the form of aserpent python who dwelled in a gorge (valley) at the site. Apollo fought the serpent python god and killed it. His victory over python solidified him as Delphi s lord. The sanctuary thus became Apollo s. The cult of Apollo, established around the 8 th century B.C accompanied the dvelopment of the sanctuary. First stone temples of Apollo were built towards the end of the 7 th century B.C
THE TEMPLE OF APOLLO The imposing ruins of the Temple of Apollo are one of the main structures in the sanctuary. The temple was built three times. It was first built around the 7 th century B.C in stone by two legendary architects; Trophonios and Agamedes aided by Apollo himself. It was then destroyed by a fire in 548 B.C. The existence of this temple is actually mythical. The myth about its existence survived in plays such as staged during Pythian events. A second temple came up as a reconstruction of the first. Its construction, completed around 510 B.C was mainly funded by an Athenian family, the Alkamaenoid family hence the temples name Tempe of Alkmeonidae.It was stone built and partially clad in marble ( the upper facades of the columns were clad in marble). This temple was destroyed by an earthquake in 373 B.C.
Again a third temple was constructed with a similar plan and dimensions as its predecessors. It construction was accomplished by three Corinthian architects; Xenodoros, Sphintharos and Agathon. It was completely constructed by 320 B.C. This temple survived to 390 A.D when the christian emperor, Theodosius I of the Byzantine empire destroyed it and most of the statues and works of art around the sanctuary in an attempt to eliminate paganism. The ruins remaining now of a peripteral Doric building are those of the third/last temple.
THE THEATRE OF APOLLO The ancient theatre of Apollo was built further up the slope from the temple, giving spectators a view of the entire sanctuary and the valley below. It was originally built in 4th century B.C but was remodeled on several occasions. Its 35 rows could sit 5000 spectators. The theatre is where formal gatherings of the Hellenic people, theatrical as well as musical contests of the Pythian games took place.
ARCHITECTS As already pointed above, a number of architects took part in the construction of the sanctuary of Apollo i.e the Theatre and Temple of Apollo. However research has not revealed any substantially clear biographies for each of the architects. This is owing to the fact that the existence of the temples was majorly realized through reconstruction of the past from the ruins of the temples and other materials like statues found on the site of the sanctuary. Moreover some of the architects are actually mythical characters and the only information available about them is what the myths had regarding them. Atmost; Xenodoros, Sphintharos and Agathon are known to be Corinthian architects. On the other hand Hellenic myths had it that the two legendary architects, Agamedes and Trophonios arrived at Kirrha, the port of Delphi accompanied by the god Apollo in the guise of a dolphin.
ARCHITECTURE A.PROJECTS UNDERTAKEN The architects saw to the construction, reconstruction and restoration activities in the sanctuary. In any case, they supervised: the selection of the stone to be used;managed its extraction;supervised its cutting and shaping in the quarry ;oversaw the final carving of the stones by master stone masons. They also supervised the erection of any structure, sculpturing of the structures by professional sculptors ( they curved metopes and pediments of temples) and painting. B. DESIGN STYLE AND ESSENCE In the construction of the temple, a Greek architectural order known as the Doric style mainly characterized by columns (vertical beams or posts ) was adopted. The temple had fifteen columns on the flanks and six columns at the back and front. This style regulated shapes and proportions and had well-speculated rules regarding the positioning of architectural sculptures apart from accomodating aesthetic values.
For an instance, the temples were built on a crepidoma so that the effects of the bright Greece sunlight could be clearly viewed on its surfaces from ant angle. Interiorly, the division of the temple according to the Doric style favoured its purpose as a site of deity worship and prophecy whereby an uper level of its two levels was the residence for Apollo and a lower level where Pythia (an oracle ) resided. These factors are basically the most favourable and critcal for overall awesome apperance and effective perfomance especially of a cult temple. On the other hand, the Apollo theatre was constructed in an open air style which was also a cost effective one because the theatre was built as an enhancement of a naturally occuring sloping site.therefore the style cut on the cost of constructing an artificial slope, apart from amaking use of natural lighting and ventilation. It position was such that the spectators had a clear view of the spectacular temple and the valley below it.
We can therefore conclude that the sanctuary o Apollo had a refinement of form and a stylistic bravado that was tailored to accommodate the deity Apollo, the rich cultural worship surrounding him as well as traditional entertaintment.
REFERENCES Wikipedia,the free encyclopedia. Apollo Research Paper, Sweet Briar College. Delphi:Temple of Apollo-Coastal Carolina University at www.coastal.edu Greek architecture at www.visual-artscork.com
THE END BANDA MOHAMED BANDARI B02/0911/2013