Cnidus
Knidos or Cnidus (; , , , Knídos) was a Ancient Greece, 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 of the ...
was represented at the Sanctuary of Apollo in
Delphi
Delphi (; ), in legend previously called Pytho (Πυθώ), was an ancient sacred precinct and the seat of Pythia, the major oracle who was consulted about important decisions throughout the ancient Classical antiquity, classical world. The A ...
by the Treasury of the Cnidians of the late
Archaic period and by a late
Classical period building, called "
Lesche
Lesche () 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 Greek plural of ...
", 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 Greece, Ancient Greek cult centre of Delphi, erected to host the offerings of the polis, or city-state, of Sifnos, Siphnos. It was one of a number of treasuries lining the "Sacred Way", the proc ...
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
Persians ( ), or the Persian people (), are an Iranian ethnic group from West Asia that came from an earlier group called the Proto-Iranians, which likely split from the Indo-Iranians in 1800 BCE from either Afghanistan or Central Asia. They ...
in 544 B.C. Its features remind of the mid-sixth century B.C. The treasury was built in the
Ionian order, 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
A caryatid ( ; ; ) is a sculpted female figure serving as an architectural support taking the place of a column or a pillar supporting an entablature on her head. The Greek term ''karyatides'' literally means "maidens of Karyai", an ancient tow ...
) 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 described the monument but was puzzled by its
architrave
In classical architecture, an architrave (; , also called an epistyle; ) is the lintel or beam, typically made of wood or stone, that rests on the capitals of columns.
The term can also apply to all sides, including the vertical members, ...
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 l ...
", i.e. from left to right and from right to left. The inscription bears a dedication of the building to the
Pythian Apollo
Apollo is one of the Olympian deities in ancient Greek and Roman religion and Greek and Roman mythology. Apollo has been recognized as a god of archery, music and dance, truth and prophecy, healing and diseases, the Sun and light, poe ...
. Apart from the main inscription, its walls and
antae
The Antes or Antae () were an early 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 around the Don River (in ...
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