Fragment of an inscribed votive relief of Kastor and Polydeukes, the Dioskouri
with their horses, and part of the reclining local river god Strymon (Στρυμών),
the personification of the River Strymon, which flows though Amphipolis.

From Amphipolis, Thrace, a former Athenian colony. 2nd century AD.

A relief on the marble base of a dedication from the Athens Acropolis depicting competitors
in an apobates race. Circa 400 BC. The apobates was a race of two-man teams in four-horse
chariots in the Panathenaic Games, in which an armed warrior leapt off a moving chariot,
ran alongside it then jumped back on. The composition of the relief has been compared
to that on Block XVII of the Parthenon frieze (Acropolis Museum, Inv. No. Acr. 859).

"Victorious Apobates". Relief on the base of a monument for the victory of Krates
in the apobates race at the Panathenaic Games. Marble, 4th century BC.

Marble Votive relief for a chariot victory from the sanctuary of
the hero Amphiaraus at Oropos, northern Attica, 400-390 BC.
Height 73 cm, width 99 cm, depth 17 cm.

Detail from an idealized view of the Acropolis painted in 1846 by
the architect Leo von Klenze (1784-1864). Neue Pinakothek, Munich.

Klenze placed a large statue of a god (Zeus or Poseidon) on the Pedestal of Agrippa,
and an equestrian statue on either side of the central entryway to the Propylaia.

In case that's all a bit too much information, here is a brief chronological overview
of the statue - or statues - said to have stood on this site.

"Aufgang zur Akropolis" (The ascent to the Acropolis),
oil painting by Carl Wilhelm von Heideck, 1835. [21]

1. One of the few modern studies of the Pedestal of Agrippa was made by William Bell Dinsmoor (1886-1973), architectural historian at the American School of Classical Studies at Athens (ASCSA), in 1913-1914, when he undertook restoration work, primarily aimed at preventing the monument from collapsing. He briefly summarized the project in the abstract of a paper in 1928:

"Although the Acropolis of Athens has been repeatedly investigated, and was, moreover, systematically excavated in 1885-1889, there still remain a few nooks and corners in which it was at that time expedient to leave the earth undisturbed. Among these localities was a portion of the entrance slope, which was not undermined because the huge pedestal of Agrippa (dated about 15 B.C. by an inscription but ascertained by the present investigator to have been erected 160 years earlier) seemed in danger of collapse. This danger having been averted by consolidation of the pedestal in 1914, permission was obtained from the Greek Archaeological Council to penetrate this untouched ground, which it was hoped would still contain some evidence as to the form of the approach to the Acropolis in the great period of Pericles."

William Bell Dinsmoor, Supplementary excavation at the entrance to the Acropolis, 1928. General Meeting of the Archaeological Institute of America, December 27-29, 1928. American Journal of Archaeology, Volume 33, No. 1 (January - March 1929), pages 98-107. Archaeological Institute of America, 1929. At jstor.org.

This further work indeed produced much important information about the Classical path up to the Acropolis, including evidence which forced archaeologists to reappraise several theories concerning the nature of the approachway and the dating of political and social events in the city in antiquity.

Dinsmoor's brilliance, dedication and thoroughness is still celebrated by ASCSA today:

"During 1913–1914 Dinsmoor’s careful work and his surprising grasp of architectural detail enabled him to prove that the base of the Agrippa monument was much older than the first century after Christ and that it had had an earlier use."

A History of the American School of Classical Studies, 1882-1942, Chapter III: The Chairmanship of James Rignall Wheeler of Columbia University, 1901–1918. At ascsa.edu.gr, the website of the ASCSA.

2. The Pedestal of Agrippa (Βάθρο του Αγρίππα), also known as the Monument of Agrippa (Μνημείο του Αγρίππα).

The total height of the monument is 13.4 metres, the base being 4.5 metres tall, 3.8 metres long (north-south) and 3.31 metres wide (east-west), and built of large blocks of poros limestone, which may have been originally clad with marble slabs.

Immediately above the base, are three narrow, stepped rows of stone, faced with blue-grey Hymettian Marble (from Mount Hymettos; Greek, Υμηττός, Ymittos, to the south of central Athens), supporting the 8.91 metre tall, slightly tapering pillar which is clad in slabs of the same marble. The slabs of the plinth are arranged in the pseudo-isodomic style (opus pseudoisodomum), that is with alternating courses of different heights. In this case there are eight taller layers alternating with seven layers of around a third of their height.

Another feature of this style is that the slabs, although well cut, are of different widths, with no attempt at vertical alignment or patterning of the joints across the vertical rows. There has also been no attempt to disguise the thickness of the slabs or pass them off as solid blocks, as the sides of the slabs at the end of the west and east faces of the pedestal are visible on the corner of the adjacent faces. Whether the pedestal was covered with a layer of some material or painted is not known. Some restoration drawings, such as Albert Tournaire's 1894 watercolour of the pillar monument of Aemilius Paullus at Delphi [see note 22], show a brightly painted pedestal, suggesting that the stonework may have been covered by a layer of painted plaster.

The pseudo-isodomic style is thought to have been developed in the 3rd century BC, and was widely used during the Hellenistic period.

The cornice (the projection crowning the top) and surviving part of the moulding at the foot of the pedestal itself (above the steps) are made of white Pentelic marble.

3. Colonel William Martin Leake (1777-1860), English antiquarian and topographer.

4. Herodotus on the bronze quadriga at the Propylaia

Herodotus, The Histories, Volume II, Book V, chapter 77. English translation by A. D. Godley. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass, 1920. At Project Gutenberg.

The Greek version actually uses the word Propylaia (προπύλαια), rather than Propylon which was the name of the older gateway to the Acropolis.

καὶ τῶν λύτρων τὴν δεκάτην ἀνέθηκαν ποιησάμενοι τέθριππον χάλκεον: τὸ δὲ ἀριστερῆς χειρὸς ἕστηκε πρῶτον ἐσιόντι ἐς τὰ προπύλαια τὰ ἐν τῇ ἀκροπόλι: ἐπιγέγραπται δέ οἱ τάδε.

"ἔθνεα Βοιωτῶν καὶ Χαλκιδέων δαμάσαντες
παῖδες Ἀθηναίων ἔργμασιν ἐν πολέμου,
δεσμῷ ἐν ἀχλυόεντι σιδηρέῳ ἔσβεσαν ὕβριν:
τῶν ἵππους δεκάτην Παλλάδι τάσδ᾽ ἔθεσαν."

Further proof that Herodotus was talking about the statue after the Persian invasion is provided by his statement that the fetters used on the ransomed captives from Boeotia and Chalcis were put on display at the Acropolis, and that "these were still existing even to my time, hanging on walls which had been scorched with fire by the Mede [Persians]".

An alternative translation of the dedicatory verse, by G. C. Macaulay:

"Matched in the deeds of war with the tribes of Boeotia and Chalkis
The sons of Athens prevailed, conquered and tamed them in fight:
In chains of iron and darkness they quenched their insolent spirit;
And to Athene present these, of their ransom a tithe."

5. Euphranor's painting of the Battle of Mantinea

Pausanias wrote that Gryllos was depicted among the most famous men in Euphranor's painting in the Athenian Agora:

Pausanias, Description of Greece, Book 1, chapter 3, sections 3-4. At Perseus Digital Library.

He also mentioned the copy in the gymnasium of Mantineia:

Pausanias, Description of Greece, Book 8, chapter 9, section 8. At Perseus Digital Library.

Marble head of Herodotus.

2nd century AD, Roman Imperial
period copy of a 4th century BC
Greek original.

6. The fame of Gryllos in ancient literature

VIII. "... and his sons, Gryllus and Diodorus, as Dinarchus states in the action against Xenophon; and they were also called Dioscuri".

X. "In the meantime, as the Athenians had passed a vote to go to the assistance of the Lacedaemonians [Spartans], he sent his sons to Athens, to join in the expedition in aid of the Lacedaemonians; for they had been educated in Sparta, as Diocles relates in his Lives of the Philosophers.

Diodorus returned safe back again, without having at all distinguished himself in the battle. And he had a son who bore the same name as his brother Gryllus. But Gryllus, serving in the cavalry (and the battle took place at Mantinea), fought very gallantly, and was slain, as Ephorus tells us, in his twenty-fifth book; Cephisodorus being the Captain of the cavalry, and Hegesides the commander-in-chief. Epaminondas also fell in this battle.

And after the battle, they say that Xenophon offered sacrifice, wearing a crown on his head; but when the news of the death of his son arrived, he took off the crown; but after that, hearing that he had fallen gloriously, he put the crown on again. And some say that he did not even shed a tear, but said, 'I knew that I was the father of a mortal man'.

And Aristotle says, that innumerable writers wrote panegyrics and epitaphs upon Gryllus, partly out of a wish to gratify his father. And Hermippus, in his Treatise on Theophrastus, says that Isocrates also composed a panegyric on Gryllus."

7. The Dioskouroi (Διόσκουροι; Latin, Dioscuri), the mythical heroes Kastor (Κάστωρ; Latin, Castor) and Polydeukes (Πολυδεύκης; Latin, Polydeuces or Pollux), sons of Leda by two fathers: Zeus and King Tyndareus of Sparta. The twins, who were worshipped by Greeks, Etruscans and Romans, were transformed by Zeus into the stars today known as the Gemini constellation. They were closely associated with horses, often depicted as mounted warriors or hunters (such cult images of mythical horsemen were widespread among ancient cultures) and particularly revered by cavalry soldiers.

See Further information about the twins and depictions of them
in ancient art, on the Dioskouroi page of the MFP People section.

It has been speculated (by H.G. Lolling and others) that their statues were moved from another part of the Acropolis to a position before the Propylaia.

There was a sanctuary of the Dioskouroi, known as the Anakeion (Anekes, translated variously as "protectors", "guardians" and "on high", was one of the titles of the Dioskouri, according to Plutarch, Life of Theseus, 33. 1), beneath the Sanctuary of Aglauros on the east slope of the Acropolis. Pausanias (see note 19 below) describes a sculpture group dedicated to them there:

"The sanctuary of the Dioskouroi is ancient. They themselves are represented as standing, while their sons are seated on horses." Pausanias, Description of Greece, Book 1, chapter 18, section 1.

Lykios of Eleutherai, son of Myron, was a Classical Greek sculptor from Boeotia, active in the mid 5th century BC. He was the only known son and pupil of Myron of Eleutherai.

See: Lykios and Myron on the Ancient Greek artists page in the MFP People section.

For more about Eleutherai, see gallery page 36.

See also: Pausanias, Guide to Greece, Volume I, Central Greece, translated by Peter Levi. Penguin Books, 1971. Book I, page 62, note 127.

Marble bust of Isocrates
(436-338 BC).

2nd half of the 3rd century AD,
Roman period copy of a Greek
original. Height of bust 40.5 cm.

Reconstruction drawings of the inscribed pedestal on the wall flanking the south side of the stairway to the Propylaia (see also photo below), mentioned by Peter Levi and discussed by several other authors. The top drawing shows the small stairway leading to the Bastion of the Athena Nike Temple and the south wing of the Propylaia (see illustrations and a plan of the entrance to the Acropolis on gallery page 10).

Image source: Ernst Curtius, Die Stadtgeschichte von Athen. Berlin, 1891. Republished in Martin Luther D'Ooge, The Acropolis of Athens. Macmillan, New York, 1909.

The upper slab of grey marble (perhaps Pentelic or Hymettian marble) is inscribed stoichedon:

ℎοι ℎι[ππ]ῆς [⋮] ἀπὸ τ̣ο͂ν [πο]λεμίον ⋮ ℎιππαρ[χ]ό[ν]-
τον ⋮ Λακεδ̣αιμονίο [⋮] Ξ̣[ε]νοφο͂ντος ⋮ Προν[ά]π[ο]-
ς ⋮ Λύκιο[ς ⋮ ἐ]ποίησεν [⋮] Ἐλευθερεὺς [⋮ Μ]ύ̣[ρ]ο̣ν̣[ος].

The cavalry [dedicated this] from [the spoils of] the enemy, when the cavalry commanders
were Lakedaimonios, Xenophon, Pronapes.
Lykios of Eleutherai, son of Myron, made it.

Inscription IG I³ 511 (= IG I² 400,Ia; Antony E. Raubitschek, Dedications from the Athenian Akropolis [DAA], No. 135) at The Packard Humanities Institute.

The slab was originally part of a statue base signed by the sculptor Lykios around 450-430 BC. It was found in 1889 near southwest corner of the Parthenon. Holes in the top of the base indicate that the statue was of a horse (with or without a rider), facing right, being led by a man standing next to it. The monument was dedicated by three cavalry generals (hipparchs) to commemorate a battle, although its place and date remain a subject of debate.

In the 1st century BC, during the early Roman Imperial period (probably during the reign of Augustus), the base was turned over and reinscribed on the opposite side with an exact copy of the original dedication in archaistic early Attic lettering. IG I² 400,Ib (DAA 135a). The statue placed on the reused based is thought to have been a newly-made work of a similar type, although probably not a copy of Lykios' work.

Around the same time another, apparently new base of grey Hymettian marble was also inscribed with a copy of the dedication in the same archaistic lettering, but by a different stonemason. Three fragments of the inscription were discovered at different times in various places around the Acropolis IG I² 400,II (DAA 135b). The findspots of two fragments are unknown, but "Fragment b" was found in 1880, built into a late wall to the west of the Pedestal of Agrippa.

It is therefore believed that Lykios' original statues may have been destroyed or moved elsewhere (perhaps taken to Rome?), and later replaced by two equestrian statues on similar bases, perhaps standing on a single pedestal.

The inscription on the block of Pentelic marble below the slab with Lykios' signature states:

ὁ δῆμος
Γερ[μ]ανικ[ὸν Κα]ίσαρα
θεοῦ Σε[βαστοῦ ἔγγονον].

The demos [dedicated this statue of] Germanicus Caesar, descendant of the divine Augustus.

Inscription IG II² 3260 (see DAA 135, 135a, 135b) at The Packard Humanities Institute.

This inscription is believed to be another block of the monument's pedestal. It apparently presents the statue (or statues) as a dedication by the demos (the people) to Germanicus Caesar, the adopted son and heir of Emperor Tiberius (reigned 14-37 AD), and may have been inscribed at the time of Germanicus' visit to Athens in 18 AD.

9. Doctor Richard Chandler (1738-1810), English antiquary and clergyman. He, Nicholas Revett and artist William Pars (1742-1782) were commissioned by the Society of Dilettanti to study the antiquities of Greece and Asia Minor 1764-1766. They stayed in Athens 31 Aug 1765 - 11 June 1766.

Chandler wrote about the Propylaia: "... before each wing was an equestrian statue." But Leake states that he made several errors, "having misapprehended" works of earlier antiquarians Spon and Wheler (see gallery page 6).

Chandler translated the dedication to Agrippa as: "The people have erected Marcus Agrippa, son of Lucius, thrice consul, friend of Caius." Caius being a reference to Caesar Octavianus [see note 18 below].

At the end of the same chapter he also mentions, for no apparent reason, that "No dog or goat was suffered to enter the Propylaia".

Richard Chandler, Travels in Greece, or an account of a tour made at the expense of the Society of Dilettanti, chapter IX, page 43. Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1776. At the Internet Archive.

10. Apobates as a sport for the elite, referred to in The Erotikes, a 4th century BC essay ascribed to (although probably not written by) the Athenian orator Demosthenes:

"... slaves and aliens share in the other sports but that dismounting is open only to citizens and that the best men aspire to it."

Demosthenes, Erotikos 23. In Demosthenes VII, translated by N. W. DeWitt and N. J. DeWitt. Loeb Classical Library, Harvard University Press, 1949.

It was a demanding and dangerous discipline, requiring strength, stamina and speed, especially on the part of the armed dismounter, who wore a helmet and shield, and excellent coordination between him and the chariot driver. It would also have been an expensive sport since competitors had to have a good racing chariot and four horses at their disposal. Herodotus indicated how wealthy the Athenian Miltiades son of Cypselus was by saying he was rich enough to keep a four-horse chariot, and that he was an Olympic victor in the four-horse chariot race. His brother Kimon won the event three times, despite being exiled from Athens.

"At that time in Athens, Pisistratus held all power, but Miltiades son of Cypselus (Μιλτιάδης ὁ Κυψέλου) also had great influence. His household was rich enough to maintain a four-horse chariot ..."

Herodotus, Histories, Book 6, chapters 35-36 and 103. At Perseus Digital Library.

11. Erichthonius and the invention of the four-horse chariot in Athens

In Greek myths referred to by several ancient writers, Erichthonius (Greek, Ἐριχθόνιος, Erichthonios), the serpent-like king of Athens, was the son of the deities Hephaistos and Gaia (the Earth), adopted by Athena. In other versions he was generated by Hephaistos' semen when the metalworking god attempted to rape Athena. He was the first to use a four-horse chariot. This so impressed Zeus that he made him into the stellar constellation Auriga (Latin, charioteer; Greek, Ηνίοχος, heniochos, charioteer, literally "holder of the reins"), which, according to Hyginus (see below), was referred to as "Erichthonius" by the Greek polymath, mathematician and astronomer Eratosthenes of Cyrene (Ἐρατοσθένης, circa 276-195 BC).

He is also credited with introducing to Athens the plough and silver smelting, as well as erecting the first xoanon (image or statue of a deity) and temple of Athena on the Acropolis and founding the Panathenaic Festival.

There remains some confusion about whether these innovations were introduced by Erichthonius or Erechtheus I (Ἐρεχθεύς), mentioned by Homer ("great-hearted Erechtheus", Iliad ii. 547, and Odysssey vii. 81) who was perhaps a later king, although the myths and legends may be referring to the same person.

"[From when] at the time of the first Panathenaia, [Erich]thonius yoked up a chariot and showed how to race, and [gave] the Athenians [their name, and the glory]..."

Extract from the "Parian Marble" (or Parian Chronicle, το Χρονικό της Πάρου), a stele discovered on the island of Paros, dated to around 264-263 BC, inscribed with a Greek chronology of the years 1581-264 BC. According to the chronological order of events, the first Panathenaic festival is estimated to have take place in 1506/5 BC.

"'Twas Ericthonius first took heart to yoke
Four horses to his car, and rode above
The whirling wheels to victory."

"The Charioteer. In Latin we call him 'auriga' – Erichthonius by name, as Eratosthenes shows. Jupiter [Zeus] seeing that he first among men yoked horses in four-horse chariots, admired the genius of a man who could rival the invention of Sol [Helios], who first among the gods made use of the quadriga. Erichthonius first invented the four-horse chariot, as we said before, and also first established sacrifices to Minerva [Athena], and a temple on the citadel of the Athenians."

Hyginus, Poeticon astronomicon, 2.13, The Charioteer. At the Theoi Project.

On the other hand, Herodotus, always keen to find foreign antecedents to Greek myths and customs, believed the four-horse chariot originated in Africa:

"And it is from the Libyans that the Greeks have learned to drive four-horse chariots."

12. Eusebius of Caesarea (Greek, Ευσέβιος ο Καισαρείας; also known as Eusebius Pamphili; circa 263-339 AD), Christian historian, Bishop of Caesarea in Palestine (from about 313 AD). His Chronicle (Παντοδαπὴ Ἱστορία, Pantodape historia, Universal History), written in two parts in Greek, has been lost but is known from copied excerpts and translations in Latin (by Saint Jerome around 380 AD) and Armenian.

The second part, Chronological Canons (Greek, Χρονικοὶ Κανόνες, Chronikoi kanones), contained tables of parallel timelines of historical events, including a list of Olympic Games and winners (mainly in the stadion running race) from 776 BC to 217 AD.

13, 14 & 15. Plutarch (Πλούταρχος; name as Roman citizen Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus, Μέστριος Πλούταρχος, circa 46-120 AD), Greek historian, biographer and essayist, born in Chaeronea, Boeotia, central Greece. His best known surviving works are The Parallel Lives and Moralia. He also served as a priest at the oracle in the Temple of Apollo, Delphi.

16. Cassius Dio (circa 155 or 163/164 - after 229 AD), Roman consul and historian who wrote his Historia Romana in 80 volumes. Roman History, Book LIV. Loeb Classical Library, Harvard University Press, 1914-1927. Also at LacusCurtius.

17. Marcus Agrippa as "benefactor and saviour"

Detail of a marble bust from a herm
from Delphi, tentatively identified as a
portrait of Plutarch, or the Neoplatonic
philosopher Plotinus.

Roman Imperial period,
2nd or 3rd century AD.

18. The inscription dedicating the Pedestal to Agrippa

Chandler's version:

Following the publication of both versions, scholars - including William Martin Leake and Charles Robert Cockerell - concurred that Chandler was mistaken in his mention of "the friend of Caius" (for Caius Caesar Octavianus, alias Augustus). Stuart's version, edited by the later scholars, has been generally accepted.

See inscription IG II² 4122 (and IG II² 4123) at epigraphy.packhum.org.

On 1st November 1813 the English traveller Thomas Smart Hughes (1786-1847) visited the Acropolis with his travelling companion Robert Townley Parker (1793-1879), later Member of Parliament for Preston, and Giovanni Battista Lusieri (1755-1821), the Italian painter employed by Lord Elgin to supervise the removal and shipping of the Elgin Marbles to England.

Hughes mentions that they stood on top of the Pedestal of Agrippa to enjoy the view of the Saronic Gulf (although he does not tell us how they got up there). Of the inscription he tells us he was able to see the name of Agrippa, and writes (curiously in a footnote and not in the main text), "the whole inscription was visible in Chandler's time", confirming other testimonies that the inscription had by then almost completely disappeared. Nevertheless, he agrees with the amended version of the inscription.

Later travellers complained of not being able to see the inscription at all, and thereafter the only mentions of this inscription are repetitions of the reports of 18th and early 19th centuries.

"The inscription, as Fauvel pointed out in manuscript notes, is cut on a surface roughened by the erasure of an earlier inscription, in five lines but with much larger letters, of which a few traces are preserved."

This quote is from an abstract of Dinsmoor's paper, and although this is often cited by recent authors, there is no mention made of the entire paper, which appears not to have been published. In the abstract Dinsmoor offers no new information about the inscription, nor does he give any indication that he or anyone else inspected it closely.

"The following inscription is still visible on the west side of the pedestal:

The city (dedicates this) to Marcus Agrippa, son of Leukios, three times consul and benefactor.

Below this inscription are the traces of an earlier one, which probably referred to Eumenes and was erased."

Recently an information board was set up near the pedestal to explain the monument to visitors, most of whom ignore it as they head up to the top of the Acropolis, keen to see the Parthenon. The board provides the text and translation of the inscription as recorded by Stuart and Revett, and states:

"Agrippa was a benefactor of the city, as indicated by the incised honorary inscription on the western face of the pedestal."

However, it seems odd that of all the hundreds of photos and drawings of the pedestal published in print and online, there is not one of the inscription. Nor is even a drawing or a squeeze of the inscription to be found.

This author has examined the pedestal several times, from all possible angles, in search of this inscription, in differing lighting conditions and at various times of day (the best time should presumably be early afternoon, when the sun is shining), also with the aid of zoom lenses; he has even asked other visitors to the Acropolis if they could spot it. So far this elusive dedication has failed to reveal itself. (see photo above). One can only presume that the inscription must have been removed from the pedestal at some point, and since it is not to be seen either in the Acropolis Museum or the Epigraphical Museum, it is either lost or stored away somewhere.

James Stuart and Nicholas Revett, The antiquities of Athens, volume 2 ("new edition"). Notes on pages 101-102. Priestley and Weale, London, 1825. At Heidelberg University Library.

Richard Chandler, Inscriptiones antiquae, pleraeque nondum editae, in Asia Minori et Graecia, praesertim Athenis collectae : cum appendice, Pars II, XIV. Page xxiii. Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1774. At the Internet Archive.

Chandler adds the Latin translation: "Populus posuit Marcum Agrippam Lucii filium, ter Consulem, Caii amicum."

Richard Chandler, Travels in Greece, or an account of a tour made at the expense of the Society of Dilettanti, chapter IX, page 43. Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1776. At Google Books.

19. Pausanias on the "horsemen" at the Propylaia

Leake translates "made merely to beautify the place" as "made only for the sake of ornament or propriety", adding as a footnote, "Possibly Pausanias may have meant by this word 'loyalty, or a due deference to the Roman government'."

20. Busts of Mark Antony, Cleopatra, Agrippa and Augustus

Marcus Antonius (Mark Antony, 83-30 BC). Marble bust.
Vatican Museum, Rome.

Cleopatra VII (Κλεοπάτρα Φιλοπάτωρ, 69-30 BC), last pharaoh and Ptolemaic ruler of Egypt. Marble portrait head made during her lifetime, around 40-30 BC. Probably from a villa south of Rome.
Height 29.5 cm.
Altes Museum, Berlin. Inv. No. 1976.10.

Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa (circa 63-12 BC). Marble head found in 1893 in the Prytaneion of Magnesia on the Meander, Turkey. Thought to be a portrait of Agrippa, dated to 1-25 AD.
Altes Museum, Berlin. Inv. No. 28.6.

Compare the image above to the bust of Agrippa, right, the marble original of which is in the Louvre, Paris. Discovered in 1792 on the site of the ancient town of Gabii, east of Rome. From the Borghese Collection; purchased for the Louvre in 1807.
Height of original 46 cm.
Inv. No. Ma 1208 (MR 402).

21. Carl Wilhelm von Heideck (1788-1861) was a Bavarian military officer and philhellene who fought for Greece in the Greek War of Independence and took part in several battles, including the unsuccessful attempt to relieve Athens from the Turkish siege in 1827.

In 1828 Ioannis Kapodistrias, Governor of Greece, appointed him commander of Nafplion, and soon after he became the military governor of Argos.

Cast of the bust of Agrippa
from the marble original
(41-54 AD) in the Louvre.

22. Aemilius Paullus Monument at Delphi

The monument (also known as the Pydna Monument), which stood in front the Temple of Apollo in Delphi (near the monuments of Eumenes II and Prusias II, see photo above), was originally commissioned by Perseus (Περσεύς, circa 212-166 BC), the last Macedonian king of the Antigonid dynasty. Following his defeat by the Roman consul and general Lucius Aemilius Paullus Macedonicus (circa 229-160 BC) at the First Battle of Pydna on 22 June 168 BC *, the victor had the pillar rededicated with an equestrian statue of himself.

Plutarch (who was a priest at Delphi) and Livy both narrated how Aemilius Paullus appropriated the pillar:

"At Delphi, he saw a tall square pillar composed of white marble stones, on which a golden statue of Perseus was intended to stand, and gave orders that his own statue should be set there, for it was meet that the conquered should make room for their conquerors."

Plutarch's Lives: The Life of Aemilius, Chapter 28, section 2. English Translation by Bernadotte Perrin. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA; William Heinemann Ltd, London, 1918. At Perseus Digital Library.

"... and with a moderate retinue, [Aemilius Paullus] began his journey, accompanied by his son Scipio, and Athenaeus, brother of king Eumenes [Eumenes II of Pergamon], and directed his route through Thessaly to the famous oracle at Delphi; where he offered sacrifices to Apollo, and, in honour of his victory, destined for his own statues some unfinished columns in the vestibule, on which they had intended to place statues of king Perseus."

Titus Livius (Livy), History of Rome, Book 45, chapter 27. Translated by William A. McDevitte. Henry G. Bohn, London, 1850. At Perseus Digital Library.

The monument's dedication was inscribed in Latin on a marble slab (see photo below):

L. AIMILIUS L. F. INPERATOR DE REGE PERSE MACEDONIBUSQUE CEPET

L. Aemilius, son of Lucius, commander-in-chief, seized [this] from King Perseus and the Macedonians.

The various reference numbers have been assigned to the inscription according to several epigraphical publications, including ILLRP 00323 (page 326).

At the top of the pillar a relief depicting the Battle of Pydna ran around all four sides, with a separate scene on each side. It is thought that each scene illustrates an episode from the battle, and scholars have attempted to equate them with accounts by Livy and Plutarch. There has been much speculation about the possibility that some of the figures of the relief are meant to represent specific individuals (even the riderless horse, to be seen in the photo above). Livy's mention of plural "unfinished columns" intended for statues of Perseus, the type of armour and shields depicted, as well as other inscriptions associated with the monument, have also fuelled much scholarly debate.

Estimated height of pillar 9.58 metres (some sources 9.97 metres).
Upper plinth supporting the statue 1.25 x 2.45 metres.
Frieze height 31 cm; entire length about 6.5 metres.

The monument was excavated by the French Archeological School in Athens 1893-1896. Only the foundation and some of the blocks of the pillar remain at the site in Delphi; the inscription and frieze can be be seen in Room XII of the Delphi Archaeological Museum.

See:

M. F. Courby, Topgraphie et Architecture: La Terrasse du Temple. Fouilles du Delphes, Tome II, Chapitre IX: Les monuments votifs dans la région du temple. École française d'Athènes. Éditions de Boccard, Paris, 1927. At the Internet Archive.

Chapter IX deals with preliminary studies of the remains of votive monuments found around the Temple of Apollo, including the pedestals of Prusias II, Eumenes II and Aemilius Paullus (see illustration, right).

About the inscriptions on the monuments: Fouilles de Delphes, Tome III, Ascicule IV: Inscriptions de la terrasse du temple et de la région nord du sanctuaire. Nos. 1 à 86, Monuments de Messéniens de Paul-Émile et de Prusias par Gaston Colin. École française d'Athènes. Éditions de Boccard, Paris, 1930. At the Internet Archive.

Heinz Kähler, Der Fries vom Reiterdenkmal des Aemilius Paullus in Delphi. Monumenta Artis Romanae, V. Gebr. Mann, Berlin, 1965.

Jerome Jordan Pollitt, Art in the Hellenistic Age, pages 156-157. Cambridge University Press, 1986.

Linda Marie Günther, L. Aemilius Paullus und „sein“ Pfeilerdenkmal in Delphi. In: Ch. Schubert und K. Broderson, Rom und der griechische Osten (Festschrift Hatto H. Schmitt), pages 81-85. Franz Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart, 1995.

One of the early reconstruction drawings of the Aemilius Paullus Monument, made by members
of l'École française d'Athènes.

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