The sculpture was found on a rubbish heap in Delphi
Posted on 04/24/2007 8:51:46 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
A sculpture found in Greece in 1939 may have been part of King Midas' lost throne, an archaeologist has said. The 23cm-tall ivory sculpture, known to scholars as The Lion Tamer, has puzzled historians of classical Greece since its discovery... Keith DeVries, of the University of Pennsylvania's Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, said there are signs that it once adorned Midas' royal throne... Mr DeVries said the sculpture appears to be Phrygian and to have been produced around the time that Midas was alive... According to Mr DeVries, Midas donated his throne as a gift to Delphi, where it was stored in the Corinthian treasury. The piece was found in a rubbish heap near the Corinthian Treasury in Delphi - the same place where Herodotus claimed to have seen the Midas throne in the fifth century.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.bbc.co.uk ...
The sculpture was found on a rubbish heap in Delphi
(I’d had the above story in a file, and apparently never used it; found it when I was storing this one this morning)
University Of Pennsylvania Archaeologist Asserts That
Enigmatic Ivory Statuette May Be Part Of
The Throne Of The Famed King Midas
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2002/01/020103074806.htm
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Shouldn’t it be gold?
Was Midas a miser?
Found on a rubbish heap? After being received as a gift to the gods from a fabulously wealthy king?
Maybe the priests thought it was similar to getting a canned fruitcake from someone for Christmas that has a date of 1945 on the bottom.
The wood frame probably either rotted or was burned. Delphi was closed by one of the Roman emperors, and had been business for centuries prior to that, so the wonderful gifts gradually became junk while setting around the temple.
http://www.pbs.org/empires/thegreeks/keyevents/1400_c.html
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2001/08/0814_delphioracle.html
Every museum has tons of stuff, donated by well-intentioned and sometimes wealthy donors looking for a ‘bennie’, sitting around in their storage basements.
Sometimes they get rid of the stuff through ‘deaccession’ which is a euphemism for ‘dump it.’
The Romans regularly stole whatever art they could, whether in statuary or smaller pieces, from conquered lands, not excluding their temples.
Sorry you didn’t appear to get my “fruitcake humor”
Even talking about fruitcake [clunk!] whoa... where am I? Uh, it’s just too traumatic.
You know those fruitcakes in a tin that people give as presents?
I bet you didn’t know that there are only 273 of them in the entire world. It’s a fact. They are simply re-wrapped and given as presents to some unfortunate holder in due course who then has to pass them on the next year.
:’) Around here those candied fruits used in fruitcake are marketed and sold late in the year. I think the regifted ones probably wind up in landfill.
(time index set to the Delphi segment)Mysteries of the Ancient World - Myths and Legends (at 43:15)
March 13, 2016 | Questar Entertainment
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