The Reliefs on the Theater of Dionysos in Athens
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4915347 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Mary C Sturgeon (corresponding author) |
| Year | 1977 |
| Volume | 81 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 31-53 |
| Publication date | 1977-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | American Journal of Archaeology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0002-9114 • E-ISSN: 1939-828X |
| Publisher | University of Chicago Press (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.2307/503646 |
| OpenAlex | W2322929322 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 12 |
| References cited | 3 |
Four stone reliefs decorate the late Roman stage front, or "Phaedrus bema," of the Theater of Dionysos in Athens. The reliefs depict scenes from the life of Dionysos: 1. The Birth of Dionysos; 2. Entrance of Dionysos into Attica; 3. Sacred Marriage of Dionysos and the Basilinna; 4. The Enthronement of Dionysos. The iconography of the reliefs, although related to Dionysiac sarcophagi and to the late Hellenistic Ikarios reliefs, possesses a high degree of originality and independence from established types. An artist well acquainted with the standard modes of depicting Dionysos here creatively adapts old myths to form compositions suitable to a new setting and with increased importance to Attica. The Hadrianic date of the reliefs indicates that they are reused material in their present position. It is here proposed that the original destination of the sculptures was the Hadrianic stage front, rather than an altar near the theater, as formerly supposed. The composition, height of relief, and frontality of the figures support this hypothesis, as do parallels among a number of Roman reliefs known to have been designed as theater decoration. Reliefs securely identified as altar decoration differ significantly in compositional features, such as clarity of outline, amount of decorative detail, and variety of pose. The Athens theater reliefs, although not the earliest example of this type of architectural sculpture, provide the first known instance in which narrative episodes from the life of Dionysos are created for the structure most closely associated with his cult. Their subsequent influence on the tradition of theater reliefs is reflected in the great theaters of Side, Perge, and Hierapolis in Asia Minor
Altar · Ancient history · Art · Art history · Cult · Iconography · Literature · Mythology · Originality · Sculpture · Visual arts · Ancient Mediterranean Archaeology and History · Archaeology and Historical Studies · Classical Antiquity Studies · History
Historicizing Fertility
Lycurgus of Boutadai
Metamorphoses of Tradition
Dynamics of the Greek ‘Breakthrough’
A Sense of Agency
Classics and Colonialism
Reliefs of the Phaedrus Bema in the Theatre of Dionysus in Athens
Dancing with decorum
The Strangeness of Gods
The Preservation, Restoration, and (Re)Construction of Pagan Cult Places in Late Antiquity, with Particular Attention to Mainland Greece (Fourth–Fifth Centuries)
A New Monument to Herakles at Delphi
A Mythological Frieze Sarcophagus from Aphrodisias Depicting the Birth of Dionysos
| Unique citing works | 12 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,25 |
| Citation span | 1978 - 2023 (46) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 12 |