Treasuries and the gifts they house

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Treasuries and the gifts they house
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Thêsauroi or Treasure Houses
Any place or building where the currency,items of
high value, or gifts to the gods are kept.

• Dedications, set up by individual or community,
  were to celebrate victories, pay a vow or a fine,
  express gratitude for success or safety, and
  advertise a donor.
• When on display, a small gift from an individual
  becomes a nationalized gift and serves to produce
  a better relationship with the gods.

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Characteristics of Treasuries

• Extraterritorial dedications Built far away from
  the cities which commissioned them (Athenians and
  Siphnians as acting patrons).
• Retain a special link with the cities that built
  them they house votive offerings of the
  citizenry.
• Built by states, not by clans or individuals
  (unless a tyrant) All citizens become collective
  dedicates.
• Building materials could possess the native stone
  from the location of the treasury or could be
  imported from the commissioning city at a great
  cost.

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Treasuries And Delphi

• The Athenian Treasury, currently restored, was
  originally built around 500 B.C. to display
  stolen goods from the Battle of Marathon.
• City-states around Delphi erected treasuries in
  order to house gifts given to Apollo in
  appreciation for his oracles and for other
  assistance given.
• The Siphnian Treasury, established around 525
  B.C., used caryatids as supports offering greater
  decoration.

Siphnian Treasury caryatid
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Dedications

• Statues were the earliest type of gift but
  quickly crowded the more popular treasuries.
• Votive offerings made of painted wood or
  terracotta were given by the poor.
• Reliefs became used on the buildings, themselves,
  as they proved to vary in size and quality and
  were less expensive.

Charioteer of Delphi Dedicated by Polyzalos in
the Sanctuary of Apollo Bronze, c.a. 470
B.C. Archeological Museum, Delphi