DH.007 Priest's House in the Sanctuary of Athena at Delphi

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Creator

Denis Baly

Creation Year

1978

Image ID

DH.007

Subcollection

DH: Delphi

Abstract

A view of the foundation of the 'Priest's House,' a traditional name for a structure that has been difficult for archaeologists to definitely explain. It was most likely a hestiatorion, or dining hall, used for banquets by the sanctuary staff.

Description

The westernmost building of the Sanctuary of Athena, this structure is traditionally referred to as the 'Priest's House,' but has undergone many different interpretations since it's discovery. The architecture consists of two large rooms side by side, with an enclosed porch running along the south. It was first discovered in 1901 by french archaeologists, but a lack of distinguishing artifacts made identifying the structure rather difficult. The original archaeologist, Théophile Homolle, wrote that it could be a 'priests house or archive building' (Bookidis 149), and subsequent investigations suspected it was a treasury, visitor's house, and workshop for the rest of the temple. The workshop identification, published by J. Bousquet in 1969, must have been the interpretation Baly was exposed or partial to during his visit, since this is how he refers to the structure in his written material (see slide/index notes). It is difficult to say how widespread and accepted this workshop opinion was or how long it took to fade out of the literature, but it appears as though the current standing theory was first proposed in 1983 by Nancy Bookidis. In this view she compares the site as a whole to analogous ones in Brauron (Vravrona) and Perachora, and finds that similar structures in those sites are very well identified as Hestiatoria, or dining halls, used for ceremonial meals by religious personell of the sanctuary. Given that he lived until 1987, it is possible that Baly saw this paper but it would probably be incorrect to point to his unmodified notes as resistance to the newer interpretation. The photo was taken from the eastern main room, towards the middle of the structure, facing out over the porch looking over the mountainside. Notable in the photo are the different masonry styles present in the walls, where exterior facing walls are cut from thick smooth limestone, while internal ones use small polygonal stonework. The presence of trees growing inside the structure is characteristic of the state of many greek sites at the time, however as the sites have adapted for more frequent tourism they have been widely removed.

Image Notes

Creation date unknown. Photograph processed July 1978. Notes written on the slide or index: Workshop - Delphi.

Image Format

35 mm slide

Geographic Reference

Delfoi, Greece