Treasuries in Greece

Treasuries in ancient Greece were commissioned by a polis, or city-state, from all over the Greek world (Pedley 139). Treasuries were pressent in most sanctuaries throughout Greece but were especially prominent at Delphi, Olympia and Delos (Neer 64). Due to the diverse examples of architecture, friezes, metopes, sculpture, and internal objects remaining, it is evident that a treasury was valued as not only as a storage building for treasures and spoils, but also as a representative of its polis.

Treasuries were places which held the booty from wars in addition to offerings to the Gods. Many of the objects within the treasury functioned primarily as a tribute (Cahill 387). Most treasuries were small, one chamber rectangular rooms with thick windowless walls and one entrance on a raised porch (Pedley 74). This layout was designed to prevent intruders from looting the objects from within the treasury.

The Sanctuary of Zeus in Olympia was located in a row on the north east side of the sanctuary and held many treasuries. While the specific polis that represented some of the treasuries is debated, it is known that Corinth, Gela, Syracuse, Metapontum, Sybaris, Cyrene, Byzantium and Sikyon all had treasury at this site. The Geloan Treasury is thought to be one of the oldest of these treasuries; its columns were built with wood and latter replaced with stone. There is no evidence of the presence of friezes or metopes so it is not considered to be in the Doric order despite having a Doric porch that was added many generations after its origional construction. The Metapontines Treasury used triglyphs and metopes and was thought to be one of the first examples of the Doric order. The Sicyonian Treasury used a simplified version of this style possibly inspiring the creators of the Parthenon (Neely 73).

In the Sanctuary of Apollo at Delphi, the Treasury of the Athenians was thought to have begun construction the summer of 489 B.C.E. (Neer 74). The Athenian Treasury is in the Doric order, thus the frieze uses triglyphs and classic style metopes that show late archaic elements. The treasuries façade was constructed entirely with white Parian marble with metopes and pediments carved in high relief (Neer 64). The Alkmaeonids provided the Parian marble which exceeded their contributing obligation considerably (Pedley 139). The columns are in archaic fashion, 6 columns by 15 on the flank (Pedley 139). This was a strong architectural choice the treasury was able to support not only its own weight but also a tiled roof.

In contrast, the Siphnian Treasury of Delphi was in the Ionic order; the frieze was larger and continuous (Watrous 159). The Siphnian Treasury also replaced two columns with sculptures of caryatids. Both treasuries face toward the path of the Sacred Way in the Sanctuary of Apollo and are visible to worshipers walking along the path. This positioning was a way to advertise the success of a polis. The Siphnian treasury glorified the polis it represented and did not simply store votives, it nationalized them (Neer 65).

Primary Sources:
Euripides’ Herakles