VideoNET: Ancient Greece

Delos was the most important Panhellenic sanctuary, and, according to mythology, the birthplace of Apollo and Artemis.

Delos was a sacred place with splendid buildings and sanctuaries and as such, it was never forgotten; travellers who visited the island in the last centuries preserve many references.

The most important monuments of the site are:

	Sample Movies
Download the below samlple movie(s) in QuckTime format. Ancient Delos (4.26 MB) Erotic Delos (1.47 MB) Delian Treusures (1.58 MB) Delian Citizens (1.06 MB) Delian House (2.06 MB)
Right click on the above links and choose 'Save (Target) as...'

The Agora of the Competaliasts
One of the main markets of the Hellenistic city is an open square directlyabutting the Sacred Harbour, paved with large flat stones of gneiss, many of which have post-holes for tents.

The Temple of the Delians
The Temple of the Delians or Grand Temple is the latest and largest of the three temples dedicated to Apollo. It is a "peripteral"

The Minoan Fountain
The Minoan Fountain, referred to in the inscriptions and identified by a relief bearing a dedication to "Minoan Nymphs", is a public well hewn in the rock.

Terrace of the Lions
The marble lions dedicated to Apollo by the Naxians at the end of 7th century B.C. stand in a row facing eastwards, towards the Sacred Lake. They are reckoned originally to have been sixteen in number, but only five lions exists today and the remains of three more.

The Establishment of the Poseidoniasts from Beirut
It was the club house of an association of Syrian shippers, merchants, bankers, and warehousemen bound up by their desire for racial kinship and the desire to worship the national gods but also for the protection of their commercial interests.

The Stoivadeion
Rectangular platform to the NW of the Sanctuary, containing a statue of Dionysos flanked by two actors impersonating Paposilenoi . On either side of the platform, a pillar supports a huge phallus, the symbol of Dionysos.

The Theatre
The preserved marble theatre was constructed at the beginning of the 3rd century B.C. and replaced an earlier, wooden one. The first row of seats, which is for the privileged, is followed by twenty-six stone tiers in the lower part and seventeen more in the epitheatron, divided by eight stairways into seven cunei, that could accommodate about 5.500 spectators.

Temple of Isis
Small Doric temple within a sanctuary shared by the familiar triad Serapis, Isis and Anubis, located on a high terrace by the foothill of Cynthus.

The Temple of Hera
Doric temple constructed in around 500 B.C. In the remains of this earlier temple, a large number of Archaic vases and other votive offerings were foun, many of which bear incised votive inscriptions to Hera.

The "House of Dionysos"
The "House of Dionysos", thus named after the famous mosaic floor depicting Dionysos riding a panther, is a good example of a private residence, dating from the last quarter of the 2nd century B.C.

The present exhibition is arranged in nine rooms. Six rooms contain the statues and reliefs found in Delos , one of the best collections in the world .
Two rooms contain pottery ranging from the prehistoric to the late Hellenistic period, and the last one contains various objects of everyday life, found in the private houses.

The museum includes the following collections:

• Funerary statues and grave stelae ranging from the 7th to the 1st century B.C.
• Pottery ranging from the 25th to the 1st century B.C.
• Clay figurines dating from the 2nd-1st centuries B.C.
• Jewellery and small objects dating from the 2nd-1st centuries B.C.
• Mosaics of the 2nd-1st centuries B.C.

The most important items of the exhibition are:

Ivory plaque. The figure of a Mycenaean warrior is represented in relief. He is carrying an 8-shaped shield and a long spear and has on a helemt made of wild boar's teeth.

Torso of a kouros. It was found in the sanctuary of Apollo and most probably was the product of a Parian workshop. Dated to the middle of the 6th century B.C.

Marble statue of Boreas. The figure is the personification of the north wind, abducting the Athenian princess Oreithya. It was the central acroterion of the east pediment of the temple dedicated by the Athenians in 417 B.C.

Marble statues of Dioscourides and Kleopatra, an Athenian couple living on Delos. They were found inside the couple's house, in the Theatre Quarter and, according to the inscription on the base, were erected by Kleopatra in 138 B.C. in order to honour her husband who dedicated two silver tripods to the temple of Apollo. I

Marble statue of Apollo. It follows the type of Apollo Lyceios, which is attributed to the great sculptor Praxiteles. The god is represented leaning on a tree and stepping on a heap of Gallic shields. . It was found in a private house in the Theatre Quarter and dates from the 2nd century B.C.

Corinthian "alabastron". Small, perfumed-oil container, decorated with a representation of "Potnia Theron" , Protectress of hunting, among two swans. It was found in the Heraion along with many other similar vases and is a characteristic example of Corinthian production during the end of the 7th century B.C.

Inscribed triangular base of a kouros statue decorated with the head of a ram on one corner and Gorgon's heads on the other two. It was found in the Sanctuary of Apollo and dates from the second half of the 7th century B.C.

Archaic statue of a young woman (kore). It was found in the Sanctuary of Apollo and is one of the oldest surviving specimens of large-scale sculpture. The young woman is represented standing, dressed in a tight peplos decorated in front with an incised vertical double maeander. Parian work dated to ca. 580 B.C.

Wall-painting from the exterior wall of a house in Skardana Quarter. It bears the representation of Heracles, two boxers and another man playing the flute or a trompet.