Neoptolemos: Zu einer Reliefbasis aus Athen – ein Denkmal der Kulturpolitik des Lykurg

Abstract

The relief fragment Athens, NM Inv. 2636 was confiscated in 1904 in Piraeus. The preserved segment of the relief is dominated by the figure of a warrior with a shield, who moves left towards a cult image of Apollo set upon a base and holding a bow in his left hand. At the right-hand edge of the segment the right foot is preserved of another figure, who the warrior turns his head back to. The warrior is recognized as being Neoptolemos, fleeing from his persecutors to the sanctuary of Apollo at Delphi. Technical details establish securely that the fragment comes from a relief frieze that was situated inside a sanctuary of Apollo Pythios in Athens. It is known that in Athens Apollo Pythios was also worshipped as Apollo Patroos, whose temple was erected on the Agora. Given the tradition that the gilding of the altar of Apollo Patroos was financed by the very wealthy Athenian Neoptolemos, son of Antikles, we propose the hypothesis that the same man may also have borne the cost of producing the statue, which would account for the choice of the Neoptolemos myth for the relief decoration of the statue base. The latter conjecture necessarily leads to the probable provenance of the confiscated fragment being the Athens Agora.