View topic - [RESEARCH] The Delphi Omphalos in Classical Art

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Forum index » Archive » Archive: General » ARG: Find the Lost Ring

[RESEARCH] The Delphi Omphalos in Classical Art

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ThaJinx
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Joined: 24 Oct 2004
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[RESEARCH] The Delphi Omphalos in Classical Art

Every Wednesday is my Classical Myth in Art course. It's a senior level seminar that is mainly about identifying iconography in art, but we spend a lot of time discussing the sociological importance of some of the myths (Freudian issues, feminism, etc). Literally a few minutes after Ariadne logged into gtalk this afternoon, we covered the myth of Orestes, and was pretty well surprised when we began discussion on the recurring visual theme of the omphalos. I sent out a tweet about it, at which point I figured that was the end of it.

ThaJinx wrote:

Discussing the appearance of the Delphi Omphalos in classical art. No joke.

Ariadne had other plans.

ariadnelost wrote:

wishing ThaJinx would say more about the Delphi Omphalos!

The folks in chat suggested posting something in the forums at http://www.findthelostring.com since I was skeptical to try to fit it all into tweets.

The following is crossposted at http://forums.findthelostring.com/thread/1445

ThaJinx wrote:

Earlier today, while in my Classical Myth in Art course I mentioned on twitter that we were at that very moment discussing the Delphi Omphalos. Ariadne has requested that I elaborate a little, so I've decided to post a bit more here since I'd rather not flood everyone with tweets Smile

This week we mainly covered the myth of Orestes, the son of Agamemnon. Orestes' father was responsible for gathering the Greek armies that invaded Troy following the abduction of Helen, and at the close of the war Agamemnon took Priam's daughter Cassandra - by rights a Trojan princess - home as his own personal concubine. Agamemnon's wife, Clytemnestra, was none too pleased, and took an axe to him.

Orestes is whisked from the country by his sister Electra, and at the age of twenty is convinced by her to return home and avenge his father's death. This is a big deal, because it's a violation of the ties of family piety, but the god Apollo gives the go ahead to Orestes and decides that the upholding of his father's honor is of greater importance than the dangers of impeding on his mother. So, with the god's blessing, Orestes slays his mother and her lover Aegisthus.

At this point, all hell breaks loose, and the Erinyes pursue Orestes to punish him for his murderous act. At this point, Orestes takes refuge in the temple at Delphi, and before he can meet the consequences of his actions, Athena arranges a formal trial of the case. The judges are split on the verdict, at which point Athena breaks the tie by voting acquittal.

Okay, story time is over. The connection here is that in most art, Orestes can be recognized either in the act of killing Clytemnestra or taking refuge in the temple at Delphi.

And when he's hiding out at Delphi, guess what he's clinging to?

Aye, it's the Delphi Omphalos. I'm having a hard time finding more imagery of Orestes clinging to it, but it's a pretty common visual theme when it comes to Orestes' flight to Delphi.

So there you go! A little bit of classical art history and Greek myth for you!

Posted: Thu Apr 03, 2008 12:29 am

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