Armchair Archaeology: The Use and Reuse of Thrones in Athens and Attica (20 min)

Presenters

Catherine Keesling, Georgetown University

Abstract

Stone thrones, despite being heavy and unwieldly, were collectibles that moved with surprising frequency not only in modern times (witness the travels of the so-called Elgin Throne now in the J. Paul Getty Museum), but also in antiquity. Tracing the serendipitous afterlives of these understudied objects sheds unexpected light upon the evolving functions of their settings in Athens and Attica.

The use of thrones in Athenian sanctuaries and theaters in the Classical period is well attested by extant examples, such as the marble thrones from the Acropolis inscribed as seats for the priests of Boötes and Hephaistos (IG II/III3 4 3 2025a and b) in the second half of the fourth century B.C.E. At the same time, it is clear that thrones attracted renewed interest in the Roman period especially. As evidence, we can point to the inscriptions added to preexisting stone prohedriai in the Theater of Dionysos, the majority of them dating to the Augustan and Hadrianic periods (IG II/III3 4 3 1882–2023).

Though the thrones dedicated to Themis and to Nemesis (IG II/III2 4 2 1419a and b) at Rhamnous can be dated to the fourth century B.C.E. by their inscriptions, their placement inside the late Archaic polygonal temple together with classical and Hellenistic statues can be explained as a new display connected with the rededication of the classical temple to Livia. In the Athenian Agora, a late archaic or classical poros limestone double throne inside the north annex in front of the Stoa Basileios, with close parallels elsewhere in Athens and Attica, was reused to support two archaic or fifth-century herms.