This monument was erected in 335-4 BCE to commemorate a victory in a music and drama competition won by Lysikrates and his chorus. His prize was a tripod, originally mounted on the top of the cylindrical structure. It is the only one remaining in a street that once had many, leading to the theatre. The theatre is named after Dionysos; he was the patron god of the drama festivals of Athens.
The monument is one of the earliest in Greece to use the Corinthian architectural order. The frieze running around the top of the monument shows Dionysos and his satyrs attacking some pirates who had kidnapped him. The defeated pirates jumped overboard and turned into dolphins.
These casts were made from other casts taken by Fauvel in the late eighteenth century. As the frieze is still in its original position in the streets of Athens, much of the detail visible on these casts has since weathered away
In situ
Purchased in 1922
Lippold: Griechische Plastik, 271 (n.10), pl. 94.3
Richter: Sculpture & Sculptors of the Greeks (1950), fig.491
Lawrence: Later Greek Sculpture (1927), appendix, 94
Thallon-Hill: Ancient City of Athens, 105- & 234, chapter XI (n.2) for more publications
Brunn-Bruckmann: Denkmäler Griechischer und Römischer Skulptur, 488
De Cou: American Journal of Archaeology, 1893, p.42, pl. II-III
Camp: The Archaeology of Athens (2001), 147
Harrison & Verrall: Mythology and Monuments of Ancient Athens (1890), 244
On the building, not on the frieze
In situ
