GREEK VOTIVE RELIEFS TO PAN AND THE NYMPHS

The purpose of this thesis is to collect and study the votive reliefs dedicated to Pan and the Nymphs during the Classical and Hellenistic periods in Greece. The work is divided into two parts: text and catalogue.;Chapter I of the text serves as a background to our study of the reliefs. Various aspects of the cult of the Nymphs and Pan are explored both in mythology, and in the physical remains of their cave sanctuaries. Nymphs are related to fresh water springs and in that context many aspects of their character can be understood. As goddesses of fresh water they appear as virginal girls, often under the protection of the two Olympians whom they most resemble: Artemis and Athena.;The evidence from their cave sanctuaries suggests that votive reliefs to the Nymphs were set up on stelai outside the entrance of the cave. The most famous sanctuary of the Nymphs in the city of Athens was the Klepsydra. A re-evaluation of the evidence suggests that Pan was worshiped in the cave directly above the Klepsydra.;Chapter II is a discussion of the figural types used by votive relief carvers of the Classical period. A close study of the previous chronology for the reliefs suggests a downward shift in the dates, and that the typical cave frame was not introduced until around 340 B.C.;Several figural types found on the votive reliefs appear on neo-Attic reliefs of the Antonine period. The evidence suggests that the latter are scale copies of an original monument which supplied the votive relief carvers with new figural types. This monument was the statue base of Dionysos Eleutherios carved in Athens ca. 340 B.C.;Chapter III studies the archaistic and non-archaistic reliefs of the Hellenistic period in Athens. Again, an attempt is made to specify the iconographic source for these reliefs. Archaistic compositions serving as prototypes were the Round Dance, the Corinthian "Puteal" Types, Dionysos and Four Seasons, and Dionysos and Three Nymphs. Evidence suggests that an unspecified late Classical monument which carried mantle dancers also provided Hellenistic carvers with non-archaistic figural types.;Chapter IV collects the evidence for the spread of Attic motifs throughout the Greek world.;The catalogue lists each of the 113 preserved reliefs. Each piece is completely described and discussed in terms of date and iconography.