n t p u o t p s 1 t n f r y e o t T n w tBeginnings of the Big Dig
Founded in 1846, the French School at Athens
was in close competition with its German coun-
terpart, the German Archaeological Institute, for
access to sites in Greece. When the Germans
were granted exclusive rights to excavate Olym-
pia in 1874, the French lobbied hard for exclusive
access to other classical sites.
In 1881 Greek prime minister Aléxandros
Koumoundhoúros put exclusive access to Del-
phi on the table. He offered Delphi to France
in exchange for its support in Greek territorial
claims. The French were hesitant, and so began a
10-year period of negotiations, which the French
called the “Trojan War.” Delphi became a bar-
gaining chip. In the end, King
George I of Greece signed
an agreement on April
13, 1891, allowing the
French to work ex-
clusively at the site.
The Grande
Fouille (Big Dig)
was due to begin in
September 1892,notyet been paid for their lands, turned up at
he entrance and refused to allow anyone in. The
police were called to protect the archaeologists
until the villagers werepaid.
Work continued from 1892to1901 and was
overseen byThéophile Homolle, future direc-
or of the Louvre Museum. It was a complex
project: The site measured more than 200,000
squarefeet; there were 200laborers workingfor
0 hours a day; and nearly two and a half milesof
rain track had to be laid to support the 75 cars
necessary tohaulawayover one million cubic
feetof excavated earth.
Despite the difficulties of the location—wind,
ain,androckfalls—the French efforts soon
yielded wonderful results. In 1893 they uncov-
ered the main altar of Apollo’s temple, the Altar
ofth eChians, as well as theSybil rock where
he Pythia made her prophecies. The Athenian
Treasury, also discovered in 1893, featured a truly
noteworthy find: stone blocks inscribedwith the
words and notated music of the Hymn to Apollo.
Dating to different eras of occupa-
ions of the site, statues of athletesSAVED BY
THE BURIAL
THIS SCULPTURE is one of the ones that seem to have been
buried beneath the Sacred Way in antiquity, where it was
found in a votive deposit along with other offerings. It is
a chryselephantine (ivory and gold) statue that many
believe represents the god Apollo. The face is charred
from a fire that seems to have led to the Sanctuary of
Delphi being rebuilt in the sixth or fifth centuryB.C.It
is believed that the Apollo figure is a creation from a
workshop in Ionia (in present-day Turkey), and some
scholars consider it to be part of the magnificent of-
ferings made by Croesus, the wealthy king of Lydia
in the sixth century B.C. The survival and burial of
Apollo and the other pieces is due to their sacred
nature: They could not be sold or reworked.APOLLO’S SMILE IS A TYPICAL FEATURE OF THE ARCHAIC PERIOD OF
GREEK ART. DELPHI ARCHAEOLOGICAL MUSEUM
KEN WELSH/ALAMY/ACITHE OMPHALOS, OR NAVEL, OF THE WORLD IS REPRESENTED BY THIS
STONE. FIFTH CENTURY B.C. DELPHI ARCHAEOLOGICAL MUSEUM, GREECE
ERICH LESSING/ALBUM