Ο Θησαυρός των Σιφνίων - EO Livadias Amfissas

Dedications of Sifnia to Delphi.

Great place to feel the history!

The treasure dedicated to Delphi by the inhabitants of Sifnos was one of the most brilliant and richly decorated buildings in the sanctuary of Apollo. It was one of the first treasures that one encountered while climbing the Holy Road and was located on its left side, next to the treasure of the Peloponnesian Sikyona and opposite that of Megara. Inside it was kept the precious offerings that the Sifnians offered from time to time in the sanctuary. The tradition for the founding of the treasure is mentioned by Herodotus and Pausanias. According to it, in the second half of the 6th c. e.g. the Sifnians were the richest of all the islanders, because they had made great profits from the exploitation of the gold and silver mines that existed in their place. So they decided to give Apollo one-tenth of their profits, and so they built the treasure. Based on the plastic decoration, the date of the monument dates back to around 525 BC. The building is small in size in the form of a church and for its construction the people of Sifnos transported expensive white marble from Paros. Today, only the foundations and an ankle from the decoration of the base are kept in place from the treasure of Sifnia. All the surviving sculptural decoration of the building has been preserved and is on display at the Archaeological Museum of Delphi.