Author: E. Santagati

scarica l’articolo in formato .pdf:  Rhegion arcaica e i santuari panellenici

 

One of the most intriguing aspects of the archaic age tyrannies of Magna Graecia is the political and religious usage of ex voto. Through these manifestations, tyrants and illustrious citizens acquired a norm that had already been followed by the aristocracy in homeland. By doing so, they intended to establish and/or legitimize their own status and political power. In particular, in Mikythos’s Rhegion the 5th cent. BC bronze ex-voto displayed its utmost value: the tradition recounts that Mikythos, a virtuous man, dedicated a large number of bronze statues to Olimpia, in order to comply with a vow he made after a terrible illness had caught his son. Of this collection it is worth stressing the symbolic power of the portrayed characters. Indeed, they represent a compendium and at the same time a powerful display of the ideological and cultural legacy of the most important western tyrannies.