CHORAGIC MONUMENT

large, freestanding pedestal that formed the display base for an athletic or choral prize won at an ancient Greek festival. Although the only surviving example is the choragic Monument of Lysicrates, or Lamp of Diogenes, erected in Athens in 334 BC, literary evidence of their existence may be found in Virgil's Aeneid. Erected in honour of victory at Dionysia, the Monument of Lysicrates has a 9.5-foot (2.9-metre) square foundation that is 13 feet (4 m) high and topped by a circular edifice 21 feet (6.4 m) high made of Pentelic marble. Upon this edifice rests a circular structure supported by six Corinthian columns, the latter being the earliest surviving examples of that order. The entablature of the monument supports a shallow dome, which, in turn, is the base of three scrolls intended to hold the tripod trophy (now missing). Although hollow, the interior of the monument was not intended for use. A frieze on the monument shows the Tyrrhenian pirates being turned into dolphins by the god Dionysius.