bronze tripod with horses (medium)

Height to top of the handles: 27cm, Diameter of bowl: 16cm

Tripods - from the Greek 'tripous', meaning 'three footed' - were often awarded as symbols of achievement, status, and hospitality. In Homer's Iliad and Odyssey they were a token of friendship between host and guest, and were given as prizes for winning in games. In the Classical period, vases show that they continued to be awarded as prizes for athletic competitions.

The tripod is associated with Apollo, god of oracles and prophecy. In Apollo's sanctuary in Delphi, his priestess, the Pythia, would sit in the bowl of a tripod and inhale laurel fumes before delivering her prophetic utterances.

Symbol of wealth and status. Horses were integral to a thriving economy, and an essential part of victorious warfare.

Figurines have been found in abundance in ancient Greek religious sanctuaries, where they would have been sold to visitors to leave as offerings to the gods.

The bronze pieces are cast in Greece using the traditional lost wax method. As nothing is mass-produced, there will inevitably be slight variations in texture, patina, and colour. No two pieces are ever the same. If mounted on a marble base, it will be a black or very dark grey base. There may be a variation of some millimetres in the dimensions of the base from time to time.

It's All Greek is proud to have been working with the Semitekolo family foundry since 1999. It has been a privilege to handle these gorgeous pieces and to sell them to customers all over the world.