The Early Greek Trophy: : The Iconographic Tradition of Time and Space

International audienceThis chapter examines the tradition of the battle trophy, the tradition of commemorating victory, and its connection with the idea of kairos in ancient Greece. The word tropaion is linked by its etymology to the idea of debacle, defeat: tropē. The trophy is linked by Thucydides to the turn of the battle. The chapter considers the paradoxical nature of the trophy as a memorial that is traditionally intended to be perishable, and how iconographic depictions of time and space underline the trophy's religious and anthropological dimensions. It also highlights the impermanence of the Greek concept of victory as reflected in the ephemeral nature of the trophy