Sculptured tombs of Hellas

Front matter

Ajipm,

SN /

HHHp

Preface

The monuments erected to the dead belong in every country, like funeral customs generally, to a deeper stratum of the national consciousness than do openly expressed beliefs. This is, in fact, a phase of the general law that in the history of religion cultus is more venerable and more conservative than doctrine. And as, further, the beliefs which find an expression in literature are those of the most enlightened and the least conservative spirits, it is misleading if one attempts to learn from the higher literature of a people how the masses really think and feel in regard to death and the life which lies beyond death.

These considerations are certainly applicable in the case of Greece. The two great literatures of Greece, the Epic and the Attic, belong each to a class, to an aristocracy whether of birth or of talent, and stand high above the beliefs of the common people. Il we wish to ascertain what the ordinary Greek citizen, fhomme sensuel moyen , thought and felt in the presence of death, whether his own or that of friends, we must supplement the study of the poets, the orators, and the philosophers

Vlll

PREFACE by an investigation of ritual, of burial customs, and of the lines of tombs which stretched from the gates of many Greek cities on both sides of the main roads.

The purpose of the present book may best be accomplished if we proceed to consider in succession, first the burial customs of the Greeks, next the ideas as to the future life which prevailed among them, and finally the monuments of the dead.

It is the last- mentioned memorials which are the principal concern of this book. For a long while Englishspeaking scholars, and even tourists, have felt a special interest in the sepulchral monuments which form so marked a feature of the great museum at Athens, and in the Dipylon cemetery, part of which still survives. I have tried to set forth, for scholars and for lovers of art, a concise account of these monuments, their periods and classes, their inscriptions and their reliefs. And as an introduction and supplement to an account of the tombs of Athens, I have added a still slighter account of the tombs of the pre-historic age in Greece, of the monuments of Asia Minor, of the tombs of Sparta, Boeotia, and other districts, and of the magnificent Greek sarcophagi recently discovered at Sidon.

It would occupy much space if I tried here to detail all my obligations to previous scholars. The whole success of this work must depend on its due illustration ; and though the nucleus of my illustrations consists of photographs taken for me during a visit to Athens, I have

PREFACE

IX been obliged also to borrow from a variety of learned and valuable works. In every case in which I asked permission to copy a published engraving that permission was courteously granted. If by mischance I have in any case copied without permission, I trust that I may be pardoned. References to the sources of engravings will be found at the foot of my pages.

Special thanks are due to Dr. Conze and the German Archaeological Institute for allowing me to use the plates of their magnificent work, Die Attischen Grabreliefs, which furnishes representations by photography or drawing of almost all important Attic tombs. Where the photographs of this work were better than my own, I have in some cases used them in preference.

To M. Cavvadias and the Greek Government I am indebted for permission to photograph freely in the Athenian Museums ; and to the Trustees of the British Museum for leave to reproduce two interesting monuments (Figs. 28 & 35) which are hitherto unpublished.

When I have had occasion to quote from Homer and the poets of the Anthology , I have usually attempted a rendering in English verse. For Greek elegiacs I have used rhymed heroic verse, and for Greek hexameters English ballad metre. I have also to thank my colleague, Dr. James Williams, of Lincoln College, for allowing me to use several of his excellent versions of poems of the Anthology.

After careful consideration, I have decided that in

X

PREFACE a work of this kind, which does not attempt completeness, but is methodical in arrangement, the best form ol Index is a detailed table of contents and list of engravings. By the aid of these, anything included in the book can be very readily found.

Percy Gardner.

Oxford, August , 1896.

PS. Most of the abbreviations used in the notes will explain themselves ; but I should explain the following : —

C. A. G. (‘Corpus of Attic Grave-reliefs ’) is Die Attischen Grabreliefs , ed. A. Conze.

TABLE OF CONTENTS AND INDEX

Chapter I. Burial Customs In Greece

Importance attached to burial, i. The Prothesis, 2; illustrated by vases, 3. Presence of ghosts, 4. The Ecphora, on archaic vases, 5 ; on later monuments, 6. Sleep and Death, 7. Custom of burning, 9. Funeral feast and speeches, 11.

Chapter II. The Worship Of The Dead

Primitive beliefs as to needs of dead, 12. Liberality to the dead in archaic times, 12. Terra-cotta offerings, 13. Sacrifices at tombs, 14. Evidence of excavations, 16. Classes of heroes, 17. Evidence of sepulchral lekythi, 18. Presence of the dead in representations, 19.

Chapter III. Beliefs As To The Future Life

Question what became of the dead, 23. Homeric beliefs ; Hades, 25 ; visit to Hades of Odysseus, 26 ; Islands of the Blessed, 27. Influence of Orphism, 28. Paintings of Polygnotus at Delphi, 30 ; Charon, 31 ; Theseus and Peirithous, 32; Orpheus, 33; the Uninitiated, 34; Eurynomus, 35. Painting on vase of Canusium, 36; Orpheus, 37; Herakles and Cerberus, 37; Megara, 38; Initiated, 38. Comparison of Greek and Christian Hades, 39. Development of the Eumenides, 40. Conflict between ritual and ethics, 42. Hades in the Tragedians, 43. Localization of ghosts, 44.

Xll

TABLE OF CONTENTS AND INDEX

Chapter IV. The Pre-historic Age Of Greece

So-called treasuries of early Greece, 46; at Mycenae, 47; really tombs, 51; various forms, 51. Rock-graves at Mycenae, 52; their tombstones, 54; subjects and style of art, 57.

Chapter V. Asia Minor : Early

Early Ionian civilization not yet excavated, 59. Tomb of Tantalus on Sipylus, 60. Geometric tombs of Phrygia, 62 ; Lion-tombs, 64 ; their chronology, 66 ; relation to Mycenae, 67. Archaic tombs of Lycia, 67; pre-Ionian art, 68; the Harpy Monument, 69; Sirens, 73; other Lycian tombs, 74.

Chapter VI. Sparta

Relief of Chrysapha, 76 ; its meaning, 77 ; other similar tombs, 78. Cultus of ancestors at Sparta, 80. Details of reliefs ; honour paid to women, 81 ; food of the dead, 82 ; horse and dog, 83.

Chapter VII. Heroizing Reliefs

Distinction of tombs from commemorative tablets, 87. Lines of descent from Spartan reliefs, 88. Athenian banqueting reliefs, 88. Customs of sitting and reclining, 89. Tegean relief, 90. Presence of votaries, 91. Asklepian tablets, 92. Tablets to heroes and to ancestors, 93. The hero as horseman, 94; accompanied by lady, 98. Votive tablets from Tarentum, 100. The hero as foot-soldier, 102; unarmed, 103.

Chapter VIII. Athens I Periods And Forms Of Monuments

Graves of Dipylon style at Athens, 105. Periods of Athenian monuments, 106. First period, the mound and stele, 108; the table, 109; the pillar, no. Early Athenian tombs usually of the young, in. Second period; forms of tombs, 112; marble vases, 113. Tombs usually of families, 116. The use of painting and metal on marble, 116. Deter-

TABLE OF CONTENTS AND INDEX

Xlll mination of dates of tombs, 117. Third period, 118. Preservation of part of cemetery at Athens, 118. Architectural decoration of tombs; the acanthus, 119; the sphinx, 121 ; the siren, 126; goats butting, 128; the lion, 130; the bull, 131.

Chapter IX

ATHENS AND GREECE. PORTRAITS.

Portraits of the dead originate in Ionia, 133. Portraits at Athens, 134 ; their ideal character, 134. Portrait statues, 135 ; on horseback or on foot, 136 ; female figures, 137. The dead as Hermes, 138. Statues of mourning women, 139. Portraits on stelae, first period, 140 ; Aristion, Lyseas, 141 ; stelae of youths, 143. Second period, stelae of citizens, 145 ; stelae of warriors, 146 ; Dexileos, 147 ; young athletes, 149 ; hunters, 152 ; students, 153; shipwrecked men, 154; children, 154; matrons, 157; girls, 158; priestesses, 160.

Chapter X. Family Groups

Pathos and charm of Attic groups, 162. Predominance of women, 163. Women and children in later Greece, 163. Stelae with father and children, 164; mother and children, 166. Family groups, 167. Series of groups representing leave-taking, 168 ; series representing self-adornment, 171. Stele of Phaenarete, 173. Stele of Ameinocleia, 176. Dressing for a journey or offerings to the dead? 176. Domestic interiors or scenes at the tomb? 178. Several stone lekythi on one slab, 178. Occasional appearance of Hermes, 180.

Chapter XI. Meaning And Style Of The Reliefs

Do the Attic reliefs refer to past or future life ? 182. Line of connexion with Spartan stelae, 182 ; the wine-cup, the pomegranate, the cock, 183 ; the dove, the horse, 184 ; the dog, 185. Reliefs which clearly refer to past life, 185. The de&wo-is, 186. We must distinguish between origin and meaning of reliefs, 187. Oblong reliefs refer to the future, 188; in them Herakles and Dionysus sometimes present, 189. Style of archaic reliefs, 190 ; bear name of sculptor, 191. Lower level of style in fifth-century reliefs, 191. Fourth-century reliefs connected with the second Attic school of sculpture, 193.

XIV

TABLE OF CONTENTS AND INDEX

Chapter XII. Inscriptions

Simplicity of inscriptions on early stelae, 195. Explicatory character of inscriptions, 196. Occurrence of xa~lPe) 197. Inscription of Dexileos, 197. Longer inscriptions after the fourth century, 197. Specimens of public epitaphs over warriors, 198; over others, 201. Specimens of later inscriptions, 203 ; sentiments as to life, 204 ; statements as to the future life, 204. Orphism in epitaphs, 206. Threats to violators, 207. Epitaphs of the Palatine Anthology , 208.

Chapter XIII. Later Monuments Of Asia Minor

Splendour of Asiatic Greek tombs, 214. The Lycian Nereid Monument, 215 ; its sculptures, 216 ; its occasion, 219 ; its date, 220. Relation to Ionian school of historical painting, 221. The heroon of Gyeulbashi, 221 ; subjects of sculpture, 223; relation to painters, 224. The Lion-tomb of Cnidus, 225. Greek graves in the Crimea, 226.

Chapter XIV. The Mausoleum

Interesting problem of reconstruction, 228. Plans of Pullan and Oldfield, 230. Testimony of ancient writers, Hyginus, Martial, 232 ; Pliny, 233. Account of excavation by Guichard, 236. Analogy of other buildings, 239. The statues of Mausolus and Artemisia, where placed, 240. Other sculptural remains, 241.

Chapter XV. Greek Sarcophagi

Discovery of sarcophagi at Sidon, 243. Archaic sarcophagi of Clazomenae, 243. Sarcophagus of the Satrap at Sidon, 245 ; its connexion with history, 246; and with Ionian art, 247. The Lycian sarcophagus, 248; ideal character, 248. The sarcophagus of the Mourning Women, 249 ; variety in expression of grief, 251 ; likeness to temple, 251 ; perhaps belongs to King Strato, 252. The Alexander sarcophagus, 252 ; dress of Greeks and Persians, 253 ; subjects of pediments, 253 ; the lion-hunt, 255 ; the battle, 256 ; perhaps belongs to Abdalonymus, 258 ; of uncertain artistic school, 258. The Amazon sarcophagus of Vienna, 258.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

WITH THEIR SOURCES

Chapter I. Page

Fig. i. Lying in State. Benndorf, Griech. u. Sicil. Vasenb., pi. i. 3

2. „ „ „ pl. xxxiii. 4

3. Funeral Procession. Rayet, Monum. de l' Art ant.,

pl. lxxv. . . • 6

4. Arrival at the Tomb. „ „ pl. lxxv. 6

5. Deposition at the Tomb. Dumont, Ceram, de la Grece

propre , pl. xxvii. ....... 9

6. Pyre of Patroclus. Mon. dell * Inst. IX, xxxii, . .10

Chapter II

7. Child’s Coffin. Stackelberg, Graber der Hellenen, pl. viii. 14

8. Offerings at a Tomb. Ephemeris Archaiol. 1886, pl. iv. 18

9. Spirit seated on Stele. Pottier, Lecythes blancs, pl. iv. 20

10. Toilet scene, Sepulchral. Furtwangler, Coll. Sabouroff,

11. Gifts at Tomb. Brit. Mus. Cat. Vases , IV, pl. iv. . . 22

Chapter III

12. The Boat of Charon. Antike Denkmaler, I, pl. xxiii. . 31

Chapter IV

14. Sectional plan of the so-called Treasury of Atreus.

Schuchhardt, Schliemann’s Ausgrabungen , p. 176 . 47

15. Restoration of interior of Treasury. Perrot et

Chipiez, La Grece Primitive , p. 638 . . .48

XVI LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS WITH THEIR SOURCES

PAGE

Fig. 16. Plan and fa£ade of Treasury. Perrot et Chipiez, La

Grece Primitive , pi. vi. . . . . . 49

17. Ceiling of Treasury, Orchomenus. Journ. Hell.

18. Tombstone, Mycenae. Schliemann, Mycenae} p. 81 . 54

20. ,, „ Perrot et Chipiez, op. cit., p. 770 56

Chapter V

21. Tumulus on Sipylus. Texier, Description de VAsieM.

22. Section of Chamber. Weber, Le Sipyle, pi. i. .61

23. Tomb of Midas. Perrot et Chipiez, Phrygief p. 83 . 62

24. Geometrical facade of Tomb. „ ,, p. 103 . 63

25. Tomb flanked by Lions. „ ,, p. 111 .64

26. Head of Lion. Journ. Hell. Stud. pi. xviii. . . -65

27. North and West sides of Harpy Tomb. E. A. Gardner,

Handbook of Greek Sculpture, I, p. 110 . . . 71

28. Gable of Lycian Tomb. Photograph . . . .74

Pl. iii.

Fig. 32.

Chapter VI

Spartan stele. Photograph 76

Hades and Persephone. Ann. dell ' Inst. XIX, pl. F . 79

Seated Hero. Journ. Hell. Stud. V, p. 123 . . -83

Stele, man feeding snake. Photograph . . -85

Chapter VII

Sepulchral Banquet. Photograph . . . .88

Assur-bani-pal and Queen. Perrot et Chipiez, Chaldee

Stele from Tegea. Photograph 90

Coin of Bizya. Br. Mus. Cat. Coins , Thrace, p. 90 . 92

Horseman relief (British Museum). Photograph . 96

Horseman relief (Berlin). Furtwangler, Coll. Sabouroff,

Votive tablet, Tarentum. Mon. delV Inst. XI, pl. lv. 101 H ero on foot. Monum. Grecs de T Assoc. dy Etudes

Hero seated. Roscher, Lexikon, I, p. 2571 . . . 103

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS WITH THEIR SOURCES

XVII

Chapter VIII. Page

Fig.

Achilles at tomb of Patroclus. Gerhard, Auserlesene

Vasenbilder, pl. cxcix

Pl.

iv.

Marriage-vase. Athen. Mittheil. 1887, pl. ix. .

V.

Marriage- vase and Lekythi. Photograph i.

View in Cemetery of Cerameicus. ,,

Fig.

Head of Assyrian stele. Perrot et Chipiez, Chaldee et

Assyrie, p. 270

Head of Greek stele. Bruckner, Ornament u. Formen

der Att. Grabstelen, pl. i. .

Anthemion of stele. Photograph ....

Sphinx of Spata.

Terra-cotta: Sphinx and Youth. Stackelberg, Grciber

der Hellenen, pl. lvi.

Stele of Lamptrae, restored. Athen. Mittheil. XII,

P- io5

Siren from Tomb. Photograph .....

Head of stele. .......

5°-

Stele of Leon.

Chapter IX

51. Portrait from Tomb, Thera. A then, Mittheil. IV,

pi- vi 135

52. Horseman from Tomb. „ „ pi. iii. 137

Pl. vi. Seated Lady. Photograph ...... 137

vii. Hermes of Andros. 138

viii. Mourning Slave. Furtwangler, Coll. Sabouroff, pl. xv. 139

ix. Stele of Aristion. Photograph 140

„ Stele of Alxenor. „ 141

Fig. 53. Seated Hero. Michaelis, Anc. Marbles in Gr. Brit.

54. Head of Youth holding discus. C.A.G. pl. iv. . 143

55. Dermys and Citylus. Athen. Mittheil. Ill, pl. xiv. . 144

Pl. x. Tynnias seated. Photograph ..... 145

xi. Stele of Aristonautes. Photograph .... 146

xii. Stele of Dexileos. „ .... 147

Fig. 56. Warrior of Tegea. Bull, de Corresp. hellenique , IV,

pl. vii 148

b

XV111 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS WITH THEIR SOURCES

PAGE

Pl. xiii.

Youth with Dog. Photograph .....

Athlete balancing stone. Photograph

!5°

Young horseman. ,, ...

Pl. xiv.

Stele from Aegina. ,, ...

XV.

Relief from Ilissus. „ ...

Stele of Democleides. ,, ...

Head of Old Man. ,, ...

Boy, from stele. „ ...

15 6

Pl. xvi.

Seated Lady. C. A. G. pl. xv. .....

Portrait of Mynno. C. A. G. pl. xvii.

Pl. xvii.

Stele of Amphotto. Photograph ....

Girl with Doll. Journ. Hell. Stud. VI, pl. B.

Priestess of Isis. Photograph

CHAPTER X. Pl. xviii

Euempolus and children. Photograph

Xanthippus and children. Museum Marbles} X, pl. iii.

Pl. xix.

Mother and family. Photograph ....

XX.

Chaerestrata and Lysander. Photograph xxi.

Mica and Dion. Photograph xxii.

Mother and daughter. Photograph ....

xxiii.

Damasistrata. Photograph .....

xxiv.

Mother and nurse. ,,......

Plangon fainting. C. A. G. p. 70

Pl. xxv.

Hegeso. Photograph .......

xx vi.

Lady and attendant. Photograph ....

xxvii.

Ameiniche. Photograph

Phaenarete. C. A. G. pl. xxxix. .....

Pl. xxviii.

Ameinocleia. Photograph ......

Scene at Tomb. Benndorf, Griech. u. Sicil. Vasenb.

pl. XV.

Domestic scene. Heydemann, Griech. Vasenbilder , pl. xi.

Family group. Bruckner, Griech. Grabreliefs , p. 12

>) }) tt iy

Stele of Myrrhina. Gazette Arche ol. I, pl. vii. .

Pl. xxix.

Orpheus and Eurydice. Photograph ....

Chapter XI. XXX

Stele of Eutamia. C. A. G. pl. xxviii.

Dionysus as guest. Roscher, Lexikon , I, p. 2539

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS WITH THEIR SOURCES

XIX

Chapter XIII. Page

Fig. 74. Nereid Monument (Falkener). Overbeck, Grieck.

Plaslik, II, p. 191 216

75. Gable of Nereid Monument. Ann. del! Inst. 1875,

76. Heroon of Gyeulbashi. Benndorf and Niemann,

Heroon von Gjolbaschi- Trysa, pi. i. ... 222

77. Lion-tomb, Cnidus. Newton, Travels and Discov. II,

Chapter XIV

78. Mausoleum (Mr. Pullan . Archaeologla, LIV, p.281 . 230

79. „ (Mr. Oldfield). Drawing of Mr. Oldfield . 231

CHAPTER XV. Sarcophagus of

the Satrap : end.

Hamdy Bey et

T. Reinach,

a Sidon , pi xxi.

Sphinxes : Lycian Sarcophagus. ,,

ft

pi. XV.

Sarcophagus of

Mourners : end. „

tt

pi. vii.

Alexander Sarcophagus : end. „

tt

pi. xxvi.

,, LION-HUNT. ,,

tt

pi. xxxi.

,, A LION ,,

ft

pi. XX.

CORRIGENDA

Page 47, note i, for Schliemanri s read Schliemanns.

,, 60, line 24, for TIXovtoo read IIAoutu;.

„ 79, last line, for AP I ZTOK AHC read APIZTOKAHLZ.

, , 131, line 25 ,for Nepos, set read Nepos set.

Sculptured Tombs of Hellas.

Chapter I

The burial of the dead was a matter as to which the ancient Greeks had very strong feelings. When a corpse was not committed to earth or fire, the unfortunate spirit to which it had served as a dwelling-place was condemned to find no rest either on earth or in the world of shades, but to wander unhappily around the spot where it had met its fate, or to flutter on the verge of the river of death, which it was not permitted to cross. For such reasons, it was the first and most important duty of an heir to see that the person whom he succeeded met with due burial. In war, as a rule, each side buried its own dead ; and so great was the horror at neglect of this pious office, that after a drawn battle the side which was not in possession of the battle-field would commonly ask for a truce for the purpose of burying the slain, though it thereby acknowledged defeat. It is well known how bitterly the Athenians accused their generals, because their dead were not duly buried after the battle of Arginusae. When Admetus, in the Alcestis of Euripides, wishes utterly to cast off his filial relation to his father Pheres, he threatens that he will not bury him. And when in the Antigone of Sophocles, Creon forbids the burial of his slain enemy Polynices, the prohibition is represented as an act of barbarous cruelty, bringing with it the vengeance of the offended gods. In order to perform the last rites to her brother, Antigone incurs death. The plot of the

B last half of the Ajax , which seems intolerably tedious to a modern reader, turns on the question whether the body of the hero shall receive sepulture or not.

It is true that all the more serious evils of want of burial were obviated by an inhumation of a merely formal character. The dead man who in the ode of Horace1 begs the passer-by to give him formal or ceremonial burial, tells him that it will be quite sufficient if he casts over the body three handfuls of dry earth. If the body of a man was lost at sea, or otherwise had become undiscoverable, an empty tomb or cenotaph was erected, and his spirit laid with ceremonies.

In the case of an ordinary death, there was a regular order of ceremonies, which are detailed in Lucian’s De Luctu . To the women of the house belonged the melancholy duty of washing and anointing the corpse, and preparing it for burial. In the mouth was sometimes placed an obolus, the fee of Charon. The body was dressed as if for a wedding rather than a funeral, in rich and clean clothes ; the face was painted, and wreaths were placed on head and breast. Then took place what was called the npoOea-L?, or exhibition of the corpse, in order that friends and relatives might take a last farewell of it. Vase-paintings give us many representations of the scene. Father and mother, or brothers and sisters, or children, thronged round the bier with expressions of love and sorrow, while the dirge of the hired wailing-women resounded through the house. A terra-cotta tablet of the sixth century, engraved in the text2 (Fig. i), gives us a quaint and vivid picture of the room of death. The dead man, whose face appears, while the rest of the painting is broken away, is evidently a youth in the bloom of his days, who lies on the bier, clad in an embroidered garment. Close by his head stands his mother, MBTEP, at whose feet is his little sister, AAEUCDE ;

2 Benndorf, Griech. und Sicil. Vasenbilder , pi. i.

a somewhat older sister stands at the foot of the bier. To the left is a group of men, the father, PATEP, a grown up brother, AAEKD05, and two other men. To the extreme right appears the name, though not the figure, of the grandmother, OEOE, between whom and the group of men are two other matrons, carefully distinguished as the aunt and the aunt on the fathers side, OEGI5 and GEG15 PPO* PATP[Q5]. A little child also appears by a stool quite at the foot of the couch. The letters OIMOI in the field represent the wailings of the women.

A beautiful Attic vase of the fifth century (Fig. 2) gives us a less quaint but more graceful representation of the prothesis1. In this case the corpse is that of a woman, who lies on her bier not merely clad in green garments, but decked with a necklace. The friends grouped about her are all

women, with hair cut short in sign of mourning, clad in garments of dark brown, green, or blue. The lady who stands at the foot of the bier and her neighbour place their hands on their heads in sign of grief ; their dress is that of burgher ladies; no doubt they are the nearest relatives of the dead. The girl who stands at the head of the bier is a slave or hired attendant. She is more simply clad, and carries in one hand

1 Benndorf, Griech. und Sicil. Vasenbilder , pi. xxxiii.

a flapper or fan to keep off the flies, in the other a basket containing fillets or ribbons. A wreath hangs against the wall of the room. Three small, naked, winged idola hover in the air. They are doubtless spirits of the dead : but the motive for their presence is not clear. One might at first be disposed to regard them as merely ready to receive the departed spirit ; the figure nearest to the mouth of the corpse might even be regarded as the soul which has just taken flight. But these views scarcely account for the attitude, which

FIG. 2. LYING IN STATE.

is clearly in each of the three idola a recognized sign of grief. In fact, the close resemblance of gesture between the lady who stands at the foot of the bier and the winged figure above her seems to show that they share the same feeling, which is one of sorrow. But why should spirits grieve at receiving a companion from the land of the living ? The question is not easy to answer. We may observe that in all scenes of this kind, when these little sprites are introduced, they are in the same attitude. The lamentations of the living seem always to awake a responsive echo in their breasts.

After the laying out, npodeais, came the e/c0opa, or burial. Early in the morning the body was taken, decked and clad as it was, and laid on a wagon, or on a bier to be carried on the shoulders of friends. A procession was formed, including near friends, musicians, hired wailing-women, and others who carried the vessels needed for the last sad rites. To the modern visitor in Greece none of the existing customs is more striking than that of bearing to the grave bodies decked out and painted, and looking more like wax images from Tussaud’s than the actual relics of humanity.

Several monuments of the early period present us with representations of the eKcpopd so clear that we can judge with certainty even of its details. Of these the earliest are vases of the eighth century from the Dipylon cemetery. One engraved in the Monumenti of the Roman Institute 1 clearly represents the funeral of a distinguished chief. The body lies on the top of a lofty bier, supported by four columns, which again is carried on a car drawn by two horses. Immediately behind the car come the relatives : and it is accompanied by long strings of mourners, who are depicted in the childish fashion of the art of the time as alike naked. The women are distinguished by the breast merely, the men by swords which they carry at the waist. The geese which seem to follow the procession are only inserted to fill up vacant spaces in the design ; since there is nothing to which the early vase-painter objects more strongly than leaving any part of the ground without figures. On another contemporary vase, published on the same plate, is a scene of npoOeais ; the corpse on its bier is surrounded by mourners, who seem to be sprinkling it with lustral water, These glimpses into the daily life of pre-historic Athens are very attractive ; and the life which they reveal differs but little from that of the historic Athens of the Persian wars.

An archaic terra-cotta, here engraved (Fig. 3) 2, gives us a vivid representation of the appearance of the funeral cortege.

1 Mon. del! Inst. ix. 39.

2 Rayet, Monum. de I Art Antique , pi. lxxv.

The corpse is placed on a car drawn by two horses. It is accompanied by a woman who bears on her head a jar of wine for the funeral libations, and by two wailing-women who tear

FIG. 3. FUNERAL PROCESSION.

their hair as they walk. Behind, comes a bearded flute-player, and two young men, doubtless the next of kin. A vase of the sixth century, which also we engrave (Fig. 4), represents

FIG. 4. ARRIVAL AT THE TOMB.

a comparatively modest funeral 1. The arrival at the tomb is depicted. The dead man, whose face is uncovered, lies

1 Rayet, text to above plate.

on a bier drawn by two asses. The procession resembles that of the last representation ; the flute-player, who wears a long white robe, and the next of kin follow the bier ; of the wailing-women, two are perched on the funeral wagon, other two stand in front of the grave, which appears as a square erection to the right. The cock who is to form part of the offerings to the dead stands between two trees which mark the graveyard.

Such was the actual prosaic procession to the grave. But the artists who painted the white Athenian lekythi, vessels especially made to be placed in the tomb 1, preferred in their representations of funerals to take refuge in the realm of imagery and fancy. For the actual carriage of the body to the place of burial they substitute a poetic fiction. When in the battles before Troy, Sarpedon fell beneath the spear of Patroclus, we are told in the IiiacL that the gods took charge of his body which the foeman had despoiled 2.

To Phoebus then his Father spake Who drives the clouds along,

‘ Dear Phoebus go, Sarpedon find Amid the battle throng,

From purple gore his body lave ;

Then bear him far away,

And wash him in the flowing stream,

And in ambrosia lay;

With garments clothe that wax not old,

And let the winged pair,

The brethren Sleep and Death, from thence His body swiftly bear To wealthy Lycia’s goodly land,

Where kinsmen shall be fain To heap the mound and set the stone,

The guerdon of the slain.’

It is thoroughly in accord with the spirit of Greek art that it should have welcomed and dwelt on the idea thus

1 See below, Ch. VII, VIII.

2 Iliad, xvi. 666.

suggested by the epic poet. Greek painters and sculptors, like Greek dramatists and lyric poets, loved above all things to escape from the prosaic details of actual life into the ideal world of myth and fancy, into the language of which they translated the facts of every-day existence. On a very beautiful red-figured vase, ascribed to Euphronius, is represented the bearing away of Sarpedon’s dead body by Sleep and Death, Sleep being a benign daemon with yellow hair, Death a darkhaired being of more forbidding aspect b And after the precedent furnished by Sarpedon, Sleep and Death have been introduced into scenes on other Greek vases, wherein the body is not that of any ancient hero, but of an ordinary citizen. We give an example from an Attic white lekythos 1 2 (Fig. 5). The dead body, the eyes of which are not closed in death, is that of a girl, who is borne to the resting-place indicated by a sepulchral stele by two winged figures, of whom the bearded one is doubtless Death and the younger, or beardless, Sleep. The god Hermes, as conductor of souls, is present to preside at the deposition at the tomb.

The twin brethren Sleep and Death belong to poetry rather than to real belief. And it is the bodies, not the spirits, of the dead which they bear to the last resting-place. Other Athenian lekythi represent the journey of the soul to the land of shades, under the guidance of Hermes or in the boat of Charon. With these pictures I will deal in the third chapter, which treats of Greek beliefs as to the future life. Meantime we must follow the funeral procession to the cemetery.