Sculptured Tombs of Hellas

SCULPTURED TOMBS OF HELLAS

PLATE

I

;

SCULPTURED TOMBS OF HELLAS BY

PERCY GARDNER,

LITT.D.

LINCOLN AND MERTON PROFESSOR OF CLASSICAL ARCHAEOLOGY AND ART IN THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD

WITH THIRTY PLATES, AND EIGHTY-SEVEN ENGRAVINGS

MACMILLAN AND

CO. NEW YORK: THE MACMILLAN 1896 rights reserved^

?

IN

THE TEXT

LTD. CO.

OXFUkU: HOKACE HAKT HE UNIVERSITY

I'Klsu.K TO

I

Few

and many joys my life has held, Out-lengthened to the utmost bounds of eld. griefs

My name is Symmachus, in Chios born, Which rich with grapes the branching vines adorn But when I died, my bones were hidden here, In Attic land, to gods and men most dear.

;

Athenian Epitaph.

PREFACE THE monuments like

country,

expressed

law that

customs

funeral

of the

stratum

erected to the dead belong in every

This

beliefs.

is,

a

deeper

do openly

than

consciousness

national

to

generally,

a phase of the general

in fact,

more venerable

in the history of religion cultus is

And

and more conservative than doctrine.

as, further,

the

which find an expression in literature are those of the most enlightened and the least conservative spirits, beliefs

it

is

one attempts to learn from the higher of a people how the masses really think and

misleading

literature feel

in

if

regard to death and the

life

which

lies

beyond

death.

These considerations are case of Greece. the

The two

Epic and the Attic,

certainly

applicable

literatures

great

belong each to a

aristocracy whether of birth or of talent,

above the

beliefs .of the

ascertain

what

the

sensuel moyen, thought

whether

his

own

common

ordinary

and

people.

Greek

felt in

in

the

of Greece, class,

to

an

and stand high Il

we wish

citizen,

to

I'homme

the presence of death,

or that of friends,

we must supplement

the study of the poets, the orators, and the philosophers

PREFACE

viii

burial customs, investigation of ritual, of

by an

and of the

tombs which stretched from the gates of many Greek cities on both sides of the main roads.

lines of

The purpose of the present book may best be accomin succession, first the plished if we proceed to consider burial life

customs of the Greeks, next the ideas as to the future

which prevailed among them, and

finally the

monuments

of the dead. It

the

is

which are the

memorials

last-mentioned

For a long while Englishand even tourists, have felt a special

principal concern of this book.

speaking scholars, interest

the

in

marked a

monuments which form so

sepulchral

feature of the great

museum

the Dipylon cemetery, part of which tried

to

set

scholars

for

forth,

survives.

still

and

Athens, and

at

lovers

for

I

of

in

have art,

a concise account of these monuments, their periods and

And

as an

introduction and supplement to an account of the

tombs

their

classes,

of Athens,

I

tombs of the

and

inscriptions

have added a pre-historic

age

their

still

in

reliefs.

slighter account of the

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 all

would occupy much space

my

of this

if

I

obligations to previous scholars.

work must depend on

though the nucleus of graphs taken for

me

my

its

tried

here to detail

The whole

due

success

illustration;

and

illustrations consists of photo-

during a

visit

to

Athens,

I

have

PREFACE

IX

been obliged also to borrow from a variety of learned In every case in which I asked and valuable works. permission to copy a published engraving that permission

was courteously granted.

by mischance

If

any case copied without permission, be pardoned. be found

will

have

I

trust that

I

in

may

I

References to the sources of engravings at the foot of

my

pages.

Conze and the German

Special thanks are due to Dr.

Archaeological Institute for allowing

me

to use the plates

of their magnificent work, Die Attischen Grabreliefs, which

by photography or drawing of

furnishes

representations

almost

important Attic tombs.

all

of this

work were them

cases used

better than

for

permission

Athenian Museums

Museum (Figs.

28

When the

poets

I

and

;

for leave to

&

my

I

have

in

Greek Government

the to to

photograph

some

freely

I

in

am the

the Trustees of the British

reproduce two interesting monuments

which are hitherto unpublished. have had occasion to quote from Homer and

35)

of the Anthology,

have usually attempted For Greek elegiacs I have

I

a rendering in English verse.

used

own,

the photographs

in preference.

To M. Cavvadias and indebted

Where

rhymed

heroic verse,

and

for

Greek hexameters thank

my

colleague,

College,

for

allowing

use several of his excellent versions of

poems of

English ballad metre. Dr.

James Williams,

me

to

I

of

have also Lincoln

to

the Anthology.

After

careful

consideration,

I

have decided that

in

PREFACE

X

a work of this kind, which does not attempt completeness,

arrangement, the best form ol Index a detailed table of contents and list of engravings. By

but is

is

methodical

in

the aid of these, anything included

in

the

book can be

very readily found.

PERCY GARDNER. OXFORD, August,

1896.

Most of the abbreviations used

PS.

explain themselves C.

;

but

I

should explain the following

A. G. ('Corpus of Attic Grave-reliefs') ed. A.

Kaibel,

is

in the notes will

is

:

Die Attischen Grabreliefs,

Conze.

G. Kaibel, Epigrantmata Graeca ex Lapidibus conlecta.

TABLE OF CONTENTS AND INDEX CHAPTER BURIAL CUSTOMS

IN

I.

GREECE.

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

CHAPTER

II.

THE WORSHIP OF THE DEAD. Primitive beliefs as to needs of dead, 12. archaic times, 12. Terra-cotta Evidence of excavations, 16.

sepulchral lekythi, 18.

offerings,

13.

Liberality to the dead in Sacrifices at tombs, 14.

Evidence Classes of heroes, 17. Presence of the dead in representations, 19.

CHAPTER

of

III.

BELIEFS AS TO THE FUTURE LIFE.

Question what became of the dead, 23. Homeric beliefs ; Hades, 25 ; Influence to Hades of Odysseus, 26 Islands of the Blessed, 27.

visit

;

of Orphism, 28.

Paintings of Polygnotus at Delphi, 30 ; Charon, 31 ; Theseus and Peirithous, 32; Orpheus, 33; the Uninitiated, 34; Eury-

nomus, 35. Painting on vase of Canusium, 36; Orpheus, 37; Herakles and Cerberus, 37 Megara, 38 Initiated, 38. Comparison of Greek and ;

;

Conflict Hades, 39. Development of the Eumenides, 40. between ritual and ethics, 42. Hades in the Tragedians, 43. Localization

Christian

of ghosts, 44.

TABLE OF CONTENTS AND INDEX

xii

CHAPTER

IV.

THE PRE-HISTORIC AGE OF GREECE. of early Greece, 46; at Mycenae, 47; really Rock -graves at Mycenae, 52; their tombvarious forms, 51. of art, 57. subjects and style treasuries

So-called

tombs, 51

;

stones, 54

;

CHAPTER ASIA MINOR

V.

EARLY.

:

Tomb of Tantalus Early Ionian civilization not yet excavated, 59. 62 tombs of Geometric on Sipylus, 60. Lion-tombs, 64 ; ; Phrygia, Archaic tombs of Lycia, their chronology, 66 ; relation to Mycenae, 67. 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. Details of reliefs ; honour paid to Cultus of ancestors at Sparta, 80. 81 food of horse and dog, 83. the dead, 82; women, ;

CHAPTER

VII.

HEROIZING RELIEFS. Distinction

descent

from

Customs of

Spartan

sitting

votaries, 91. 93.

of tombs

and

Asklepian

The hero

from reliefs,

Athenian

reclining, 89. tablets, 92.

as horseman, 94

;

The hero

from Tarentum, 100.

commemorative 88.

:

87.

relief,

90.

Lines of reliefs,

88.

Presence of

Tablets to heroes and to ancestors, Votive tablets lady, 98.

accompanied by

as foot-soldier, 102; unarmed, 103.

CHAPTER ATHENS

Tegean

tablets,

banqueting

VIII.

PERIODS AND FORMS OF MONUMENTS.

Graves of Dipylon style at Athens, Periods of Athenian 105. 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 Architectural decoration of tombs; the part of cemetery at Athens, 118. acanthus, 119; the sphinx, 121; the siren, 126; goats butting, 128; the lion,

130; the

bull, 131.

CHAPTER ATHENS AND GREECE.

IX. PORTRAITS.

Portraits of the dead originate in Ionia, 133. Portrait statues, 135 their ideal character, 134.

136

;

on horseback or on

;

foot,

The dead as Hermes, 138. Statues of mourning on stelae, first period, 140 Aristion, Lyseas, 141 ; Second period, stelae of citizens, 145 stelae of

female figures, 137.

women,

139.

Portraits

stelae of youths, 143.

;

;

young

warriors, 146; Dexileos, 147;

153

Portraits at Athens, 134 ;

;

shipwrecked men, 154

;

athletes, 149; hunters, 152; students,

children, 154

;

matrons, 157

;

girls,

158

;

priestesses, 160.

CHAPTER

X.

FAMILY GROUPS.^ Pathos and charm of Attic groups, 162. Predominance of women, 163. Stelae with father and and children in later Greece, 163. children, 164 ; mother and children, 166. Family groups, 167. Series of groups representing leave-taking, 168 ; series representing self-adornment,

Women

Stele of Phaenarete, 173. Stele of Ameinocleia, 176. 171. 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

Line of past or future life ? 182. the the ; pomegranate, the wine-cup, Reliefs which clearly the the the cock, 183; dove, horse, 184; dog, 185. refer to past life, 185. must distinguish between The 8(gi

/ /
toi>.

The formula of

dedication

is

ATHENS AND GREECE.

140 l

mistress

,

PORTRAITS

a dress of coarse material with long sleeves reaching

are clearly mourning slave-girls, who were placed on the grave of their mistress to commemorate her to the wrist.

They

wealth and her kindness to her dependants. next approach the rich series of sepulchral

We

we have

which, as

chapter

in

already shown, three periods are to be that before the Persian War second, the

first, distinguished fifth and fourth centuries :

reliefs,

;

;

and

third, the

later age.

In this

we

portraits,

deal with the representations which are primarily leaving more complicated scenes for the next

chapter

Among art

is

the

the stele

best-known of the works of early Athenian of Aristion, which was found in 1838 in the

midst of a tumulus at Velanideza in Attica. details clumsy,

the figure

of the warrior

(PI.

Simple and

IX A) on

in

that

singularly pleasing as a whole, and the unrivalled eye of Brunn saw in it, at a time when very little was known as

stele

is

Athens, the whole promise of the Attic art of the future, more especially in the way in which it occupied the field of the relief, and was wrought into a composition which to the early art of

showed

in all its naivete a fine

sense of proportion and of the relaAs if on a parade, the soldier

tion of the part to the whole.

stands in helmet and cuirass, grasping his spear, and waiting the word of command. The hair and the right hand especially

show the

limitations

imposed on the

character of his technique. with lovers of art. One of

Yet the its

artist

by the undeveloped

relief is justly

a favourite

charms our

plate imperfectly reproduces, the delicate remains of colouring, which may still be traced on the marble, and which are repeated on the casts in

our cast collections.

From

same cemetery as this work of the sculptor Aristocles comes another stele adorned, not with relief, but the

1

See Plates

XXV, XXVI.

PLATE IX

Page 140

ATHENS AND GREECE. with painting

1

and bearing the

,

PORTRAITS

141

inscription, Ava-ea evOdSe

The colour has indeed disappeared with ^^coi/ tirtQriKtv. the but time, patience of Mr. Thiersch and of Dr. Loeschcke has succeeded in proving its former presence from the variety of preservation of the surface of the marble, the parts of it irarrip

which were protected by colour having retained the original surface, while those which were not so protected suffered from

We

can clearly trace the outlines of the figure of Lyseas, a bearded man, who stands, holding in one hand a winecup, in the other a bough for lustration. Below is a jockey,

corrosion.

seated on a galloping horse, doubtless a memorial of victory won in the great games.

some

Lyseas is clad in civic dress, and in this respect he resembles another person of distinction whose stele reaches us from

and was executed by the artist Alxenor This delightful monument represents a IXfi).

Boeotia,

Naxos (PI. worthy Greek of

citizen in

one of

his lighter

moods.

Standing

of ease, he rests his weight on a staff which his shoulder, and holds out in sport a grasshopper supports to a favourite dog, who leaps up in an attitude somewhat in a position

constrained, and clearly resulting from the narrow limits of the

monument.

The

inscription

added by the

fully simple as the representation itself: fashioned me only look

artist is as delight'

Alxenor of Naxos

'

!

:

Alxenor was a native of Naxos, Aristocles probably of a Parian family these are facts, among others, which confirm ;

the view put forth by Loeschcke and Furtwangler, that the stele with portrait is of Ionian origin, and imported into Greece together with the marble of the islands of the Asiatic coast,

and with the sculptors who came to exercise marble. carving demonstration any assertion in

skill

that

in

1

Athen. Mittheil.

iv.

pi.

i,

It

is

their hereditary

to

difficult

prove

to

regard to the art of Ionia,

ii.

Cf. C.

A. G.

pi.

i.

ATHENS AND GREECE.

142

the

as

remains which

assertions

still

lie

will

PORTRAITS

finally establish

beneath

the

soil

of

or

condemn such

Miletus,

Ephesus,

Phocaea, and the other great Ionian settlements of the coast But we can assert with reasonable confidence, that as Greece

owed conservatism and ancestor-worship to the rigid Dorians, so she owed progress in art and all the delights of life to and portraiture has in it the human the joyous Ionian strain and individual character which belongs especially to the ;

lonians.

FIG. 53.

Another (Fig.

53),

dignified

relief,

SEATED HERO.

now preserved

at

Ince

Blundell

Hall

1

before us a typical Greek citizen, seated in fashion. From the artistic point of view it is sets

how

completely, even in the archaic period, the sculptor has attained the art of displaying rather than concealing the bodily forms by means of the drapery.

interesting

Whence 1

is

to

this

see

relief

may have come we know

Michaelis, Ancient Marbles in Great Britain, p. 385, taken.

not.

But

it

is

whence our engraving

ATHENS AND GREECE.

PORTRAITS

143

of Parian marble, and the comparison of other reliefs indicates for it an Ionian origin, perhaps on one of the islands of the

We

Aegean. Sparta

refer

impossible

For

to

miss the

to

be

the attributes which cultus

sure

that

of

ancestors.

they

were

the

in It

is,

originally

seems clear that on the right hand, which upwards, some attribute rested which was indicated it

FIG. 54.

perhaps a

flat

HEAD OF YOUTH HOLDING

cup, while the raised left

stelae

of

however, wanting. lies

palm

in colour,

DISCUS.

hand may have held

a flower.

The stelae of youths are in the early age more common than those of grown men. As we might expect, the portraits of young men, even from their tombs, are marked by an In the wall of Themistocles, already mentioned, near the Dipylon gate of Athens, was found the head of a young man, who had probably been a winner in the pentathlon, athletic tinge.

ATHENS AND GREECE.

144

a combination of five contests discus, leaping, running,

PORTRAITS

hurling the spear, throwing the

and wrestling

The

1 .

victors in this

complicated sport appear in their statues holding either spear In the or discus or the weights (aXrfjpfs) used in leaping. present case it is the discus which has the preference (Fig. 54). Held up in the left hand, the discus forms a sort of background

FIG. 55.

DKK.MYS

AND

CITYLUS.

or frame to the remarkable head, with

long arched nose, its wide-open archaic eye, and the long mass of its hair falling down the neck.

To

its

work, which is, for the time, of finished style and a execution, strong contrast is presented by an extraordinary monument of Boeotia (Fig. 55), from the tomb of two brothers, 1

this

C. A. G.

pi. iv.

As

to the pentathlon, see the

/