An early example of the clasping of hands on an Attic monument is supplied by the sepulchral vase above mentioned, of 450-430 B.C. (Athenische Mittheilungen, x., pl. 13.)
Such subjects as the foregoing are often placed within an architectural structure, usually consisting of two pilasters and an entablature, sometimes surmounted by a pediment. Various theories have been proposed on the subject. It has been suggested that the architectural ornament indicates the votive character of the relief (Journ. of Hellen. Studies, v., p. 111), or the home of the dead person (Pervanoglu, Grabsteine der alten Griechen, p. 14), but there is no evidence of any such special significance attaching to the form. (Compare Furtwaengler, Coll. Sabouroff, i., p. 52.)
The Sepulchral Banquet.—From the fourth century onwards, a type of relief commonly known as the Sepulchral Banquet becomes very common in Attica and elsewhere. In a normal example of the fully developed type, the chief figure is that of a man recumbent on a couch, holding a cup. Before him is a table with food. A woman, according to Greek custom, is seated upright at the foot of the couch. Boys or attendants are seen drawing wine. The head of a horse is often seen at the back of the relief. A snake is frequently introduced, and often drinks wine from a cup held by one of the figures. Further, a group of adorant figures, usually on a small scale, may be represented about to sacrifice at an altar, near the foot of the couch.
The meaning of this type has been a subject of long controversy, but it is best understood if the later reliefs are studied in connection with the oldest known specimens of the same subject. A series of archaic reliefs from the neighbourhood of Sparta (Athenische Mittheilungen, ii., pls. 20-25; Furtwaengler, Coll. Sabouroff, pl. 1; Journ. of Hellen. Studies, v., p. 123), contains subjects somewhat of the following character: A male and female figure, represented on a heroic or divine scale, are seated enthroned, holding as attributes a large two-handled cup, or a pomegranate. Figures of worshippers approach, carrying a pomegranate or a cock, and a snake is sometimes present. The sculptures of the Harpy Tomb (No. 94), have been sometimes classed with the works here described, but this has not yet been established.
The transition from the Spartan type to the Sepulchral Banquet type is still obscure, but a connecting link is furnished by a relief from Tegea (Athenische Mittheilungen, iv., pl. 7), in which the woman is enthroned, while the man reclines on a couch with a table before him. (Compare also the relief from Mytilene No. 727.) It seems probable that we have in these reliefs symbolic representations of offerings made by living relations or descendants for the pleasure and sustenance of the dead. Such offerings of food and drink made by the living at the tomb are common to all primitive peoples. The Egyptians, in particular, made regular offerings of actual food, and at the same time surrounded the mummy with sculptural representations of offerings, which, it was thought, served to satisfy the incorporeal double of the dead person. The early notion that the deceased was within the tomb, and enjoyed the food and drink offered to him in a material manner, became less distinct in later times. The periodical offerings assumed a more ritualistic and symbolic character, and were celebrated by the Greeks under the name of νεκύσια.
The older archaeologists thought for the most part that the Banquet reliefs were representations commemorative of life on earth, or descriptive of the pleasures enjoyed by the dead in Hades. Dumont (Rev. Arch., N.S. xx. p. 247) and Hollaender (De Operibus Anaglyphis), interpret them as referring to the periodical offerings made at the tomb. It will be seen that this view is not very different from that which has been adopted above, and which is the view of Gardner (Journ. of Hellenic Studies, v., p. 130), and Furtwaengler (Coll. Sabouroff, i., p. 28). The reliefs, however, have more force than mere pictorial groups, if we accept the Egyptian analogy, and allow that the sculpture represents, by substitution, the offerings of material food. The snake is naturally associated with the grave, from its rapid mysterious movements, and from living in caves and holes. Compare the story of the snakes that were seen by Polyeidos in the tomb of Glaukos. (Apollodor. 3, 3, 1; Roscher, Lexicon, p. 1687). The votive character of the Banquet reliefs is proved in some instances by inscriptions, (Journ. of Hellen. Studies, v., p. 116; Roscher, Lexicon, p. 2553). It is doubtful, however, whether the artist was always conscious of the meaning of his work, and in some instances, as in the tomb at Cadyanda in Lycia (No. 766), the banquet appears to be merely a scene from daily life, and as such it closely resembles some of the vase paintings. In No. 737 and other late examples, the relief, though of the type of the banquet, is commemorative rather than votive.
In Athens the type of the Sepulchral Banquet was also applied to another purpose, namely, for votive reliefs to Asclepios. The two classes of monuments are completely assimilated in those examples in which worshippers come to sacrifice at the end of the couch. Numerous specimens of reliefs have been found in the temenos of Asclepios at Athens, and it is possible that the sculptures from the Elgin Collection, Nos. 714, 715, belong to this series. In the newly-discovered papyrus fragments of Herodas, the sons of Praxiteles are mentioned as authors of a relief dedicated to Asclepios. A figure of Asclepios, composed like the principal figure of the sepulchral reliefs, has also been found on a vase from the Temple of the Cabeiri at Thebes (Ἐφημερίς, 1890, pl. 7). For other examples of the same type on vases of different meanings, see Athenische Mittheilungen, xiii., pl. 9; Arch. Anzeiger, 1890, p. 89. For the most recent discussion of the whole question, see Roscher, Lexicon, p. 2565.
Hero and Horse.—There is another type of sepulchral relief, somewhat akin to that above described, in which, however, the horse of the hero takes a more prominent position. The hero is seen either riding on his horse or standing near it, and receiving a libation poured out by a female figure, sometimes a Victory. Here also the snake is frequently introduced to mark the sepulchral character of the relief. In the earliest examples the connection between this type and the foregoing is made clearer by the presence of diminutive figures of supplicants bringing offerings, or making gestures of adoration. Compare a Theban relief (Athenische Mittheilungen, iv., pl. 16), and a relief in the Sabouroff Collection, inscribed Καλλιτέλης Ἀλεξιμάχῳ ἀνέθηκεν (Coll. Sabouroff, i., pl. 29), and a relief from Cumae (Roscher, Lexicon, p. 2555). For a list of reliefs with figures of horsemen, see Furtwaengler, Coll. Sabouroff, i., p. 40; Roscher, Lexicon, p. 2556. It has been thought that the horse is shown in these subjects on account of its association with Hades, but in some instances, if not in all, it relates to the pursuits and status of the deceased, and is introduced for the use of its master, and not for any Chthonian significance.
Reliefs from Lycia.—See below, p. [350].