XXVII.—METHODS OF BURIAL.
(Wall-Cases 58-64.)
Greece.—In the prehistoric period known as Mycenaean, the inhabitants of Greek lands probably buried their dead and did not cremate them. It is possible, however, that a partial burning was in vogue in this and the succeeding periods in Greece. In the case of the more wealthy Mycenaean dead, the bodies were elaborately decked with gold ornaments. Oval plates of gold were tied over the forehead and mouth of the corpse, in the latter case (where the impression of the lips can be seen) perhaps with the idea of keeping out evil spirits. The window-cases in the Gold Ornament Room contain many examples of these funeral diadems and mouthpieces from Cyprus. In the Homeric poems we find the bodies of the dead burnt upon a pyre and the ashes buried beneath a mound.
Fig. 257. Funeral Lekythos. Ht. 15¼ in.
Scenes representing the preparation of the body for cremation or burial are frequently depicted on Greek vases. They occur on the large "Dipylon" vases, made specially for standing outside the tomb (see examples in the First Vase Room), and on black-figure vases, where the body is seen lying on the bier surrounded by mourners. It is, however, upon the white lekythi of the fifth century (No. 668; fig. 257), one of which is here illustrated, that funeral scenes are most commonly found. We know from Greek literature that these vases were expressly made for putting in tombs. A speaker in the Ekklesiazusae of Aristophanes talks of "the man who paints the lekythi for the dead."[105] On the vase here figured a woman is making offerings at the tombstone. These offerings were made by the relatives from time to time, and consisted mainly of sashes, wreaths, and vases, as may be seen from the vases placed in the Case. The Greek funeral monuments of the best period are characterised by their restrained beauty. Examples of the different types will be found in the Phigaleian Room downstairs and in the Gallery of Casts. In the Cases 59-60, the only tombstones are the archaic one of Idagygos of Halikarnassos (No. 669; fig. 258) found in Cyprus, inscribed with an elegiac couplet in which he is called "the squire of Ares,"[106] and a round stone (No. 670) with a late inscription showing that the tomb was that of Menestratos, a Corinthian buried in Attic soil. The Greek tombs were generally ranged on either side of the main roads leading from the city gates.
Fig. 258.—Inscribed Tombstone of Idagygos (No. 669). Ht. 5 ft. 8 in.
A terracotta urn of about the third century B.C. (No. 671) in Case 60 serves as an example of the vases used to contain the calcined remains of the dead. It holds a number of burnt bones, among them part of a jaw-bone, with a silver obol adhering to it. The coin was placed in the mouth of the corpse as the fee of the ferryman Charon for piloting the dead across Acheron. The gilded figure of a Siren found in this vase is emblematic of the spirit world.
Two later monuments with Greek inscriptions are the marble chests in Cases 61-62. Each has a lock-plate (cf. those in Case G), carved in front in low relief. No. 672 is the cinerary chest of Metras Tryphon, who had been publicly crowned by the people of Ephesus, and has this crown represented on his urn. The second chest (No. 673), from the temple of Kybele at Sardes, is inscribed with the name of Metrodoros, who is called a "sprinkler" (περιράντης) no doubt with reference to an office held by him in the temple service. Below this chest is a marble cup from Rhodes (No. 674), bearing the inscription: "The burying-place of those who have lost their ancestral tomb." This cup, which is ornamented above with flying birds and has holes for a metal attachment, seems to have been set on a column as a boundary mark.