The lecyth was not an uncommon form of the funeral monument. The sculptor, in that case, made the vase of colossal size and decorated it with scenes of curious interest. On one of them Hermes Psychopompe is leading away a beautiful figure to the land of shades. The form of some of the monuments and the inscriptions on them indicate that they had a double purpose to serve and that, in addition to being memorials of the dead, they were votive offerings to the departed, who had become objects of worship.
In this connection, it may be instructive to refer to the vigorous contest which has been waged between different archaeologists over the interpretation of the representations of feasts on the sepulchral monuments, reliefs and pictures. The most probable explanation seems to be that the central figures are not deities[212] but the deceased receiving that nourishment which he required, as well after death as while living, that the patera or the wine cup is extended to receive the libation or the food, that the horse and dog were the images of those faithful domestic animals whose usefulness would be as great in the Elysian fields as during life. The pomegranate in the hand of the feaster confirms the opinion that he is a deceased mortal, that fruit being appropriate to the dead after the analogy of Persephone who was subtly induced by the god of the lower world to taste the pomegranate and thereafter could never return entirely to the upper light. The presence of the serpent is more difficult to explain, although the incident of the large snake that twined about the body of Cleomenes in Egypt and drove away the birds of prey may assist in clearing up the mystery. Plutarch says that some of the Alexandrians being terrified at the sight of the serpent clinging to the body of Cleomenes, it was pointed out that as bulls develop bees after death, and horses produce wasps, so the human body, as it decayed, turned into snakes. The wife of the deceased is seated because the reclining posture at the table was peculiar to the men and was never assumed by a modest woman.
The second species of tomb, the Kion or column was very shapely, having a double base and an Ionic fluting at the top. In the representations on some of the lecyths, are the figures of the friends of the deceased who have come to the Kion to offer services in various ways. The objects that are seen in their hands are varied, being mostly offerings for the dead, although some are articles necessary for the performance of the funeral rites, while others are articles of the toilet.
The third division of the tombs is the so-called trapezae. It was a tomb of this species that was used to mark the resting-place of the orator Isocrates and his immediate[213] relatives. It was probably this style of tomb that Cicero called the mensa, the expense of which Demetrius Phalereus limited[214].
The heroum or fourth division of the tombs, possessed many of the features of the Greek temple, with which every student of art or literature is familiar. The imposing façade was always present, even when other parts were wanting, in consequence of the situation’s forbidding elaborate development of the rest of the exterior. The structure which the moderns have united in designating as a “chapel” bears the closest resemblance to the heroum. Indeed, the heroum differed from many small temples only in that its opening faced toward the west, while the entrance to the temple looked in the opposite direction[215].
There is a marked difference in this latter respect, between the Egyptian and the Grecian Tombs. In the great necropolis of the ancient Egyptians at Memphis and Thebes, the door, the external inscriptions and the entablatures of the tombs, almost without exception look toward the east; while, at Abydos the tombs often face the south; but, in neither place do they open to the west[216]. So general is this disposition of the opening that Champollion and other writers on the subject have made the fact the basis of an elaborate “assimilation” between the life of man and the career of the sun, declaring that the dead yearns toward the rays that shall illumine his night and draw him from his long sleep[217]. Accordingly he is placed so that he shall catch the first beams of the morning, or at noon behold the full vigor of the god of day.
The heroa must have been very numerous in Greece. That fact is indicated by a chapter from the history of the Peloponnesian war[218]. From the earliest times, the Athenians had been accustomed to live in the country and, before the time of Theseus, Attica was occupied by independent towns, each of which had its own king. So that in the Peloponnesian war, when Archidamus, the Spartan king, approached Athens, about the year 430, B. C., Pericles advised the Athenians who lived outside the walls to bring their families and their effects into the city. They followed the advice of Pericles but the city was crowded and, since they were without shelter they were obliged, with very few exceptions, to take up their abode in the temples and the heroa.
The Greeks were very proud of these elaborate monuments, which were reminders to the world of the virtues of their ancestors and relations, and these sepulchres passed down from generation to generation as an inheritance which the heir expected to transmit when he had been received therein[219].
These heroa as a rule, however, were erected in memory of some great man at that period when death had brought about an indefiniteness and haziness of view which exaggerated his achievements into heroic proportions. The Theseum was a notable instance of such a monument. Here, it was believed, were deposited the bones of Theseus after they had been brought back to Athens, and here was a general asylum for criminals[220] who fled from the penalty of their misdeeds. One of these tombs was erected over the remains of Lycus[221]; and a certain Germanicus, a didaskalos or school master, apparently obtained so great a reputation that a heroum was built in his honor[222].
A whole family was often buried in the same heroum. There is reported an instance of a man’s buying one of these temple-tombs for himself, his wife and child[223]; and, in the third century, a rich woman, probably of Thera, left by her will three thousand drachmas, almost six hundred dollars for the erection of a heroum (which she terms a museum), in honor of herself, her husband and her two sons. She directed that sacrifices shall be offered to them as heroes for three days in each year[224]. In the early period, when Athens was under Cecrops, the burials were simple and inexpensive, but, shortly after Solon’s time, it became so common to spend vast sums on the tombs that a law was passed to check the outlay. Cicero says that the elaborateness of the grave was limited to what ten men could accomplish in three days[225]; but Plato, in prescribing the limit which should be observed, states, as has been before mentioned, that it should only be as high as five men could build in five days[226]. Plato would add the further restriction that no stone monument should be built larger than to receive four hexameters in praise of the deceased[226]. From many indications in literature, however, there is reason to believe that Plato’s suggestion was not adopted. Diogiton, who was doing his best to defraud his wards of their money by spending as little as possible for their needs, purchased a memorial for their father at twenty-four minae (about five hundred dollars). This seems to have been considered a niggardly sum for the purpose[227]. On the other hand, the tomb which Phormio erected in honor of his wife cost him over two talents, which is over two thousand five hundred dollars[228]. In memory of Isocrates, there was erected a monument forty-five feet high, on which was a siren ten feet and a half in height, emblematic of his eloquence[229].