χαλκῷ μέγιστον σῶμα δειλαίας σποδοῦ,
showing that metal vases were generally employed for this purpose.
No instances occurred among the early tombs in the Dipylon cemetery at Athens or elsewhere in Greece before the sixth century, nor was the practice usually favoured by the Etruscans, who employed painted vases in their tombs exclusively as furniture. In Mycenaean times in Crete coffers (λάρνακες) of terracotta, painted like the vases, were used as ossuaria[[484]]; and similarly in Etruria at all periods the remains of the deceased were placed in rectangular chests or sarcophagi of terracotta or stone. But in the earliest tombs of Etruria and Central Italy urns and hut-shaped receptacles for the ashes were invariably employed (see Chapter [XVIII].).
It is, however, probable that in course of time there was a partial adoption of the practice in Greece. As early as the middle of the sixth century there is an instance in the well-known Burgon Panathenaic amphora, now in the British Museum,[[485]] found by Mr. Burgon in 1813; it contained remains of burnt bones and several small plain vases. This would seem to indicate that the Panathenaic amphorae in particular were considered appropriate for this purpose, namely, that the cherished prize won by the living should be used for the most sacred purpose in connection with the dead.
Among the red-figured vases of the fifth century which have been found to contain ashes, may be mentioned the famous Vivenzio vase at Naples,[[486]] which was found carefully deposited within another vase at Nola, and a vase of the shape known as λέβης, now in the British Museum, found near the Peiraeus.[[487]] There is also a covered vase in the British Museum,[[488]] which was employed for a similar purpose. It is not, strictly speaking, a painted vase, being covered with a white slip and coloured like the terracottas, while the heads of monsters project from its sides; the shape is that known as λεκάνη (“tureen”), and it dates from the fourth century. It contained human bones, among which were found a small terracotta figure of a Siren and other objects; the jaw-bone, which was preserved, had still fixed in it the obolos, or small silver coin which was placed there as Charon’s fare for ferrying the soul over the Styx. Of later date is a vase found at Alexandria, in the catacombs, similarly decorated, and also filled with bones; it was presented to the British Museum in 1830 by Sir E. Codrington.
The class of large terracotta vases found in tombs at Canosa, Cumae, Capua and Calvi (Cales), of which fine specimens may be seen in the Terracotta Room of the British Museum (see above, p. [119]), seems to have been made for sepulchral purposes, as in many cases they are not adapted for practical use. On the other hand, they may have been ornaments for houses. They are decorated with figures in high relief, or attached to different parts of the vase, and many of them, especially those in the form of female heads, are strictly speaking not vases at all, having no proper bottom.
The majority of painted vases found in the tombs must be regarded purely as tomb-furniture, placed there with the idea that the deceased would require in his future life all that had been associated with his former existence. Sometimes they were placed round the corpse, with food or liquids in them for the use of the “ghost,” and instances are known of eggs and other objects having been preserved in this manner.[[489]] Toy-vases are found buried with children in tombs at Athens and elsewhere, and toilet-boxes or unguent-vases in women’s graves. Nevertheless, it is probably not wide of the mark to say that in the sixth and fifth centuries the custom had lost much of its original meaning; the habit of placing painted vases in tombs survived, but the original idea of the practice had become obscured, and the religious significance was restricted to certain classes of vases, the prothesis-amphorae, white lekythi, and others, which were not used during life but only made specially for this purpose.
Great value seems to have been set upon the painted vases by their possessors. When broken, they were repaired by the pieces being skilfully fitted and drilled, with a rivet of lead or bronze neatly attached to the sides. Several mended vases exist in the European collections.[[490]] Occasionally they were repaired by inserting pieces of other vases. Thus a vase with two handles, found at Vulci, of the shape called στάμνος, is repaired with a part of a kylix representing quite a different subject, and thus presents a discordant effect.[[491]] A R.F. vase in the Louvre has actually been mended with part of a B.F. vase.[[492]] A B.F. kylix in the British Museum (B 398) has a piece inserted with the name of Priapos; similarly the two handles of the R.F. kylix E 4, with the signature of Thypheithides, do not belong to the vase; but these may both be modern restorations. The large casks of coarse and unglazed ware (πίθοι) were also repaired with leaden cramps. “The casks of the ill-clad Cynic,” says the Roman satirist, “do not burn; should you break one of them, another house will be made by to-morrow, or the same will continue to serve when repaired with lead.”[[493]] Aristophanes puts into the mouth of his old litigant turned roué a popular story of Sybaris which alludes to the use of bronze rivets. A woman of that city broke an earthen pot, which was represented as screaming out, and calling for witnesses to prove how badly it had been treated. “By Persephone!” exclaims the dame, “were you to leave off bawling for witnesses, and make haste to buy a copper clamp (ἐπίδεσμον) to rivet yourself with, you would show more sense.”[[494]]
After noting the chief uses of Greek vases it is necessary to give some account of the different shapes, and to identify the recorded names as far as possible with the various kinds actually found.