It remains now to speak of the funeral lekythi as a distinct class, their subjects and method of treatment.[[1428]] Although it was formerly customary to speak of “vases of Locri” or “vases of Gela” in speaking of examples found on those sites, it is almost certain that they are all really of Athenian origin.[[1429]] Apart from the fact that the great majority have been found at Athens, there are no special peculiarities about those from other sites which would justify any such distinction of fabrics. The same remarks apply to the numerous examples which have been found of late years at Eretria in Euboea, and have caused some recrudescence of the theory of non-Attic origin.[[1430]] But Eretria was so near to Athens that importation must have been quite a simple matter. In regard to the Locri vases, it has been noted by M. Pottier[[1431]] that they seem to represent an inferior, though still Athenian fabric, in which the white is more lustrous and less flaky than in the better examples, and the outlines are in black exclusively. Black silhouettes are occasionally found, and the subjects are not necessarily funerary.
The funerary subjects fall into four classes; they will be enumerated in Chapter XV., where examples of each class are given, but may be briefly recapitulated here, in order to note some artistic considerations.
(1) The Prothesis, or laying-out of the corpse (Plate [LV].).
(2) The Depositio, or laying of the body in the tomb: chiefly in the Thanatos and Hypnos type (see Fig. [123], Chapter XIII.).
(3) The Journey to Hades; Charon in his bark (see Fig. [122], Chapter XIII.).
(4) The Cult of the Tomb, this being by far the most common of the four classes (see Plate [LV]. and Fig. [19], p. 143).
The Prothesis type is an old one, occurring not infrequently on black-figured vases, especially on the slim “prothesis-amphorae” which are sometimes found at Athens. M. Pottier reckons ten examples, to which may be added a fine specimen now in the British Museum (Plate [LV]., fig. 1). The Depositio type is somewhat rare; it is occasionally found in B.F. vases,[[1432]] but is usually idealised, the body being carried by winged genii, to whom the names of Thanatos and Hypnos are usually given. The type, as has been pointed out elsewhere, is originally mythological, being derived from that of the burial of Memnon. Some half-dozen examples are known (see Chapters XIII., XV.). Of the Charon vases M. Pottier reckons twenty-one, which he classifies under three heads: (1) Charon on the left in a boat, which two or three persons enter. (2) Charon on the right in a boat; persons ready to enter. (3) The deceased is seated on a stele at which women make offerings; Charon approaches in his boat.[[1433]] The conception is essentially a pictorial one, and it may reasonably be inferred that it is a reflection of Polygnotos. The same subdued pathos and the same style of composition are characteristic of his paintings. Pausanias, in describing his Nekyia in the Lesche at Delphi, says: “There is water, which seems intended for a river, evidently the Acheron, and reeds growing therein ... and there is a boat on the river, and the ferryman at the oar.”[[1434]]
In the vases representing the Cult of the Tomb (Plate [LV]. and Fig. [19]), the normal type is that of two or three persons bringing offerings, wreaths, vases, etc., to a stele[[1435]] ornamented with coloured sashes, or engaged in conversation thereat; sometimes one sits on the steps of the stele. The persons with offerings are usually feminine; where men occur, they are either attired as warriors, or stand leaning on a spear or staff, conversing with the women. The correspondence of some of these compositions to the “type” of Orestes and Electra meeting at the tomb of Agamemnon has more than once been noticed, but it does not seem here to be a case of borrowing the heroic “type,” as in the Thanatos and Hypnos instance. Where such scenes can be identified on vases,[[1436]] they are all of late date and mostly of South Italian manufacture; and we may rather suppose that the contrary was the case, and that the lekythos “type” was idealised and borrowed for the Orestes scene. Moreover, the popularity of the latter subject is probably largely due to its treatment by the tragic poets.
Among other details of interest in these scenes may be noted the appearance of the εἴδωλα or ghosts of the deceased, represented as tiny hovering winged creatures. M. Pottier has noted eighteen instances, and the number has since then been greatly increased.[[1437]] The invariable youthfulness of the figures—which, it may be remarked, are always purely impersonal; and mere types of mourners—is noteworthy as a characteristic of later fifth-century art, which tended to create ideals of youth and beauty.[[1438]] This, of course, is everywhere apparent in sculpture, as in the Parthenon frieze and the works of Polykleitos; and reminiscences of Pheidian youthful types may be suggested by some of the figures on the lekythi.[[1439]] In the figures of deities the same change was going on, as in the case of Hermes, and even the aged and grim figure of Charon is toned down on the funeral vases to a more humane conception. It has also been suggested that the choice of youthful figures is due to the thought that youth is the period when bereavement produces its simplest and most natural effects.
The influence of the sepulchral stelae of the fifth and fourth centuries soon begins to be apparent in the lekythi, especially in the scenes of tomb-offerings.[[1440]] Like the vases, the stelae always varied in merit, some being refined and artistic compositions, others poor and commonplace. The choice of subjects, indeed, differs in some degree, the subjects on the stelae relating chiefly to the previous life of the deceased, those of the vases to the actual death and burial. But there are many lekythi, the subjects on which are more like those of the stelae, not being strictly funerary.[[1441]] Thus we see the deceased as a warrior charging with a spear or on horseback, like the Dexileos of the Kerameikos; the young hunter pursuing a hare; the lady at her toilet with mirror or jewellery in hand, attended by her maidens, like the charming Hegeso (Plate [XLIII].); or the warrior parting from his spouse.