8. Oriental and barbarian figures.
9. Miscellaneous subjects and compositions of no particular import.
10. Animals (mostly only decorative).
1. Religious Subjects
These mostly appear in the form of sacrifices, either before a simple altar, or before the statue of some deity, a cult-image, or terminal figure. Thus we have representations of the offering of a bull to Athena,[[1534]] sacrifices to a primitive image of Dionysos[[1535]] or to a terminal figure of Hermes,[[1536]] or a sacrifice or libation to Persephone, Apollo, or other deities.[[1537]] A procession of six maidens carrying chairs and a boy with game is probably in honour of Artemis[[1538]]; and in another scene we have the Dioskuri coming to the Theoxenia or feast prepared in their honour.[[1539]] Many other examples may be found under the heading of the various Olympian deities. In other instances we see the preparations for a sacrifice,[[1540]] or a procession of figures with victims and sacrificial implements[[1541]]; the victims are either rams,[[1542]] bulls,[[1543]] goats,[[1544]] or pigs.[[1545]] Other scenes of sacrifice represent the roasting of a piece of meat held on a spit over a blazing altar[[1546]]; or two men stand over a large krater on a stand, accompanied by a flute-player.[[1547]] In many cases the sacrifice is doubtless intended to celebrate a dramatic, agonistic, or other victory.[[1548]]
Among other religious scenes we have the dedication of a tripod,[[1549]] religious festival dances,[[1550]] praying figures,[[1551]] men or women burning incense over an altar or incense-burner[[1552]]; or scenes of libation,[[1553]] a Metragyrtes or mendicant priest praying before devotees,[[1554]] and a priest examining the entrails of a ram.[[1555]] An ephebos is initiated and purified by the Διὸς κῴδιον[[1556]]; oaths are taken over a tomb,[[1557]] or omens from birds on a tumulus[[1558]]; and here perhaps may be mentioned a man making a gesture against the evil eye.[[1559]] There is also a scene illustrative of the Πιθοίγια, an Athenian feast[[1560]]; and a possible representation of the feast of Adonis, and the “gardens” or pots of flowers exhibited on that occasion.[[1561]] Lastly, there are scenes relating to votive offerings, such as a figure of a child on a column offered to Athena,[[1562]] a youth carrying a votive tablet,[[1563]] and others in which similar votive tablets occur.[[1564]] The number of scenes which can be shown to relate to Athenian festivals, or bear on Greek religious belief and ritual, might be greatly expanded and multiplied, but at present little has been done in this direction.[[1565]]
2. Funeral Scenes
Closely connected with these religious subjects are those which played so large a part in the life of the Greeks, and found such a strong reflection in their decorative art—namely, those which relate to the burial and cult of the dead. The relation of Greek vases to the tomb has been discussed elsewhere (Vol. I. p. [141] ff.), and it is sufficient here to repeat that there are only three or four classes of vases which yield undoubted evidence that they were expressly made for funeral purposes, each belonging to a different period of the art.
In the earliest period we have the great Dipylon vases (Vol. I. p. [285]), many of which represent funeral processions and rows of mourning women[[1566]]; these were made for standing outside the tomb. In the B.F. period there are the prothesis-amphorae, made likewise for placing first round the bier and then on the tomb, as plainly shown in one instance[[1567]]; and in the R.F. period the Athenian white lekythi are decorated almost exclusively with sepulchral scenes. Among the vases of the decadence a whole series of Lucanian and Campanian hydriae and Apulian kraters and amphorae, as well as some late Athenian vases, the Apulian examples being usually of enormous size, equally betray the special purpose for which they were made.
On the B.F. vases the commonest subject is the prothesis or conclamatio, where the body is exposed on the bier and the mourners stand round in attitudes of grief,[[1568]] a subject also occasionally found on the lekythi.[[1569]] Elsewhere we have the carrying of the bier to the tomb,[[1570]] accompanied by warriors, and the depositio or placing of the body therein.[[1571]] On the vases of this period the tomb invariably assumes the form of a mound (χῶμα or tumulus),[[1572]] as it appears in some mythical scenes already described.[[1573]] On the lekythi, on the other hand, the tomb is in the form of a tall plain stele, on a stepped base, crowned with an ornament of acanthus-leaves or a palmette, and wreathed with coloured sashes, while vases and baskets of flowers are sometimes placed on the steps.[[1574]] On the vases of Southern Italy it is developed either into a tall column with altar-like base,[[1575]] or into a large shrine or heroön, with columns in front and gabled roof, within which stands the figure of the deceased,[[1576]] or sometimes an acanthus-plant[[1577]] or several vases.[[1578]]