DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4593#0152
THE SHRINES OF ATTICA 131
or character, but one of a class in which the toilet-
case or the mirror is frequently introduced.
The difficulty of regarding this as a scene in the
next life is evident. Or did the Greek faith insist
on slavery and toilet-making in heaven? And which
slavery is it worse to perpetuate, — that of the servant
to her mistress, or the slavery of the mistress to the
Goddess of Fashion? But these scenes were less
complex than with such casuistry we are capable of
making them. They were as simple and natural and
human as the daily life they describe.
On one of the tombs is a monument of a valorous
young Athenian named Dexilcos, who won his laurels
during the Corinthian War, 394 B. C. Mounted on a
spirited horse, he is striking down a focman, who falls,
half recumbent, beneath his horse's feet. An inscrip-
tion identifies the hero and the deed. In this case it
is clear that the tomb is a monument to a military
hero. It signalizes the deed which made him famous,
and by which his memory is to be perpetuated.
This desire to single out some one act of a man's life,
or some professional success to adorn and distinguish
his tombstone, is a common one in both late and
early times. On the poles of the scaffold upon which
the Sioux Indians elevate their dead on the open
plain, they mark in red paint a record of some deed
of valor, — perhaps the number of scalps he has taken
or of the horses he has stolen.
To see the grave reliefs in greatest number and
variety, and to study their significance, we must go
to the National Museum. Many as there are, there
would have been more Attic gravestones, if a law had
not been passed to restrict their erection. Demetrius
or character, but one of a class in which the toilet-
case or the mirror is frequently introduced.
The difficulty of regarding this as a scene in the
next life is evident. Or did the Greek faith insist
on slavery and toilet-making in heaven? And which
slavery is it worse to perpetuate, — that of the servant
to her mistress, or the slavery of the mistress to the
Goddess of Fashion? But these scenes were less
complex than with such casuistry we are capable of
making them. They were as simple and natural and
human as the daily life they describe.
On one of the tombs is a monument of a valorous
young Athenian named Dexilcos, who won his laurels
during the Corinthian War, 394 B. C. Mounted on a
spirited horse, he is striking down a focman, who falls,
half recumbent, beneath his horse's feet. An inscrip-
tion identifies the hero and the deed. In this case it
is clear that the tomb is a monument to a military
hero. It signalizes the deed which made him famous,
and by which his memory is to be perpetuated.
This desire to single out some one act of a man's life,
or some professional success to adorn and distinguish
his tombstone, is a common one in both late and
early times. On the poles of the scaffold upon which
the Sioux Indians elevate their dead on the open
plain, they mark in red paint a record of some deed
of valor, — perhaps the number of scalps he has taken
or of the horses he has stolen.
To see the grave reliefs in greatest number and
variety, and to study their significance, we must go
to the National Museum. Many as there are, there
would have been more Attic gravestones, if a law had
not been passed to restrict their erection. Demetrius