DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4593#0154
THE SHRINES OF ATTICA 133
more ambitious and costly form of monument was
constructed of a number of slabs of marble framed
together like a temple front, and in this the com-
memorative slab was set.
These funeral slabs received various symbolical
decorations. A figure half woman and half bird, -—
with human head and arms, and bird's wings and
claws, — a sort of siren playing upon a musical in-
strument or in an attitude of lamentation is frequently
found. A lion is a common symbol. Just what its
relation to death was, it is not easy to see; perhaps
the figure was simply decorative. On one tombstone
in the National Museum the animal serves as a pic-
torial pun; the man's name was Leon, as the inscrip-
tion shows, and the corroborative figure left no doubt
about it.
Marble vases formed another kind of grave-orna-
ment, and were also of varying types. Many of these
amphorae have a long, slender neck and flat mouth-
piece. Then there is the Xovrpofpopos, or copy of a
type of vase with two handles. From a passage in
one of the orations of Demosthenes, in which it is
said that a certain man died unmarried, as is proved
from the Xovrpocpdpos on his grave, it is inferred that
this form of two-handled vase is found only on the
graves of unmarried persons. To a modern reader,
a one-handled vase might seem to be a more appro-
priate symbol of celibacy.
When a grave-monument has but a single figure,
it is natural to assume that it designates the one who
has died. But where two or more persons are fig-
ured, it is difficult to tell which was intended for the
dead. The Greeks did not write long eulogies or
more ambitious and costly form of monument was
constructed of a number of slabs of marble framed
together like a temple front, and in this the com-
memorative slab was set.
These funeral slabs received various symbolical
decorations. A figure half woman and half bird, -—
with human head and arms, and bird's wings and
claws, — a sort of siren playing upon a musical in-
strument or in an attitude of lamentation is frequently
found. A lion is a common symbol. Just what its
relation to death was, it is not easy to see; perhaps
the figure was simply decorative. On one tombstone
in the National Museum the animal serves as a pic-
torial pun; the man's name was Leon, as the inscrip-
tion shows, and the corroborative figure left no doubt
about it.
Marble vases formed another kind of grave-orna-
ment, and were also of varying types. Many of these
amphorae have a long, slender neck and flat mouth-
piece. Then there is the Xovrpofpopos, or copy of a
type of vase with two handles. From a passage in
one of the orations of Demosthenes, in which it is
said that a certain man died unmarried, as is proved
from the Xovrpocpdpos on his grave, it is inferred that
this form of two-handled vase is found only on the
graves of unmarried persons. To a modern reader,
a one-handled vase might seem to be a more appro-
priate symbol of celibacy.
When a grave-monument has but a single figure,
it is natural to assume that it designates the one who
has died. But where two or more persons are fig-
ured, it is difficult to tell which was intended for the
dead. The Greeks did not write long eulogies or