DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.15101#0163
PLATE L.
TOMB FROM DELOS.
This monument represents the front of a tomb, and exhibits
two figures, the taller one entirely naked, and the shorter equally
so, with the exception of a portion of drapery, perhaps a cloak,
which falls over his left shoulder, perhaps to indicate that he is
carrying it for another rather than for his own use. The taller
figure is taking some object from the right hand of the youth,
perhaps the small lecythus used for anointing the body, after
the exercises of the gymnasium or the refreshment of the bath.
From the state of the marble at the back of this monument, it
would seem to have been never finished.
On the side of one of the pillars supporting the pediment
above the figures are cut the letters HAA, and similar memo-
randa have often been found on vases and other objects of ancient
art.
These sepulchral monuments, when made in the shape of
temples, were called heroa, and represented distyle temples, with
two pilasters supporting a small pediment or aetos, on which were
three acroteria with antefixal ornaments. One author of antiquity,
Diodorus Periegetes, wrote a work about them, and these
monuments, from the description of Pausanias, were, evidently,
common in Greece. The subjects sculptured in relief in front
of them generally represent the deceased in some action befitting
his age and condition, or the meetings and adieus of the deceased
and his friends.
TOMB FROM DELOS.
This monument represents the front of a tomb, and exhibits
two figures, the taller one entirely naked, and the shorter equally
so, with the exception of a portion of drapery, perhaps a cloak,
which falls over his left shoulder, perhaps to indicate that he is
carrying it for another rather than for his own use. The taller
figure is taking some object from the right hand of the youth,
perhaps the small lecythus used for anointing the body, after
the exercises of the gymnasium or the refreshment of the bath.
From the state of the marble at the back of this monument, it
would seem to have been never finished.
On the side of one of the pillars supporting the pediment
above the figures are cut the letters HAA, and similar memo-
randa have often been found on vases and other objects of ancient
art.
These sepulchral monuments, when made in the shape of
temples, were called heroa, and represented distyle temples, with
two pilasters supporting a small pediment or aetos, on which were
three acroteria with antefixal ornaments. One author of antiquity,
Diodorus Periegetes, wrote a work about them, and these
monuments, from the description of Pausanias, were, evidently,
common in Greece. The subjects sculptured in relief in front
of them generally represent the deceased in some action befitting
his age and condition, or the meetings and adieus of the deceased
and his friends.