182 The birth of Erichthonios
design, if genuine1, probably falls within the period 490—470 B.C.
What purpose it served in the grave is more doubtful. Possibly the
rising of the boy from the depths of the dark earth to light and
life was felt to be of good omen for the future of the buried dead2.
Fig- 93-
Be that as it may, vase-painters of the fifth century took this
old art-type and amplified it by the addition of other interested
spectators. A red-figured hydria from Chiusi (?), now in the British
Museum (pi. xxii)3, makes a full-breasted Ge emerge waist-high fr°m
1 P. Jacobsthal Die melischen Reliefs Berlin—Wilmersdorf 1931 p. 96 ff. pi. 75 a notes
that the head, shoulder, and breast of the child, parts of Kekrops' fore-arm and of Athena s
right hand, together with a bit of the base beneath the snaky tail, are due to a restorer
(fig. 21 shows the relief unrestored). After frequent inspection R. Zahn and Jacobsthal
decided 'es endgiiltig fiir eine Falschung zu erklaren, allerdings fiir eine sehr intelligent
und fiir die siebenziger Jahre recht gelungene und gelehrte.' But could a forger over sixty
years ago have been so successful ?
2 Cp. supra ii. 417.
3 Brit. Mus. Cat. Vases iii. 159 f. no. E 182, Gerhard Auserl. Vasenb. iii. 3 ff- P'- '5.'
Lenormant—de Witte El. men. cer. i. 287 f. pi. 85, Miiller— Wieseler Denkm. d. alt-
design, if genuine1, probably falls within the period 490—470 B.C.
What purpose it served in the grave is more doubtful. Possibly the
rising of the boy from the depths of the dark earth to light and
life was felt to be of good omen for the future of the buried dead2.
Fig- 93-
Be that as it may, vase-painters of the fifth century took this
old art-type and amplified it by the addition of other interested
spectators. A red-figured hydria from Chiusi (?), now in the British
Museum (pi. xxii)3, makes a full-breasted Ge emerge waist-high fr°m
1 P. Jacobsthal Die melischen Reliefs Berlin—Wilmersdorf 1931 p. 96 ff. pi. 75 a notes
that the head, shoulder, and breast of the child, parts of Kekrops' fore-arm and of Athena s
right hand, together with a bit of the base beneath the snaky tail, are due to a restorer
(fig. 21 shows the relief unrestored). After frequent inspection R. Zahn and Jacobsthal
decided 'es endgiiltig fiir eine Falschung zu erklaren, allerdings fiir eine sehr intelligent
und fiir die siebenziger Jahre recht gelungene und gelehrte.' But could a forger over sixty
years ago have been so successful ?
2 Cp. supra ii. 417.
3 Brit. Mus. Cat. Vases iii. 159 f. no. E 182, Gerhard Auserl. Vasenb. iii. 3 ff- P'- '5.'
Lenormant—de Witte El. men. cer. i. 287 f. pi. 85, Miiller— Wieseler Denkm. d. alt-