DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4098#0511
MODERN BURIALS. 463
griffins. But griffins are not represented on the earlier tetradrachms,1
of whieh six varieties have been found, and which were coined before
that statue was made. In some tombs I found egg shells, which pro-
bably bore a part in the religious tenets of the Greeks, as they are fre-
quently represented on painted funereal vases ; and, according to the
Orphic system, they were emblematical of the origin and fruitfulness
of nature. The egg of an ostrich was found in a sepulchre at Athens,
a short time before my arrival.
The Greeks used to dress out their dead with rich garments, and
also to bury other dresses with them ; which custom was carried to
such an excess, that a law of Solon2 ordained, that not more than
three suits should be buried with any corpse.
Treasures of the precious metals and other valuables were in
earlier times interred with the dead. Josephus3 relates, that in
David's sepulchre were found " apyvpiou rpix^kix rxXxvrx, xotrptov $e
Xpvtrou xxi KeipviXiuv 7roXvv.
Arrian4 says, there was found in the tomb of Cyrus " xxi o-Tpe-za-Tot,
XXI XXlVXXXI, XXI BVUTIX xpvcrov T£ XXI \18uv XOWyTX.
A Roman law prohibited burying money with the dead ; nor
were golden ornaments permitted ; and whoever found a treasure
of this sort, became the lawful possessor of it. Amongst the in-
teresting discoveries made by Mr. Burgon, in his excavations of the
Athenian sepulchres, was a skeleton, with thick iron fetters round
the legs; probably a condemned culprit, who died before the execu-
tion took place. In another tomb he found about fifty astragals,
or vertebrae of the hinder legs of goats, which had been probably
gained by the deceased in the game of astragals.
The women of Greece, and particularly of Athens, are still carried
1 In the magnificent collection of R. P. Knight, Esq. « Plutarch's Life of Solon.
5 Antiq. b. 13. c. 8. and b. JO. c. 7.
* B. 6. Trzpi AXttartpov avu^Mfur. About the burying with rich garments, see Nicephoru*
p. 6. about the wile of Heraclius.
griffins. But griffins are not represented on the earlier tetradrachms,1
of whieh six varieties have been found, and which were coined before
that statue was made. In some tombs I found egg shells, which pro-
bably bore a part in the religious tenets of the Greeks, as they are fre-
quently represented on painted funereal vases ; and, according to the
Orphic system, they were emblematical of the origin and fruitfulness
of nature. The egg of an ostrich was found in a sepulchre at Athens,
a short time before my arrival.
The Greeks used to dress out their dead with rich garments, and
also to bury other dresses with them ; which custom was carried to
such an excess, that a law of Solon2 ordained, that not more than
three suits should be buried with any corpse.
Treasures of the precious metals and other valuables were in
earlier times interred with the dead. Josephus3 relates, that in
David's sepulchre were found " apyvpiou rpix^kix rxXxvrx, xotrptov $e
Xpvtrou xxi KeipviXiuv 7roXvv.
Arrian4 says, there was found in the tomb of Cyrus " xxi o-Tpe-za-Tot,
XXI XXlVXXXI, XXI BVUTIX xpvcrov T£ XXI \18uv XOWyTX.
A Roman law prohibited burying money with the dead ; nor
were golden ornaments permitted ; and whoever found a treasure
of this sort, became the lawful possessor of it. Amongst the in-
teresting discoveries made by Mr. Burgon, in his excavations of the
Athenian sepulchres, was a skeleton, with thick iron fetters round
the legs; probably a condemned culprit, who died before the execu-
tion took place. In another tomb he found about fifty astragals,
or vertebrae of the hinder legs of goats, which had been probably
gained by the deceased in the game of astragals.
The women of Greece, and particularly of Athens, are still carried
1 In the magnificent collection of R. P. Knight, Esq. « Plutarch's Life of Solon.
5 Antiq. b. 13. c. 8. and b. JO. c. 7.
* B. 6. Trzpi AXttartpov avu^Mfur. About the burying with rich garments, see Nicephoru*
p. 6. about the wile of Heraclius.