DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.7476#0078
62
STELAE WITHIN CHAMBER TOMBS
That it was originally set upright in the ground appears from an
interesting feature in the slab itself. At about a foot from the ground, as
is clearly shown in the phototype (Fig. 45), the surface of the stone was
bevelled off below from a horizontal line,1 so as to produce a wedge-shaped
section easier for insertion in the ' kouskouras' floor. The unsymmetrical
curve of the top of the stela contrasts with the precision of the bevelling
below, but it is possible that it was originally of a more regular shape. No
trace of any sculpture is visible on the smooth face of the stone, and we
may suppose that, as in the case of the plain stelae of the Mycenae tombs,
it had been originally covered with a painted design.
Another example of a tombstone found within a chamber-tomb is
afforded by the well-known painted stela from Mycenae. This was found
by Tsountas in the later walling that blocked the entrance to a small niche
in the inner rock-wall of the chamber, which itself was of circular form.2 It
is highly probable that it had originally stood above a small burial pit
in the main chamber, containing human bones and some painted vessels
belonging to the latest Mycenaean epoch. The stela itself, consisting of
a kind of sandstone identical with that of one of those from the Shaft
Graves, is of special interest as having been used in two very different
periods. The stone was originally sculptured, and its face when exposed
shows two upper compartments with engraved disks.3 In its later phase it
was covered with a thin layer of plaster about 3 millimetres thick, divided
into zones of painted designs, the most important of which depicts a row of
helmeted warriors armed with round shields and spears, and almost identical
in style and costume with the figures on the ' Warrior Vase'. It may indeed
be taken to have served again for the grave as re-used to contain the
remains of the later occupants to whom the Late Mycenaean vases belonged.
A double-axe motive is repeated on the sides.
Two other stelae were found in the entrance to the tomb, though they
cannot be regarded as parts of its regular blocking. One of these was
plain, the other showed incised decoration consisting of curves and chevrons.
These stelae were of the same kind of sandstone as that above described.
In the rectangular chamber at Dendra near Midea—rightly regarded by
Professor Persson as a cenotaph 4—two stelae were set near the right wall,
1 The lower section of the slab is somewhat 'E<j>. 'Apx> 1888, pp. 127, 128, Figs. 4, 4 a.
obscured in Fig. 43 by the blocks used to fix Cf., too, Tsountas and Manatt, Mycenaean
it in an upright position for my photograph. Age, p. 152, and Fig. 53.
2 'E<£. 'Apx-, 1896, pp. 2-22, and Plates 1 4 A. W. Persson, Kungagraven i Dendra,
and 2. Goldfynd och andra fynd/ran Utgrdvningama,
3 Tsountas, 'AvaaKacj>al Tiijxov iv MvKrjvais, 1926 och 1927 (Stockholm, 1928), p. 135 seqq.
STELAE WITHIN CHAMBER TOMBS
That it was originally set upright in the ground appears from an
interesting feature in the slab itself. At about a foot from the ground, as
is clearly shown in the phototype (Fig. 45), the surface of the stone was
bevelled off below from a horizontal line,1 so as to produce a wedge-shaped
section easier for insertion in the ' kouskouras' floor. The unsymmetrical
curve of the top of the stela contrasts with the precision of the bevelling
below, but it is possible that it was originally of a more regular shape. No
trace of any sculpture is visible on the smooth face of the stone, and we
may suppose that, as in the case of the plain stelae of the Mycenae tombs,
it had been originally covered with a painted design.
Another example of a tombstone found within a chamber-tomb is
afforded by the well-known painted stela from Mycenae. This was found
by Tsountas in the later walling that blocked the entrance to a small niche
in the inner rock-wall of the chamber, which itself was of circular form.2 It
is highly probable that it had originally stood above a small burial pit
in the main chamber, containing human bones and some painted vessels
belonging to the latest Mycenaean epoch. The stela itself, consisting of
a kind of sandstone identical with that of one of those from the Shaft
Graves, is of special interest as having been used in two very different
periods. The stone was originally sculptured, and its face when exposed
shows two upper compartments with engraved disks.3 In its later phase it
was covered with a thin layer of plaster about 3 millimetres thick, divided
into zones of painted designs, the most important of which depicts a row of
helmeted warriors armed with round shields and spears, and almost identical
in style and costume with the figures on the ' Warrior Vase'. It may indeed
be taken to have served again for the grave as re-used to contain the
remains of the later occupants to whom the Late Mycenaean vases belonged.
A double-axe motive is repeated on the sides.
Two other stelae were found in the entrance to the tomb, though they
cannot be regarded as parts of its regular blocking. One of these was
plain, the other showed incised decoration consisting of curves and chevrons.
These stelae were of the same kind of sandstone as that above described.
In the rectangular chamber at Dendra near Midea—rightly regarded by
Professor Persson as a cenotaph 4—two stelae were set near the right wall,
1 The lower section of the slab is somewhat 'E<j>. 'Apx> 1888, pp. 127, 128, Figs. 4, 4 a.
obscured in Fig. 43 by the blocks used to fix Cf., too, Tsountas and Manatt, Mycenaean
it in an upright position for my photograph. Age, p. 152, and Fig. 53.
2 'E<£. 'Apx-, 1896, pp. 2-22, and Plates 1 4 A. W. Persson, Kungagraven i Dendra,
and 2. Goldfynd och andra fynd/ran Utgrdvningama,
3 Tsountas, 'AvaaKacj>al Tiijxov iv MvKrjvais, 1926 och 1927 (Stockholm, 1928), p. 135 seqq.