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https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1117#0293
RELIEFS ON GRAVE STELAE
247
in this tomb, but it may have stood beside some clay coffin placed on
the floor. It lay below the stratum in which remains of L. M. Ill larnakes
occurred, and in the opinion of the excavator belonged to the M. M. Ill
level.1 Although the surface of the stone had not preserved any traces of
coloured design, we may well believe that it had once been painted.
That the stela had been 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. 185), the surface of the stone shows
a horizontal line, marking the level up to which it had been originally
inserted in the floor of the vault.
There is nothing therefore to exclude the possibility that the grave
stelae of Mycenae originally found their place beneath the great vaults. If
:—-as those accustomed to a Minoan atmosphere can hardly doubt—they
had been originally adorned with bright colouring, this protected situation
would have been more favourable to them. Where their surface was plain
and smooth, this sheltered situation would have been more favourable for
preserving such painted records. The matter, however, is not essential to
the present argument and it is quite possible that stelae were set up before
or above the great Tholoi.
Reliefs on Stelae of Mycenae of Knossian Lapidary School. Influence
of Seal-types.
Like the 'metope' of the facade of the 'Atreus' Tomb, the reliefs
of the gypsum slabs brought by Lord Elgin from its fore-hall, and the
steatite ' medallion' pithoi from the ' Clytemnestra' Tomb, as well as the
other stone-work vessels and fragments associated with these sepulchral
vaults, the decorative elements of the relief on the Grave stelae themselves
take us once more to the lapidary School of Knossos.
The Grave stelae'1 of Mycenae seem to have been, for the most part
at least, sculptured by craftsmen whose ordinary work was connected with
the goldsmith's art, and who—though skilful enough in their reproduction
1 These supplementary details have been
kindly supplied to me by Mr. Forsdyke.
- The stelae were first separately treated
by W. Reichel, Die mykenischen Grabstelen,
in JLranos Vindobonensis, p. 24 seqq. A
fresh' examination of the material was under-
taken by Dr. Kurt Muller in his Frihhmykcniscke
Reliefs {Jahrbuch d. Arch. lust., xxx; see
p. 286 seqq.). The whole material has since
been carefully collected and arranged by Mr.
W. A. Heurtley in J3. S. A., xxv, p. 126 seqq.,
and Plates XIX-XXI. To this must now be
added the excellent photographic reproduc-
tions of the stelae in Prof. G. Karo's publica-
tion, Die Sch-ichtgriibervon Mykenai (Munich,
1930, Plates V-X).
247
in this tomb, but it may have stood beside some clay coffin placed on
the floor. It lay below the stratum in which remains of L. M. Ill larnakes
occurred, and in the opinion of the excavator belonged to the M. M. Ill
level.1 Although the surface of the stone had not preserved any traces of
coloured design, we may well believe that it had once been painted.
That the stela had been 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. 185), the surface of the stone shows
a horizontal line, marking the level up to which it had been originally
inserted in the floor of the vault.
There is nothing therefore to exclude the possibility that the grave
stelae of Mycenae originally found their place beneath the great vaults. If
:—-as those accustomed to a Minoan atmosphere can hardly doubt—they
had been originally adorned with bright colouring, this protected situation
would have been more favourable to them. Where their surface was plain
and smooth, this sheltered situation would have been more favourable for
preserving such painted records. The matter, however, is not essential to
the present argument and it is quite possible that stelae were set up before
or above the great Tholoi.
Reliefs on Stelae of Mycenae of Knossian Lapidary School. Influence
of Seal-types.
Like the 'metope' of the facade of the 'Atreus' Tomb, the reliefs
of the gypsum slabs brought by Lord Elgin from its fore-hall, and the
steatite ' medallion' pithoi from the ' Clytemnestra' Tomb, as well as the
other stone-work vessels and fragments associated with these sepulchral
vaults, the decorative elements of the relief on the Grave stelae themselves
take us once more to the lapidary School of Knossos.
The Grave stelae'1 of Mycenae seem to have been, for the most part
at least, sculptured by craftsmen whose ordinary work was connected with
the goldsmith's art, and who—though skilful enough in their reproduction
1 These supplementary details have been
kindly supplied to me by Mr. Forsdyke.
- The stelae were first separately treated
by W. Reichel, Die mykenischen Grabstelen,
in JLranos Vindobonensis, p. 24 seqq. A
fresh' examination of the material was under-
taken by Dr. Kurt Muller in his Frihhmykcniscke
Reliefs {Jahrbuch d. Arch. lust., xxx; see
p. 286 seqq.). The whole material has since
been carefully collected and arranged by Mr.
W. A. Heurtley in J3. S. A., xxv, p. 126 seqq.,
and Plates XIX-XXI. To this must now be
added the excellent photographic reproduc-
tions of the stelae in Prof. G. Karo's publica-
tion, Die Sch-ichtgriibervon Mykenai (Munich,
1930, Plates V-X).