DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9187#0128
HEROIZIXG RELIEFS
99
ancestor and ancestress seated side by side. When the reclining
position supersedes that of sitting, the wife necessarily moves
from her husband's side and sits opposite to him. It is a variety
of the same motive when the husband sits or stands and the
wife pours him wine, a group found on several stelae1, one
as early as the Persian wars, and very commonly in the paintings
of Greek vases, from quite an early period. The motive of
wine-pouring being thus thoroughly established in Greek art,
could easily be transferred from one kind of group to another.
' It may have been that in some cases the hero had no wife,
or he may have had several successively: that would make
no great difference, as the idea of the group is fixed. As
Furtwangler expresses it: 'II importe d'insister sur le fait que
nous sommes ici en face d'une forme artistique, qui avait pour
objet d'exprimer une conception de ces puissances souterraines
derivee d'un des principaux usages de leur culte.' This is a far
more reasonable explanation than that of some writers, who
fancy that the wine-pouring lady is a kind of Houri, or nymph
of Paradise, who awaits the hero in the next world to recom-
pense him with her embraces for the pains which he has in this
world undergone for the good of mankind.
Thirdly, what is the relation between these heroic reliefs
and the numerous reliefs and paintings on Attic stelae in which
the deceased is represented as riding on a horse ? Several
of these we cite below in Chapter IX. Some points of
difference between the two classes of monuments are obvious.
The heroic reliefs are broad, shaped like votive tablets : the
Attic reliefs are tombstones of upright shape. In the votive
reliefs the wine-pouring consort is seldom absent, and votaries
are usually present. In the Attic reliefs the horse is merely
one of the adjuncts of daily life, and the rider is represented
in the guise of his ordinary existence. In fact, as we shall see
1 A then. Mittheil. viiL 16; Le Bas, Voyage, pi. 103.
H 2
99
ancestor and ancestress seated side by side. When the reclining
position supersedes that of sitting, the wife necessarily moves
from her husband's side and sits opposite to him. It is a variety
of the same motive when the husband sits or stands and the
wife pours him wine, a group found on several stelae1, one
as early as the Persian wars, and very commonly in the paintings
of Greek vases, from quite an early period. The motive of
wine-pouring being thus thoroughly established in Greek art,
could easily be transferred from one kind of group to another.
' It may have been that in some cases the hero had no wife,
or he may have had several successively: that would make
no great difference, as the idea of the group is fixed. As
Furtwangler expresses it: 'II importe d'insister sur le fait que
nous sommes ici en face d'une forme artistique, qui avait pour
objet d'exprimer une conception de ces puissances souterraines
derivee d'un des principaux usages de leur culte.' This is a far
more reasonable explanation than that of some writers, who
fancy that the wine-pouring lady is a kind of Houri, or nymph
of Paradise, who awaits the hero in the next world to recom-
pense him with her embraces for the pains which he has in this
world undergone for the good of mankind.
Thirdly, what is the relation between these heroic reliefs
and the numerous reliefs and paintings on Attic stelae in which
the deceased is represented as riding on a horse ? Several
of these we cite below in Chapter IX. Some points of
difference between the two classes of monuments are obvious.
The heroic reliefs are broad, shaped like votive tablets : the
Attic reliefs are tombstones of upright shape. In the votive
reliefs the wine-pouring consort is seldom absent, and votaries
are usually present. In the Attic reliefs the horse is merely
one of the adjuncts of daily life, and the rider is represented
in the guise of his ordinary existence. In fact, as we shall see
1 A then. Mittheil. viiL 16; Le Bas, Voyage, pi. 103.
H 2