DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9177#0087
IV
THE HOUSE AND THE TOMB
67
have furnished a chilling porch to the beauties of Athens; as
they were, they merely cast a gentle shadow on the spirit, re-
minding passers-by of the transitory
nature of life, and counselling them
to make wise and temperate use of
its enjoyments.
Two rather curious forms some-
times taken by the marble stele
must be mentioned. Frequently it
is cut in the shape of a lekythos or
oil-flask, an allusion perhaps to the
oil so constantly used by the Greek
athlete in his training. And some-
times it takes the form of a water-
pot, such as was used for the cere-
monial bath before marriage. This
kind of memorial, as has been already
observed, was used only in the case
of those who died unwedded, death
being looked on, in a poetical figure
which was taken with some literal-
ness, as a marriage with the god or
goddess of the lower world. These
imitations of vessels in actual use
were carved with inscriptions and
with scenes from daily life just like
the oblong stelae.
On none of these monuments is
there any serious attempt at por-
traiture. The generic always attracts
theartistofearlyGreecemorethantheindividual. Andtherewas
current a feeling with which we maywell sympathize, that in dying
a man or woman was loosed from the defects of individuality, and
1 Sculptured Tombs, PI. IV.
Fig.
10.'— Water-vessel
tomb : Athens.1
THE HOUSE AND THE TOMB
67
have furnished a chilling porch to the beauties of Athens; as
they were, they merely cast a gentle shadow on the spirit, re-
minding passers-by of the transitory
nature of life, and counselling them
to make wise and temperate use of
its enjoyments.
Two rather curious forms some-
times taken by the marble stele
must be mentioned. Frequently it
is cut in the shape of a lekythos or
oil-flask, an allusion perhaps to the
oil so constantly used by the Greek
athlete in his training. And some-
times it takes the form of a water-
pot, such as was used for the cere-
monial bath before marriage. This
kind of memorial, as has been already
observed, was used only in the case
of those who died unwedded, death
being looked on, in a poetical figure
which was taken with some literal-
ness, as a marriage with the god or
goddess of the lower world. These
imitations of vessels in actual use
were carved with inscriptions and
with scenes from daily life just like
the oblong stelae.
On none of these monuments is
there any serious attempt at por-
traiture. The generic always attracts
theartistofearlyGreecemorethantheindividual. Andtherewas
current a feeling with which we maywell sympathize, that in dying
a man or woman was loosed from the defects of individuality, and
1 Sculptured Tombs, PI. IV.
Fig.
10.'— Water-vessel
tomb : Athens.1