DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5253#0526
FUNEREAL RITES. 491
quities, and before gazing upon the figured marbles there placed by surviving
friends, let us therefore turn aside for a moment to look into an ancient house
of mourning. The dying person, having covered his face, breathes his last.
Friends close the eyes and mouth of him whose soul has gone to join the shades
of the departed; the women and next of kin wash and anoint the body with per-
fumed oil, and, as though decking it for a feast, wrap it in garments, usually of
white, which by Solon were limited to three.9s3 Preparations are then made for
the first of the three principal acts of burial, the solemn protJicsis, or lying in
state. The body is placed on a rich couch in the front vestibule of the house,
in view of the street,-—a custom still observed in modern Greece. If it is a
man, a wreath of leaves is placed upon the brow; but if a lady, born to riches,
a diadem of gold; while, for her poorer sister, one of painted terra-cotta takes its
place. Holy water, brought from a neighboring house, is placed at the door, for
the purification of those who pass out; a similar custom being retained among
the Greeks of to-day.9s4 The nearest relations, female servants, invited friends,
and hired singers now surround the solemn bier; and the mourning wail is
sounded, its refrain being echoed by the whole company. A quaint, painted
clay tablet, discovered in Athens, and there preserved, pictures to us one of
these funereal scenes; the house being indicated, as was usual in ancient art, by
a simple pillar at the left side of the painting.9s5 Here the family are gathered
around the rich couch on which lies the dead. His mother is foremost among
the women, laying one hand on his pillow, and having the simple word "meter"
inscribed by her side. The inscriptions tell us what each figure is; and we see
that grandmother, younger sisters, father, and brothers are all there, the female
members of the family standing about the head andsides of the couch, and the
males at the foot. The latter, with arms thrown up, as if keeping time, and
mouths open, as if in singing, seem to be chanting the sad wail, so often read
of, and which consisted of responses, the strophe and antistrophe; while the
women, with hands raised to the head, the ever-recurring and significant gesture
of mourning, seem to be awaiting their turn to take up the dirge. Such scenes,
intended to impress by their sadness, but often grotesque through the artist's
lack of skill, are rarely found except on earlier vases. In later times, wedding
and other scenes were represented for the tomb; and, even where the dead
appears, a different spirit becomes evident. In a scene on a beautiful vase in
Athens, belonging to this century, the mourning is not painfully evident; but
friends stand, sadly conscious of their loss, about the bier, one at the head hav-
ing a fan, while little winged figures, representing, as is thought, the fluttering
unseen spirit {eidolon) of the dead, hover about the group.986 The majority of.
vases of this more highly developed art in Athens show friends sitting in silent
thought at the grave, or speaking with a traveller along the highway, who stops
to drop a word of comfort to the mourners. Again, and most frequently,
friends come to deck the tomb with sacred sashes, or to pour out sweet ointment
quities, and before gazing upon the figured marbles there placed by surviving
friends, let us therefore turn aside for a moment to look into an ancient house
of mourning. The dying person, having covered his face, breathes his last.
Friends close the eyes and mouth of him whose soul has gone to join the shades
of the departed; the women and next of kin wash and anoint the body with per-
fumed oil, and, as though decking it for a feast, wrap it in garments, usually of
white, which by Solon were limited to three.9s3 Preparations are then made for
the first of the three principal acts of burial, the solemn protJicsis, or lying in
state. The body is placed on a rich couch in the front vestibule of the house,
in view of the street,-—a custom still observed in modern Greece. If it is a
man, a wreath of leaves is placed upon the brow; but if a lady, born to riches,
a diadem of gold; while, for her poorer sister, one of painted terra-cotta takes its
place. Holy water, brought from a neighboring house, is placed at the door, for
the purification of those who pass out; a similar custom being retained among
the Greeks of to-day.9s4 The nearest relations, female servants, invited friends,
and hired singers now surround the solemn bier; and the mourning wail is
sounded, its refrain being echoed by the whole company. A quaint, painted
clay tablet, discovered in Athens, and there preserved, pictures to us one of
these funereal scenes; the house being indicated, as was usual in ancient art, by
a simple pillar at the left side of the painting.9s5 Here the family are gathered
around the rich couch on which lies the dead. His mother is foremost among
the women, laying one hand on his pillow, and having the simple word "meter"
inscribed by her side. The inscriptions tell us what each figure is; and we see
that grandmother, younger sisters, father, and brothers are all there, the female
members of the family standing about the head andsides of the couch, and the
males at the foot. The latter, with arms thrown up, as if keeping time, and
mouths open, as if in singing, seem to be chanting the sad wail, so often read
of, and which consisted of responses, the strophe and antistrophe; while the
women, with hands raised to the head, the ever-recurring and significant gesture
of mourning, seem to be awaiting their turn to take up the dirge. Such scenes,
intended to impress by their sadness, but often grotesque through the artist's
lack of skill, are rarely found except on earlier vases. In later times, wedding
and other scenes were represented for the tomb; and, even where the dead
appears, a different spirit becomes evident. In a scene on a beautiful vase in
Athens, belonging to this century, the mourning is not painfully evident; but
friends stand, sadly conscious of their loss, about the bier, one at the head hav-
ing a fan, while little winged figures, representing, as is thought, the fluttering
unseen spirit {eidolon) of the dead, hover about the group.986 The majority of.
vases of this more highly developed art in Athens show friends sitting in silent
thought at the grave, or speaking with a traveller along the highway, who stops
to drop a word of comfort to the mourners. Again, and most frequently,
friends come to deck the tomb with sacred sashes, or to pour out sweet ointment