DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18216#0072
58
CATALOGUE OF SCULPTURE.
was an egg and tongue pattern on the lower moulding,
and a niaeander pattern on parts of the upper moulding.
On the west side the chair of the figure on the right was
painted with palmette ornament. On the east side there
was also a palmette pattern on the side of the throne.
Interpretations.—The interpretations of this monument,
that have been proposed, may be divided into three
groups—
(1.) According to the first commentators, the subject
represented was the rape of the daughters of Fandareos,
king of Lycia, by the Harpies (Homer, Od. xx., 1. 6G.
Gibson, in Fellows, Lycia, p. 171 ; Birch, Archseologia,
xxx., p. 185.) The objections to this view are that the
subject is an improbable one for representation on a tomb,
that the "Harpies" evidently stand in a kindly relation
towards the persons whom they carry, and that the reliefs
do not agree well with the literary form of the myth.
It is also doubtful whether the" Harpies " were imagined
with bird-bodies at the period of these sculptures. (Furt-
waengler, Arch. Zeit., 1882, p. 204.)
(2.) In the second group of theories, the enthroned
figures are deities of the lower world to whom the souls
of the dead pay reverence. On the west side are Demeter
(left), and Persephone (right), and three worshippers who
carry symbols of life and birth, as the egg and the
pomegranate. The door of the tomb signifies death, while
the cow and calf, immediately above, suggest the renewal
of life. The three seated figures remaining, are, according
to this system, either Zeus (south), Poseidon (east), and
Hades (north), (Braun, Annali delV Inst., 1844, p. 151), or
Zeus viewed under a triple aspect (Curtius, Arch. Zeit.,
1855, p. 10). The symbolic system has been most
elaborately worked out by Curtius (loc. cit., and Arch. Zeit.,
1869, p. 10). Thus he regards the " Harpies' " bodies as
intended for eggs, and so symbolical of life. This view is
CATALOGUE OF SCULPTURE.
was an egg and tongue pattern on the lower moulding,
and a niaeander pattern on parts of the upper moulding.
On the west side the chair of the figure on the right was
painted with palmette ornament. On the east side there
was also a palmette pattern on the side of the throne.
Interpretations.—The interpretations of this monument,
that have been proposed, may be divided into three
groups—
(1.) According to the first commentators, the subject
represented was the rape of the daughters of Fandareos,
king of Lycia, by the Harpies (Homer, Od. xx., 1. 6G.
Gibson, in Fellows, Lycia, p. 171 ; Birch, Archseologia,
xxx., p. 185.) The objections to this view are that the
subject is an improbable one for representation on a tomb,
that the "Harpies" evidently stand in a kindly relation
towards the persons whom they carry, and that the reliefs
do not agree well with the literary form of the myth.
It is also doubtful whether the" Harpies " were imagined
with bird-bodies at the period of these sculptures. (Furt-
waengler, Arch. Zeit., 1882, p. 204.)
(2.) In the second group of theories, the enthroned
figures are deities of the lower world to whom the souls
of the dead pay reverence. On the west side are Demeter
(left), and Persephone (right), and three worshippers who
carry symbols of life and birth, as the egg and the
pomegranate. The door of the tomb signifies death, while
the cow and calf, immediately above, suggest the renewal
of life. The three seated figures remaining, are, according
to this system, either Zeus (south), Poseidon (east), and
Hades (north), (Braun, Annali delV Inst., 1844, p. 151), or
Zeus viewed under a triple aspect (Curtius, Arch. Zeit.,
1855, p. 10). The symbolic system has been most
elaborately worked out by Curtius (loc. cit., and Arch. Zeit.,
1869, p. 10). Thus he regards the " Harpies' " bodies as
intended for eggs, and so symbolical of life. This view is