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https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4266#0050
ATHENIAN SEPULCHRAL MARBLES.
17
Fig. 3.—On this Stele is sculptured a youth holding a bird, which in the original is of the
most beautiful design, but from certain defects in the detail, we believe it to have been a copy from
some superior production. The figure has all the youthful elegance with which the ancients often
allegorized the idea of eternal repose, in their personification of the genius of Death \ Whether the
bird held by the wings in the right hand of the figure, had, in the conception of the ancient artists,
any allusion to the Soul about to take its flight from its mortal receptacle, we will not venture to ,
determine. In an ancient bas-reliefb the genius of Death attends the prostrate body of a defunct,
while a butterfly, the emblem of the soul, hovers over it; but that a bird was equally sym-
bolic of that essence is not known to us: we have the authority however for a similar introduc-
tion of it on other Grecian monuments. A Stele, excavated by Mr. Dodwell, near the Piraeeus,
inscribed with the name Philostratos, represents a boy shewing a bird to a dog, and leaning
on a sort of clubc; and on a sculptured sepulchral rock, near Myra in Lycia, a youth is seen
with a bird at his feet, but supposed to be a partridged; also on a Roman Tomb delineated from Bois-
sard, in the collection of Gruter, a youth is seen holding a Butterfly in the right hand, and a Bird in the
lefte. Such concurrent representations indicate how general and favourite an idea it was on Ancient
sepulchral monuments, which by some antiquaries is supposed merely to have been allusive to the pur-
suits of the deceased when living. This marble was delineated where deposited in the court-yard of
the Austrian Vice-consul at Athens.
Fig. 4. represents a Sepulchral Marble copied by the author at Athens, and which has since
been consigned to the collection of Greek marbles at the Public Library of Cambridge. It is re-
markable for the elegant form of a vase sculptured on it in low relief, the handles of which have a
great resemblance to the Ionic Volute; and from their apparent fragility, the original vase, from which
this was imitated, must have been of metalf. The sculptured figures, and the inscription, are equally
of elegant composition. This Stele was dedicated to Euthycritus, an Attic name; but the word de-
within the supposed enclosure of Ancient Carthage. This disco-
very was the more important, since no Punic Remains had been
hitherto developed on the apparent site of that important city;
the antiquities observed there, consisting of the ruins of edifices
raised by the descendants of its inexpiable destroyers.
These Stelae, wrought in a hard calcareous stone, were found
upright in their original situations, but covered with an accumu-
lation of about four feet of earth. They did not exceed seven
inches in width, and stood about eighteen inches above the ancient
surface of the ground, and half that measure below it, this division
being apparent ^ t},e r0ughness of the lower part of the stone.
■I he Inscriptions on these Carthaginian monuments, are in the
same Character as the Phoenician Writing of this Attic Marble.
The ornaments wrought on them appear to be humble imitations
of those on Grecian stelae intermixed with Punic symbols, rather
than to result from a parent or original style of architecture; for
there can be recognized upon them the echinus and ' anthemion'
ornaments, the imitation of pediments, Greek triglyphs, and an-
gular acroteria. Below one of the inscriptions is represented the
horse, as seen on the Punic coins of Panormus; beneath another
is engraved a diota. There are also inscribed on them several
monograms, perhaps not now susceptible of explanation.
It is therefore very probable, that the date of these interesting
remains, which in many respects display a distinctive national
character, does not, as the Discoverer supposes, go beyond that of
vanquished Carthage.—" II m' etoit reserve " he observes, " en
suivant de loin les traces du Voyageur Anglois (Dr. Shaw,) et du
Voyageur Romain, (he Comte Camille Borgia) de parcourir plus
neureusement une enceinte aussi celebre, et d' en arracher des
nionumens dont je ne hazarde point de fixer 1' epoque au dela de
arthage soumise, mais qui en conservent encore distinctement le
lype national."
1 hese invaluable relics were purchased by the King of the
Netherlands, an(j nave been placed in the Museum of Antiquities,
at the University 0f Leyden.
' Notlce sur 1uatre Cippes Sepulcraux, &c, dccouverts en 1817,
VOL. IV.
sur le Sol de ¥ Anciennc Carthage, par le Major J. E. Humbert.
LaHaye, 1821.' Fol. PI.
The only other known example of oriental writing, found in
Attica, is on a Stele of very similar form, engraved in the Tra-
vels of Dodwell, Vol. I. p. 411. The Greek Inscription on it de-
notes it to have been placed over the Tomb of '* Artemidorus,
the son of Heliodorus, a Sidonian."
On the language of the above Inscriptions, the most recent
and interesting information is to be acquired from a profound
work, entitled Miscellanea Phoenicia, Lugd. Bat. 1828, by the
learned Hamaker, Professor at the University of Leyden.
a Museo Pio Clementino. Tomo VII. Tav. XIII. a.
b Admiranda Ant. Rom. PI. 66.
■ Dodwell's Travels in Greece, Vol. I. p. 447. At page 243
of the same volume, and also in Clarke's Travels, is a sketch of
the large bas-relief of early sculpture in grey marble, seen at
Romaiko, near Libadea, representing a pastoral and bearded figure
leaning on a knotty staff, and presenting a winged insect to a
dog. It is supposed to allude to Apollo, named Parnopius, as
the deliverer of a country from locusts. By analogy with the
above mentioned marbles, and the existence of an inscription on
it now unintelligible, we should rather suppose this to be also a
sepulchral monument.
* Travels in the East, edited by Walpole, Vol. II. PI. p.
534. Art. Greek Inscriptions, by Mr. C. R. Cockerel].
e Gruteri Ins. Ant. Tot. Orbis Rom. cura Graevii. Tom. II.
P. 1148.
f We may here observe, that the Volutes of the tetrastyle
portico of the Erechtheum were probably anciently enriched
with some metallic ornaments, for the remains of bronze plugs
and cramps at several symmetric points throughout one of the
sinkings in the spirals, and at other parts of the capitals, indicate
such a remarkable peculiarity. See Stuart's Athens, Vol. II.
p. 73, Note ', Ed. of 1827. Erechtheion, by H. W. Inwood,
PI. IV.
E
17
Fig. 3.—On this Stele is sculptured a youth holding a bird, which in the original is of the
most beautiful design, but from certain defects in the detail, we believe it to have been a copy from
some superior production. The figure has all the youthful elegance with which the ancients often
allegorized the idea of eternal repose, in their personification of the genius of Death \ Whether the
bird held by the wings in the right hand of the figure, had, in the conception of the ancient artists,
any allusion to the Soul about to take its flight from its mortal receptacle, we will not venture to ,
determine. In an ancient bas-reliefb the genius of Death attends the prostrate body of a defunct,
while a butterfly, the emblem of the soul, hovers over it; but that a bird was equally sym-
bolic of that essence is not known to us: we have the authority however for a similar introduc-
tion of it on other Grecian monuments. A Stele, excavated by Mr. Dodwell, near the Piraeeus,
inscribed with the name Philostratos, represents a boy shewing a bird to a dog, and leaning
on a sort of clubc; and on a sculptured sepulchral rock, near Myra in Lycia, a youth is seen
with a bird at his feet, but supposed to be a partridged; also on a Roman Tomb delineated from Bois-
sard, in the collection of Gruter, a youth is seen holding a Butterfly in the right hand, and a Bird in the
lefte. Such concurrent representations indicate how general and favourite an idea it was on Ancient
sepulchral monuments, which by some antiquaries is supposed merely to have been allusive to the pur-
suits of the deceased when living. This marble was delineated where deposited in the court-yard of
the Austrian Vice-consul at Athens.
Fig. 4. represents a Sepulchral Marble copied by the author at Athens, and which has since
been consigned to the collection of Greek marbles at the Public Library of Cambridge. It is re-
markable for the elegant form of a vase sculptured on it in low relief, the handles of which have a
great resemblance to the Ionic Volute; and from their apparent fragility, the original vase, from which
this was imitated, must have been of metalf. The sculptured figures, and the inscription, are equally
of elegant composition. This Stele was dedicated to Euthycritus, an Attic name; but the word de-
within the supposed enclosure of Ancient Carthage. This disco-
very was the more important, since no Punic Remains had been
hitherto developed on the apparent site of that important city;
the antiquities observed there, consisting of the ruins of edifices
raised by the descendants of its inexpiable destroyers.
These Stelae, wrought in a hard calcareous stone, were found
upright in their original situations, but covered with an accumu-
lation of about four feet of earth. They did not exceed seven
inches in width, and stood about eighteen inches above the ancient
surface of the ground, and half that measure below it, this division
being apparent ^ t},e r0ughness of the lower part of the stone.
■I he Inscriptions on these Carthaginian monuments, are in the
same Character as the Phoenician Writing of this Attic Marble.
The ornaments wrought on them appear to be humble imitations
of those on Grecian stelae intermixed with Punic symbols, rather
than to result from a parent or original style of architecture; for
there can be recognized upon them the echinus and ' anthemion'
ornaments, the imitation of pediments, Greek triglyphs, and an-
gular acroteria. Below one of the inscriptions is represented the
horse, as seen on the Punic coins of Panormus; beneath another
is engraved a diota. There are also inscribed on them several
monograms, perhaps not now susceptible of explanation.
It is therefore very probable, that the date of these interesting
remains, which in many respects display a distinctive national
character, does not, as the Discoverer supposes, go beyond that of
vanquished Carthage.—" II m' etoit reserve " he observes, " en
suivant de loin les traces du Voyageur Anglois (Dr. Shaw,) et du
Voyageur Romain, (he Comte Camille Borgia) de parcourir plus
neureusement une enceinte aussi celebre, et d' en arracher des
nionumens dont je ne hazarde point de fixer 1' epoque au dela de
arthage soumise, mais qui en conservent encore distinctement le
lype national."
1 hese invaluable relics were purchased by the King of the
Netherlands, an(j nave been placed in the Museum of Antiquities,
at the University 0f Leyden.
' Notlce sur 1uatre Cippes Sepulcraux, &c, dccouverts en 1817,
VOL. IV.
sur le Sol de ¥ Anciennc Carthage, par le Major J. E. Humbert.
LaHaye, 1821.' Fol. PI.
The only other known example of oriental writing, found in
Attica, is on a Stele of very similar form, engraved in the Tra-
vels of Dodwell, Vol. I. p. 411. The Greek Inscription on it de-
notes it to have been placed over the Tomb of '* Artemidorus,
the son of Heliodorus, a Sidonian."
On the language of the above Inscriptions, the most recent
and interesting information is to be acquired from a profound
work, entitled Miscellanea Phoenicia, Lugd. Bat. 1828, by the
learned Hamaker, Professor at the University of Leyden.
a Museo Pio Clementino. Tomo VII. Tav. XIII. a.
b Admiranda Ant. Rom. PI. 66.
■ Dodwell's Travels in Greece, Vol. I. p. 447. At page 243
of the same volume, and also in Clarke's Travels, is a sketch of
the large bas-relief of early sculpture in grey marble, seen at
Romaiko, near Libadea, representing a pastoral and bearded figure
leaning on a knotty staff, and presenting a winged insect to a
dog. It is supposed to allude to Apollo, named Parnopius, as
the deliverer of a country from locusts. By analogy with the
above mentioned marbles, and the existence of an inscription on
it now unintelligible, we should rather suppose this to be also a
sepulchral monument.
* Travels in the East, edited by Walpole, Vol. II. PI. p.
534. Art. Greek Inscriptions, by Mr. C. R. Cockerel].
e Gruteri Ins. Ant. Tot. Orbis Rom. cura Graevii. Tom. II.
P. 1148.
f We may here observe, that the Volutes of the tetrastyle
portico of the Erechtheum were probably anciently enriched
with some metallic ornaments, for the remains of bronze plugs
and cramps at several symmetric points throughout one of the
sinkings in the spirals, and at other parts of the capitals, indicate
such a remarkable peculiarity. See Stuart's Athens, Vol. II.
p. 73, Note ', Ed. of 1827. Erechtheion, by H. W. Inwood,
PI. IV.
E