DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5309#0032
SEPULCHRAL BASS-RELIEFS.
The monuments engraved under the Numbers iv. v. vi. and brought from Greece,
two from Megara, and one from Athens, reflect a reciprocal light on each other. They
are sepulchral images, as the Oxford marble, published under Number xl. of the
Arundel collection, sufficiently evinces. The description in Pausanias1 of a sepulchral
picture, that was seen near Tritia, a city of Achaia, and which was a production of
Nicias, presents a subject that bears a striking resemblance to those before us. Other
subjects, that have the same analogy, may be seen in the explanation Signor Passeri
has given of some Grecian bass-reliefs belonging to the Museum Nani at Venice, and
likewise in the works of Pacciaudi.2 Generally, it seems, that the Greeks in their
sepulchral bass-reliefs made use of this kind of emblematic figuration, representing
death as a farewell ; so that the deceased appears in an erect posture, as ready for a
journey. We must not omit remarking the elegant chair, called by the ancients the
Thcssalian chair, and the dog, that was in the sepulchral picture of Nicias. In the
bass-relief No. vi. we read the name of the deceased Cqfision, according to the Doric
dialect used at Megara, instead of Cefision.
The other letters express two female names in the vocative case, that is, beautiful
Onori and Dioclea ; an acclamation common among the ancients, as the learned Maz-
occhi has shewn at large, in his notes on the Heraelcan plates.
I shall subjoin here a translation of the passage in Pausanias, where he describes the
sepulchral picture so often mentioned, which probably suggested the idea of this figu-
ration, or symbol, repeated in so many monuments.
" The grave shews pictures by the hand of Nicias. There is an ivory chair, upon
which sits a beautiful young woman ; close to her is seen a female attendant, with a
small umbrella ; and a beardless young man, who stands up, with a sleeveless jacket,
and a purple military garment upon it. Then follows an attendant with javelins,
leading dogs for hunting."
Respecting the sepulchral marble, No. v. ; it represents a horseman with a helmet
on his head, and in the back ground his name is set down, with that of his father and
country, as usual among the Athenians, En—Cles—Polyar—Alopec. Probably
Xenocles, son of Poliamus of Alopecia. Alopecia, or Alopece, was a village or suburb
not far distant from Athens, and inhabited by the tribe called Antiochides.
15
The monuments engraved under the Numbers iv. v. vi. and brought from Greece,
two from Megara, and one from Athens, reflect a reciprocal light on each other. They
are sepulchral images, as the Oxford marble, published under Number xl. of the
Arundel collection, sufficiently evinces. The description in Pausanias1 of a sepulchral
picture, that was seen near Tritia, a city of Achaia, and which was a production of
Nicias, presents a subject that bears a striking resemblance to those before us. Other
subjects, that have the same analogy, may be seen in the explanation Signor Passeri
has given of some Grecian bass-reliefs belonging to the Museum Nani at Venice, and
likewise in the works of Pacciaudi.2 Generally, it seems, that the Greeks in their
sepulchral bass-reliefs made use of this kind of emblematic figuration, representing
death as a farewell ; so that the deceased appears in an erect posture, as ready for a
journey. We must not omit remarking the elegant chair, called by the ancients the
Thcssalian chair, and the dog, that was in the sepulchral picture of Nicias. In the
bass-relief No. vi. we read the name of the deceased Cqfision, according to the Doric
dialect used at Megara, instead of Cefision.
The other letters express two female names in the vocative case, that is, beautiful
Onori and Dioclea ; an acclamation common among the ancients, as the learned Maz-
occhi has shewn at large, in his notes on the Heraelcan plates.
I shall subjoin here a translation of the passage in Pausanias, where he describes the
sepulchral picture so often mentioned, which probably suggested the idea of this figu-
ration, or symbol, repeated in so many monuments.
" The grave shews pictures by the hand of Nicias. There is an ivory chair, upon
which sits a beautiful young woman ; close to her is seen a female attendant, with a
small umbrella ; and a beardless young man, who stands up, with a sleeveless jacket,
and a purple military garment upon it. Then follows an attendant with javelins,
leading dogs for hunting."
Respecting the sepulchral marble, No. v. ; it represents a horseman with a helmet
on his head, and in the back ground his name is set down, with that of his father and
country, as usual among the Athenians, En—Cles—Polyar—Alopec. Probably
Xenocles, son of Poliamus of Alopecia. Alopecia, or Alopece, was a village or suburb
not far distant from Athens, and inhabited by the tribe called Antiochides.
15