1. The winecup. On the beautiful archaic stele of Lyseas at Athens[218],
the hero is represented not in relief, but painted on the marble; he
stands erect, holding in one hand a winecup, in the other a lustral
branch. Not very much later in date is the stele[219] on which appears
in relief a veiled lady seated, who holds in one hand the flat patera
(Pl. XVI). Here the patera seems to stand in the place of the winecup,
and clearly has the same reference to the receipt of libations.
2. The pomegranate. On an archaic tombstone of Aegina[220], a seated
lady gives her hand to a male figure standing before her: in the other
hand she holds a pomegranate. Again, on a stele of the early part of the
fifth century, which comes from Larissa in Thessaly[221], a lady called
Polyxena stands, drawing forward with one hand her veil, and in the
other holding a pomegranate.
Nor is it only the attributes held by the Spartan heroes which appear in
Attic and other reliefs, but also the offerings brought to them by
worshippers. We will take the cock and the dove, which are prominent at
Sparta or on the Lycian Harpy Tomb, which so closely resembles in its
symbolism the Spartan monuments.
3. The cock. From Larissa comes a fifth-century stele[222], on which is
a relief representing a young Thessalian, clad in a chlamys, who holds
in one hand a spear, in the other a cock His name is Vekedamus. A cock
is also painted on a tomb at Athens which bears the name of
Antiphanes[223].
4. The dove. An Athenian tomb of the middle of the fifth century[224]
(Pl. XXX) bears the seated figure of a lady, Eutamia; before her stands
an attendant of small stature, who brings her a dove and a toilet-box.
Here the dove has the appearance of an offering. But on a number of
Athenian stelae the dove appears evidently as a common household pet. It
is sufficient to refer to our Plate XVIII and Fig. 61; though perhaps a
more pleasing instance than either of these is offered by a charming
relief at Brocklesby Park[225], in which we see a young girl fondling
two doves, which at once takes our thoughts to the offering of two doves
at the temple of Jerusalem after childbirth[226], though doubtless the
correspondence is accidental.
The horse and the dog also, which figure so prominently on the Spartan
tomb (Fig. 30), are of frequent occurrence at Athens.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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