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(The article was written in 1893, published in Athen. Mittheilungen XVIII, pp.73-191)
An Attic Cemetery (part 2, pp. 101-135)
II. Description of Dipylon Tombs (p.101).
Tomb I. (See plate 7, and p. 89 above).
The
uncovering of the tomb happened before the time of our observation. We
can therefore only state that the head of the buried corpse lay at the
north end of the grave and that a narrow golden diadem was found at the
head. The same is exactly like the piece illustrated in Arch. Zeitung
1884 Taf.9,4, which also comes from Athens, decorated with two
superimposed zigzag lines. This diadem is also found on the Netos vase (Ancient Monuments,
I, Plate 57). Heracles and Netos wear it around the back of their heads
from ear to ear, and it serves to hold the head of hair together. In
our case it belonged to a woman's adornment, as can be deduced from the
picture of the large grave vase, the fragments of which lay inside the
grave shaft but above the actual grave. Several dipylon vases stood at
the feet of the skeleton and further towards the head. The same can no
longer be identified. The following should be noted about the funerary
vase, which has been reassembled in all essential parts (cf. Δελτίον άρχαιολογικόν 1892 p. 6 no. 1).
Plate 7: Plan of burial area with Dipylon graves.
The
vessel has a height of 1.80 m. Of these, 60 cm come on the neck and
1.20 m on the body. The diameter of the mouth is 50cm. At the neck, 7
meandering strips follow one another, each of which is separated from
the other by a narrow zigzag band. These strips show the meander in
four different variations. The richest form is found in the middle. On
the vessel body, too, the decoration essentially consists of the same
types of meander bands.
Meanwhile, the main interest is
concentrated in the broad median strip which contains the
representation. The arrangement of the stripes above the picture shows
the effort (p.102) to draw the eye of the viewer to the median stripe;
The painter achieved this by making them broader towards the middle and
richer in pattern. The funeral procession is shown in the central
strip. A colossal four-wheeled chariot drawn by four horses carries a
checkered board on which the bier stands. The corpse rests on it. That
it is that of a woman is evident from the fact that the legs are not
separated from one another, as on the well-known vase Monumenti
IX, pl. 39, but appear to be clothed in a long robe; the arms are at
the sides. A large canopy of the familiar type is stretched high above
the chariot. The lower line of this canopy is not drawn straight, but
cut out here and there according to the shapes of the corpse on which
it descends (cf. Gollignon, Sculpture grecque
1 p. 76). Beneath the bier, three figures are kneeling on the chariot,
turned to the right, to their right also sitting on the chariot,
probably (in accordance with the grave vase described below) as many on
chairs. Behind the stretcher are standing on the wagon behind, which
means next to each other, two larger and one smaller figure, probably
the next of kin, including those under the stretcher. Two large male
figures follow. So much for the front surface.
The main strip is
divided into two halves by the double handles, so that actually two
images have to be separated, which in turn are closed off by vertical
strips on the right and left. On the back were at least 10 figures,
laying their hands on their heads in the usual plaintive gesture. The
space under the individual bows of the double handles is occupied by
three women each, who are characterized as such by long robes with
large trains.
A small strip of pictures is found on the lower
part of the vessel. Only about two-thirds of it have been preserved.
(p.103) About 90 people were shown walking to the right in the attitude
of lamentation.
As the vase is the largest of all dipylon vases
found so far—perhaps the largest of all painted vases—so it also gives
the most stately picture of the funral ceremony of that time. First of
all, the hearse is of enormous dimensions; one will believe the painter
that on the platform of the carriage there was not only space for the
bier, but also for the next of kin around it, some standing, some
sitting, some kneeling, just as they do around the dead man in the
house with the prosthesis gathered. From this we learn that at that
time the domestic scene of the prosthesis was continued on the street
to the grave. In order to make all this appear credible, one will
remember the Pompewagen and the Thespiskarren, their connection as in
Dümmler in the Rhine. Museum 1888 p. 355 ff. If the hearse of the
Dipylon period is also a σκηνή or stage, the lamenting men and women
next to it are the associated choirs. The women with their long-train
dresses, which we find on the vase, are of value for the history of
costumes.
At this point we will briefly describe a second
large vase, which we do not know whether it belongs to grave II or
IV. The shape is the same s that in grave I. The overall height is
1.60m, while that of the neck alone is 52cm. The mouth has a diameter
of 48cm. The neck is adorned with various ornamental stripes, which are
separated from each other by zigzag lines. Three of the stripes show
meander patterns, one grazing, one lying deer.
The same central
arrangement can be observed on the vessel body as in the previous vase.
Here, too, the image strip is mainly bordered by meandering bands.
The
picture strip is interrupted by the double handles, resulting in two
pictures. The one in front is distinguished from the one behind by its
greater length, as a result of which the front image could only be
closed off on the right and left by two (p.104) vertical meander strips
each, while there is space at the back, on either side of the image
between two vertical meander strips, a large star includes eight
plaintive figures, all women in contrast to the armed men on the front
of the vase.
On this we see the prosthesis, in the middle of
which is the stretcher with the corpse. The fact that it is a
man, although the legs are not given separately, is shown by the short
hair that surrounds the head like spikes. A canopy, cut out in the same
manner as that on the previous vase, is stretched over the bier. Under
the stretcher two women kneel to the right, hands on heads. To the
right two men are seated on chairs, facing left. One puts his hands on
his head, the other stretches out his hand. To the right of the bier
follow five large, one medium-sized and one small figure. All are shown
in the attitude of mourners, only the smallest holds the stretcher with
one hand. Also to the left of the bier are five figures, the foremost
of whom is touching the bier. Behind these follow two armed men with
swords, who put one hand on their heads.
Tomb II
The
grave was cut across from the south and partially destroyed by a much
younger border grave 20 cm above it. No accessories were found in the
intact part. It could be established with certainty that the dead man
was buried. Inside the shaft, about 1 m above the bottom of the grave
lay the sherds of a large grave vase (cf. p. 103 above).
Tomb III (see plate 7, and p. 92 ff. above).
The
tomb is of particular interest because it is an example of cremation
from the Dipylon period. Instead of the skeleton, a bronze urn with a
few calcined bones was found at the upper end of the grave (see the
sketch in fig. , p. 92).
The dead man was not cremated in the
grave itself, because (p.105) no traces of burning were found in it. It
is striking that the grave, although it only had to contain the urn, is
not significantly smaller than the graves in which the intact corpse
was buried. The grave goods are also present, as they are found in
other graves. A thin layer of mortar was spread over the grave at the
level of the step.
The grave goods consist of five clay vases.
The largest, an amphora with a diameter of about 40 cm, is simply
decorated with strips of varnish on the belly and only has a picture of
a bird on the neck, and so belongs to dipylon vessels such as those
which have been observed for Eleusis (cf. Philios Έφemερίς άρχ. 1889 p. 174, 3),
and a number of which the Athens Museum of Archaeology owns.
Still in the traditional style are two boxes with lids in the shape of
that in Annali 1872, plate K,
11. One has a diameter of 13 1/2 cm, the other 18 cm. The band of
the two is provided with the tangent spiral. On the belly of the vessel
there are deer lying in fields whose vertical boundaries are created by
straight and zigzag lines, and there a bird is also surrounded in the
middle.
The following vase is of the same shape, but somewhat
shorter and without a lid. The decoration is similar, only the tangent
spiral at the edge has a more developed form, somewhat like fig. 15 of
the mentioned plate. The main panels of the belly are filled with
vertical zigzag patterns.
Finally, there is a 22cm high pot
with an almost spherical body, on which sits a slender neck ending in a
trefoil mouth. Because of this, it is particularly vividly reminiscent
of the phaleron jugs. Their decoration is also similar to those. The
whole lower part is painted with simple lines of varnish, only at the
top of the body there is a vertical stripe of superimposed zigzag lines
in the middle. In the middle of the hem that goes around the neck is a
line of acute-angled triangles. Otherwise the phaleron jars are smaller
and clumsier. The closest analogy in size and shape (p.106) is the
dipylon vase shown in Ath. Mith.
VI Plate 3, which Furtwangler rightly ascribes to the younger period of
dipylon vases, especially because of the inscription scratched on it.
We
will not go amiss if we regard this tomb as one of the youngest of the
Dipylon period, and thus also refer the large amphora to this time. The
cremation, which deviates from the usual burial method, can be
reconciled with this assumption.
A consideration of the tomb
monument, which was found standing over the tomb, at least in its lower
part, also leads to the most recent period of the Dipylon period (fig.
4 above). It is a vessel in the form of a chalice, just like Monumenti IX plate 40, 1.10 m high (cf. Dελτίον αρχαιολογικόν
1892 p. 7. no. 4). In the center of the goblet is the main image band.
Of these, 10 men armed with swords have survived, laying their right
hands on their heads in mourning. Between the individual ones, as a
filling ornament, is the developed tangent spiral, as on the vase
described above. Five women follow, turned to the left like the men,
with the same separating ornament between them. Next follows the wheel
of a chariot driving to the right. Then, after a large gap, warriors
and one-horse chariots are alternated. One of the warriors already has
the small round shield, the other still has the large one that has been
cut out. The hearse is to be expected in the missing image gap
following the wagon train.
Below and above the main image band
are several simple dividing stripes. A broader ornamental stripe can
still be found on the upper part of the chalice. It is divided into
four individual fields by vertical meander bands and zigzag systems -
two each between the handles - which are filled in by large leaf stars.
Under the double handles are images of two wailing women.
Tomb IV
The
tomb is at right angles to Tomb 1; its length is 2m, its width lm. The
bottom of the grave was at (p.107) groundwater level, the head of the
buried corpse to the west. Close to the left side of the body, at arm
height, was the iron blade of a sword; From its position it is probably
too speculative to say that the corpse was put in with the
sword hanging. The blade is 6 cm wide at its straight cutting end
and tapers to 2.5 cm at 23cm length.
Of other grave goods,
only fragments of clay vases have been excavated from the grave, some
of which belong to a small cup, the rest to an aryballus-shaped oil
vessel, which stood on a small button-like foot. It deserves to be
pointed out in the latter case, in comparison with the rough aryballi
of the other tombs, that it was painted, for the most part, in a
checkerboard pattern.
According to the warden, at the point of
the grave where the dead man's head lay, about a meter above the bottom
of the grave, the sherds of a large vase were found. We suspect that
this is identical to one assembled in the museum up to more than 1.20 m
high, which is painted entirely with linear ornaments and only carries
two birds under each of the two handles. Possibly, however, this is the
vase that belongs to grave II (cf. Δελτίον άοχαιολογικόν 1892 p. 7 no. 3).
Tomb V and VI (cf. Δελτίον αρχαιολογικόν 1892 p. 10, No. 17).
From
grave V, which is cut by VI, only a part could be uncovered. This
explains why only a few fragments were found of the weapons lying on
the right side of the corpse. Nevertheless, these are sufficient to
determine with certainty the armament of the warriors of that time and
to gain confirmation of the view which can be taken from the vase
paintings for the armament. The usual armament consists of shields,
swords, daggers and two lances. Dümmler already remarked that lances
were found in pairs in the dipylon graves (Ath.Mitt. XIII p. 297). In
the grave at the feet of the (p.108) dead man the remains of two tubes
were found, into which the wood of the lance shaft was stuck. Strong
remnants of the shafts have been preserved in the tubes. The tips of
the lances have perished completely, or perhaps not been uncovered. As
the circumstances of the find prove, the lances lay with their tips
pointing downwards.
Apart
from these remains of the two lances, parts of a large iron sword were
found. The best preserved part is 5cm wide, while at the top the width
is 2cm. The total length is about 70cm. The shape of the hilt cannot be
determined with certainty, but it seems that it did not differ from the
sword hilts depicted by Undset (Zeitschrift für Ethnologie 1890 S. 2 Fig. 1) and Dümmler (Ath. Mitt.
XI 11 S.297). . Traces of the earlier wooden cladding are clearly
noticeable. However, particularly strong remains of wood can be found
on both sides of the blade, so it can be assumed that the sword was in
a wooden scabbard (Undset loc.cit.p. 3).
There is also the
handle of a dagger and small remnants of the associated blade. The
shape of the hilt is that of the Mycenaean dagger most similar to that
of Undset op. cit. 13.
Its wooden paneling, of which there are considerable remains, is held
in place by four iron pins. These pins are arranged so that two are on
the lower widening of the handle, two are equally spaced above it. The
received handle is 6 3/4 cm long. Traces of a wooden scabbard in which
the dagger was hidden are also visible on the remains of the blade. At
the same time as the iron weapons, next to the sword, there was a
bronze tube 4 1/2 cm long and 14 1/2 mm in diameter, which suddenly
widened to 20 mm at the bottom; the inside of the tube measures 10mm.
Their function cannot be guessed at. A thread-thin stripe of red paint
ran through the soil across the tomb (cf. tomb XIV).
Tomb V was,
if properly excavated, only a little longer than a meter; nevertheless
it was not (p.109) a child's grave, because at the north end the skull
of an adult human was found, the face lay to the side to the west, the
shoulder bones and the upper ribs conspicuously close to the head. If
we do not want to assume that the dead man was deformed, we must think
of a burial in a squatting position, for which we can only cite the
grave in the form of the large Pithos No. XIX as an analogy (cf. the
remarks of Tsundas, Έφηmερίς αρχαιολογική 1885 p. 41 and Philios ibid.
1889 p. 174). A wide golden band lay tightly around the chin.
Curiously, the hollow side from which the decoration was stamped formed
the outside, but it cannot be assumed that it was actually worn that
way. A diadem of the same width was found in grave XI1, but here too it
does not correspond to the way it was worn. The wide diadems, like
those of the ivory figures of tomb XIII, will have been worn, while the
narrow ones, as we saw (tomb 1), were worn around the back from ear to
ear.
The explanation of this striking decoration is obvious.
The form with which the gold band was punched and which we must imagine
to be based on the type of those old shaped stones, of which examples
have been found in Troy, Mycenae and in Lydia (Perrot-Chipiez V Fig.
209, 210) (cf .Furtwängler-Löschcke, Myken.Vasen p.34),
was not that of a long diadem, but of a square fitting. This explains
the sloping animal, which filled the corner admirably. To the right of
the animal half you can see the final border, which is naturally
missing under the animal that follows further to the right. Two corners
meet here. From there to the right end of the gold band the form has
been used in its entire length, because the same depiction is repeated
here as on the illustrated piece: the same animal placed at an angle,
to the right of it the final border and a remnant of the lion's
hindquarters. According to this, the original form had a length of 21
cm and showed five animals, two deer and the three types of lions.
There are two holes at each end of the band, which were used to fasten
it.
The diadem belongs to the series discussed by Furtwangler in the Arch. Zeitung
1884 p. 99; in the case of the one on Plate 10,1 stamps were used for a
diadem, as in our case, which were not actually intended for such use.
A complete gold plate with reliefs in our sense was found in Eleusis
and was discussed by Philios in Έφηριερις αρχαιολογική 1880 p. 180 plate 9.1. The diadem published by Curtius (Das arch. Bronzerelief
Taf. III p. 17) and located in the Museum of Berlin corresponds exactly
to our diadem. It comes from the same place where ours was found, and
this correspondence goes into the masses, the arrangement and
stylization of the animals to such an extent that it cannot be denied
that the same form was used to produce both diadems, only the form was
used more skilfully in the case of the former, in that disturbances
such as those in the middle (p.111) and at the dividing edge are
avoided here. The assumption is confirmed if you look at patterns such
as that of the diadem at Daremberg-Saglio, Dictionnaire 1
Fig. 983, which comes from the same excavation site and shows the
greatest differences in the arrangement with the same stylization.
In
addition to the golden diadem, a row of vases was found on the left
side of the body. In addition to a very large amphora handle about 50
cm long, which seems to have gotten into the tomb in some way from
another tomb, the tomb contained a pretty bulbous jug about 40 cm high
with a high neck and rich geometric decoration. Two small monochromatic
vessels (figs.8 and 9) made of very fragile, fine black clay, the surface of which has
been smoothed with particular care, are peculiar and not previously
found in dipylon ceramics.
These
are a small, bulbous jug (fig.8) with a leaf spout, 9 cm high, and a small,
two-handled amphora of 7 cm height (fig.9). Three parallel lines are cut into
the handles of the latter. The jug has analogies in the leaf-shaped
mouth in the so-called phaleron jugs and it is therefore clear that
both vessels belong to the Dipylon period and are not older; cf.
chapter St. Finally there are also some aryballi made of dipylonthon,
but without varnish and painting. It is easily possible that some of
these items come from grave VI.
Tomb VII (cf. Δελτίον άρχ. 1892 p.10 no.15).
This
grave was that of a woman, as was evident from examination of the bones
(p.112). The shaft had a step of 75-80 cm above the floor on the two
long sides. The head of the dead was on the north side of the tomb, the
arms were close to the body, as depicted in the funeral processions on
the vases. All the belongings are found at the feet of the deceased,
except for three vessels to be discussed immediately below, including a
tall jug, a bowl and an aryballos, all piled together in a heap. A few
vases from this group can no longer be recognized among the large
number of those found, but those that definitely belong to it show that
the tomb, despite some peculiarities, does not belong to the youngest
of the Dipylone epoch.
In the south-west corner of the tomb
stood the already mentioned large hydria, 73 cm high, in almost
completely intact condition. The jar was empty and the tightly fitting
lid had prevented the ingress of soil. The clay and the painting are of
the usual technique. But otherwise the vessel has some special features
that require a more detailed description. The shape of the lid is
particularly strange. On the disc of the lid there is a handle in the
form of the usual drinking cup with a high foot, a small bulge and a
high band. The edge is broken by small triangles. The form of the jug
itself cannot yet be verified within the Dipylon ceramics. The neck is
almost cylindrical and measures almost half the height of the entire
vessel, an actual spout is missing. The belly also does not have the
spherical shape like these jugs, but gradually tapers downwards like
the amphorae, with which it also has the lower end in common. To the
right and left of the wide handle, on which a snake is painted, as it
is usually depicted in more recent specimens, and which is connected to
the vessel by a bridge in the middle to increase durability (cf. Conze,
Zur Gesch, the beginnings of Greek art Taf. V,Li) there is a small, rather high hump or wart-like protrusion.
The
decoration (p.113) is carefully applied. They are the simplest
geometric motifs: meanders, chessboard, swastika and triangles, plus a
star whose basic element is the rhombus and a second consisting of the
elongated leaves pointed at the top and bottom. Of the three main
stripes, one is on the neck, two on the belly of the vessel; the upper
one shows the meander. The lower one and the one at the neck are
divided in a regular succession by a chessboard ornament into
individual fields, which are filled with the swastika and the lozenge
star; the field under the handle is emphasized by the leaf star.
Various dividing strips of simpler, linear motifs appear between these
image strips.
Close to the hydria was a small bowl with a hasty
but equally severe dipylon painting; Its diameter is 12 1/2 cm, its
height 5 1/2 cm, and the wall thickness 3-4 mm (fig.10).
Then follow two warriors
stepping to the right and between them a figure that appears to be
kneeling on a stool. In one hand she holds a triangular object,
probably a musical instrument (cf. Helbig, Homer. Epos
2 p. 34) in the other a twig. A more detailed explanation of the
process cannot be given. Further to the right one sees two winged
mythical creatures, which are placed opposite each other and are
obviously meant to be fighting with each other. Particularly noteworthy
is the fact that they are both characterized differently and are
therefore meant to be monsters of different types. The differences are
particularly evident on the head, tail and overall appearance. The one
on the left is reminiscent of a sphinx. The small outgrowth on the
forehead seems to have been made with a special intention. In the one
on the right one would like to recognize a winged centaur, although
such are not yet detectable. The wingless centaurs of the gold
ornaments from Corinth are known in Arch. Zeitung 1884 Taf. 8, 1.
Despite
the strictly geometric stylization, the character of the bowl is so
singular that one would like to look for foreign models on which this
is based. The bowl would then be a very early example of the influence
of foreign oriental models on the native Attic ceramics, an influence
which we find in full bloom on the so-called early Attic vases. For the
two winged figures, which appear here for the first time, point
directly to such models.
One is most inclined to think of
archetypes such as the Phoenician metal bowls because of the shape of
the bowl. The bowl of Kurion in Perrot-Chipiezlll Fig. 552 shows two
sphinxes facing each other as the conclusion of another scene. The
silver patera of the Regulini-Galassi tomb combines the worship of a
goddess (p.115) on the inside with a warrior's procession on the
outside. The bowl in Helbig, Homer . Epic 2 Plate 1
also shows kneeling figures on stools. Reference has already been
made to the analogy of the procession of women reproduced there on p.
The large Cyprian-Geometric vase from Ormidia, on which the
figure of the god on the left bears a certain resemblance to that on
our bowl, may also be used as a comparison. Exactly corresponding
analogies will be sought in vain in the case of the low level of art on
which the vase of the Dipylon tomb stands, as well as in its geometric
stylization.
A number of other finds are added to these two most
important pieces of the tomb. Beside the right foot lay a small round
aryballus, 10 cm high, made of reddish clay with a lighter coating, a
commodity that is often found next to the actual dipylon vases. The
stopper belonging to the aryballos is still stuck in the mouth;
apparently the vessel was filled with oil when the corpse was buried.
In front of the feet there was a large bowl surrounded by black
stripes, as well as one of the usual bowls, which bears the picture
stripe on its high rim. The same consists of individual fields, which
are alternately provided with a checkerboard pattern, swastika and leaf
star. There are also fragments of a monochrome, dark red vessel made
with a different firing technique such as the Dipylon ware, and finally
three clay spindle whorls with pressed-in asterisks, indicative of the
sex of the deceased. Unfortunately, the whorls can no longer be found.
Tomb VIII
The
length of the tomb is about 2.55 m, the width 1.05 m. The skull lay at
the south end of the grave. Plate 8, 1 gives an overview of the vases
found. Details are added to the drawing. Although an adult human being
was buried in the grave, vessels of quite small size were found at his
feet. Only two cups on high openwork feet had the height of 20-25 cm
corresponding to actual use.
Plate 8-1: vessels from Tomb VIII.
(p.116) Since they
were among the number of beakers that did not belong to specific
graves, only one could be identified, the other is therefore missing in
the illustration. Among the other 6 small vessels that are included,
the two kraters with an elongated belly and a pierced foot are the
first to be highlighted (plate 8-1, Nos. 1 & 7).
The form of the krater is not common;
a corresponding example has not come to our attention among the large
dipylon vessels. They have in common with the drinking cups the high,
straight band that is also found in deep bowls. The shape of the large
chalice in Monumenti IX, Pl.
40,1, is most similar. Both kraters have lids. The painting is very
fleeting. On the smaller vessel (No. 7, height 13 cm, the lid 8cm), apart from
the horse, only zigzag and diamond ornaments are applied, as well as
the triangles with their points pushed together. On the second (No.1, height
16 cm, the lid 9 cm), in addition to these linear ornaments, the heron
is painted twice and grazing deer are painted on the lid.
In
addition to these kraters there is a cup with a pierced foot (No.2, height
6.5 cm). It is sketchily painted linearly, but shows the standing
S-shaped spiral as a pictorial ornament three times on the front and
twice on the back. There was also a bowl (height 4 cm) with regular
triangular incisions and simple lined ornaments inside and out, then a
bowl of only 15 cm diameter, glazed black-brown on the inside, outside
with parallel stripes and vertical lines on the edge. Finally there is
a small bulbous bowl 5 cm high , painted with parallel stripes.
It
is striking that in such ancient times, instead of vessels of the size
that would correspond to actual use, small vessels were found that only
symbolically express the idea that the dead should be provided with
household effects. All these vases show such similarity in clay and
superficial drawing, that they are certainly by the hand of the same
potter. According to this it can be assumed that all the pieces were
bought especially for the burial.
(p.117) A stylistically very
important painted bowl with representations of sphinxes, which was
found over this grave, but also over a later layer of fire, has
probably served as a tomb, but cannot belong to this grave because it
is younger than the other grave goods; it stands stylistically between
the early Attic vases and the Netos amphora. A more detailed discussion
will follow shortly.
Tomb IX (for the location of the grave see pl. 7 and p. 99).
Plate
8,2 gives an illustration of the entire content of this grave, while a
few unessential pieces have been left out. Details are added to the
drawing.
Plate 8-1: Vessels from Tomb IX.
The largest piece is a cooking pot of
coarse clay (no.4), reddish brown, blackened beneath with smoke; its height is
32 cm. The other grave goods are finer. They are: 1) a two-handled
bow (No.2)l, 15 cm in diameter, painted with zigzag and triangular designs. 2)
Three so-called phaleron jars; Of these, one (No.8) shows three horses on the
neck, triangles on the shoulder (height 11 cm), the second in a
delimited field on the neck a horse (height 14 cm), the third (No.5) has only
zigzag lines on the neck, triangles on the shoulder (height 12 cm ).
Below the jugs are painted with parallel stripes. Only provided with
such are 3) two other phaleron jugs, one of which shows a straight,
non-leaf-shaped spout (No.10).
There are also 4) 7 single-handled cups
of 3-5cm in height (No.7). With one exception, these are varnished black on
the outside, on the inside they are only covered with varnish, whereas
there are a few stripes on the edge. 5) A small cup 4 1/2 cm high with
zigzag lines (No.1). The form is known from the early Attic vases, cf. Böhlau,
Jahrbuch 1887 pp. 50, 5. 6) A
small 6 l/2 cm-high plain black glazed aryballos, flattened at the
bottom. 7) A mug with two tall handles (No.3, height 6 cm); between the
handles surrounded by zigzag ornaments shows two riders. Riders on
dipylon vases are rare to date; they are found more frequently on early
Attic style vases, e.g. B. on the amphora from the Hymettos in Berlin
(p. 118) (1887 Jahrbuch, plate 5), also on the Ath.Mitt
1892 Taf. 10 published early Attic cauldrons at the foot. It is
peculiar that the rider sits almost on the rear of the horse. 8) Two
round aryballs of badly fired friable clay, unvarnished. One of these
is not different from other spherical aryballi found in dipylon graves;
from the second only a larger sherd is present, which is shown in the
original size in fig.11.
It shows two
primitive ornaments made in different ways. One is pressed into the
moist clay with a firm, somewhat shell-like stamp, the other, which
appears more irregular, is made by means of a kind of cog wheel.
Finally, 9) a terracotta horse (No.9) painted with dipylon ornaments was
found. The fractures on the tail and head are old. We can probably see
the deceased's toy in them. All ornaments, which circle in tangents and
consist of zigzag lines, are applied with thick white paint, a
technique which can now often be observed on the more recent dipylon
vases from the Acropolis (cf. Ath.Mitt. 1892 p. 21 note 2).
Tomb X (see plate 7 and p. 99 for location).
The
tomb in which an ox was buried consisted of a large pithos, the opening
of which was closed by a slab of mica schist. It contained nothing in
the way of accessories. On the other hand, some clay vessels were found
close to it, which can only be explained as accessories.(p.119) The
pithos (fig.12) was not standing upright when it was uncovered, but was
lying on its side.
Next
to the cattle grave there was a cooking pot of exactly the same shape
as that of grave IX (high 23 cm), the many burn marks on the lower side
show its former use. Furthermore, a single-handled cup 8 1/2 cm high
painted with two superimposed strips of simple short zigzag lines.
Finally there was a small, unvarnished aryballos, whose affiliation is
questionable, made of soft light clay, 7 cm high.
Close to these
three vessels lay a large amphora. It is 60 cm high, the clay is 1-2 cm
thick and is glazed black-brown on the inside. The body of the vessel
is covered with parallel strips of varnish. A circle drawn with a
compass with an inserted cross (similar to that on the amphora from the
tomb with the Elfenheim figures XIII) and a lozenge star alternately
painted in varnish on the front and back of the neck. The former occurs
four times, the latter three times.
Tomb XI
This grave had been largely destroyed by a younger poros sarcophagus, so that the arrangement of the grave
goods could no longer be determined. Apart from the sarcophagus
mentioned, only a piece of the skull was left of the skeleton. A number
of bone objects were found in the southeast corner of the tomb, the
best preserved of which are shown in figs. 3-23. First one recognizes
six different types of strips, which were undoubtedly intended to be
glued to wooden boxes or fastened with pins as decoration. On their
surface (p.121), like the other bone works, they are smoothed with
special care.
From the remains of
the second fitting (fig.14) two strips could be reassembled, wide 15-17
mm, thick 2 mm. Oddly enough, one is only 7, while the other is 8 l/2
cm long. And again of different lengths were the rest; for there is a
piece which is incomplete on one side, and is 9 1/2 inches long,
another was 8, and a third 7 1/2 inches long. There are also smaller
fragments with a total length of 25 cm. In total there were at least 5
strips, as there are 10 end pieces under the fragments. The strips were
attached to the associated box by still existing pins, which are
attached at regular intervals of about 6 1/2 cm. The larger holes,
which can be seen on the right (p.122) and left in the figure, are
intended for such bone pins. This fitting is decorated with a regular,
very deep and cleanly worked tangent spiral. Small holes are drilled to
the right and left of the ornament, one at the top and one at the
bottom, which were not used for attachment but appear ornamental. In a
corner piece these holes end with the second and are then not
continued; cf. very similar ledges in Menidi (cupola tomb plate VI, 15)
and in Spata (Bull, de corr.hell. II Plate 13, 1).
The
length of the individual parts of the next fitting (fig.15) can no
longer be determined (wide 18-19 mm, thick 2-3 mm). The largest piece
that can be assembled is 10 1/2, a second 8 1/2 cm long. There were
probably 8 strips, since 8 left corner pieces have been preserved;
rights are only 3 available. Pin holes are missing, so the strips were
glued on. They are narrow bands from which regularly sawn triangular
spikes hang; each of them has a hole at the bottom as an ornament. The
spikes are slightly curved inwards.
Another fitting (fig.16) was
made up of at least five particularly short strips (7 1/2 wide, 3 mm
thick). Of these, 4 are intact with an average length of 4 l/2 cm. They
were meant to be glued on. The 7 holes drilled through the individual
pieces at roughly equal intervals are to be regarded as an ornament.
Two of these ridges gradually thicken to 5mm at the last hole. This
circumstance suggests that the entire fitting was not mounted
horizontally but vertically, if you can see the foot in the thickened
end
A piece in the form of a wavy edge (p.123) or snake, fig.17
(length 13 1/2 cm, thickness 5-7 mm) is peculiar: it is pierced in one
place, so it was fixed to the base with a bone pin.
From the
fitting shown in fig.18 there are only very small and almost
always completely broken remains. However, it can also be clearly seen
from the drawing that it was a fitting with individual free-worked
prongs, which naturally broke off easily. The shape of these spikes was
the so-called hook spiral.
In addition to these rim fittings
there is a series of completely flat-worked ornaments shown in
figs.19-23 (cf. Grave XIII). They, too, were sawn out and were intended
to be inserted into the base like a mosaic or glued onto it.
Fig.19
represents a bird, perhaps a duck or goose. In addition to the one
shown, there are remains of a second one. The thickness is 3-4mm.
A cut-out shield can be seen in fig. 20. Fragments of a second shield have been preserved. Thickness 3-4mm.
Fig.21 shows an octagonal star.
The
dotted line reconstruction in fig.22 shows that the pieces belong
to a single ornament (p.124). Only two of the four fragments follow
each other directly, but the finish and thickness of the other two are
perfectly identical to these. On the edge one notices holes at regular
intervals from each other; the breaks show that the ornament had
arcuate or circular cutouts on the inside, and the part placed in the
middle goes well with this.
The meaning of the fragment shown in fig.23 remains unclear.
In
addition to these pieces, chunks of flat pieces of bone, smooth on top
and bottom, which are neither ornamented nor otherwise recognizable in
their shape, have been preserved. Finally there are two rods connected
by an iron pin, a smaller and a larger peg, pierced lengthwise by iron
nails, and a tube 37 mm long.
If the strips and the ornaments
were in fact used to decorate wooden boxes, as suggested above, then it
can be assumed that the grave belonged to a woman, to whom her jewelry
box was placed in the grave.
The bone work is certainly a
product of Attic artistic practice. This results in a comparison with
the ornamental elements of the Dipylon vases. As a more precise date
(p.125) we obtain from the comparison the period in which the dipylon
vases touched the early Attic ones. The hooked spiral of the bar in
fig.18 is the most characteristic element of this period. We find the
sculpted snake in fig. 17 on early Attic vessels and late dipylon
vases (Ath. Mitt. XVII p.206);
they are painted on the older ones. The older dipylon vases stand in
for the remaining items. The fitting in fig.15 is a transfer of
the ornament so frequently used in vase painting, where triangles are
attached either upwards or downwards to a thick strip of varnish (cf.
also Έφτ,αερίς άρχ. 1885 pl.
9, 3); the short bars in fig.16 represent the rows of dots applied
between two strips of varnish. For the first fitting, fig.13, we have
already used an analogy from our excavations; the motif is one of the
simplest and most self-evident. The tangent spiral in fig.l4 requires
no further explanation.
The individual bone ornaments are also
found elsewhere. The duck in fig.19 is well known as a particularly
popular decorative element in dipylon painting in exactly the same
stylization. The shield in fig.20 does not otherwise appear
decoratively; in battle scenes it is often used as a filling ornament.
Perhaps one can also think of a larger representation here, although
human figures have not been found among the pieces of bone (but cf. Έφγψ.ερίς άρχ.
1885 plate 9, 3α). The octagonal star, in fig.21, has no real analogy
with the vases that have been sufficiently published up to now, but it
is also demonstrable. Finally, fig.22 is reminiscent of the wheels of
the wagons, but is also used independently as an ornament, e.g. B. Annali 1872 plate K, 12.
Tomb XII.
The
head lay at the north end of the tomb, the bottom of which just touched
the ground water, and which was partially destroyed by two more recent
sarcophagi from Poros. In the jawbone there were still 15 excellent
teeth, the 16th was missing. According to the same, the deceased did
not reach old age (p.126). The arms were stretched out long at the
sides.
A diadem cut from pale, very thin gold sheet (fig.24)
was found completely compressed on the left jawbone. Its length is 31cm
and its width is 4cm. It is complete, only broken off a little on the
left side; on the right end you can still see the two holes for the
attachment. The thinness of the gold has caused the decorations to be
partially squashed beyond recognition. These consist of a lower, purely
ornamental, and an upper picture strip; both are separated by a narrow
band of small rods. The ornament of the lower strip is a combination of
spirals, which is particularly common in Mycenaean art and later in
Melian and Rhodian products (e.g. Salzmann, Necropole de Camiros Pl. 25).
Exactly
the same ornament is used on a gold diadem in the British Museum, also
there in connection with an animal representation (Arch. Zeitung
1884 p. 103 note). The two gold plates from Eleusis mentioned above are
particularly close because the same image stripe is repeated there over
the same ornament. Just like that, our tiara is a section of a large
sheet of gold. This is evident from the fact that the spirals are cut
in some places. The same scene is repeated four times on the upper
strip without a separating link, only after the second group does a
line of small indented dots appear, as they also border the band at the
top.
At
the feet of the dead man stood a tall, lidded dipylon jug, which had
been so destroyed during the construction of a grave further south that
it could not be restored. In the middle of the height of this can
outside of it lay a joint bone sawed off at one end, two others of the
same kind were found over the middle of the grave about 50-60 cm above
the corpse, must therefore originate from sacrifices which took place
after the burial.
Tomb XIII
Since
publication of the rich content of Mr. Homolle's grave is in prospect,
an overview must suffice at this point. We refer to the detailed note
contained in Bull, de corr. hellen.
1891 p. 441. The bottom of the grave was 20cm (p.128) below the
groundwater, the head to the south. On the left side of the body and
near the head 7 vessels were found, above the skull 6 figurines of
ivory, 3 lions of Egyptian porcelain and some bone objects. Finding the
ivory figures was more difficult than digging up the well-preserved
clay vessels. They mostly came out in chunks from the mud under the
groundwater. The mud was lifted out of the grave with the greatest
possible care and, after it had dried, was successfully searched for
further fragments. After all, small splinters could not have been found
under such circumstances, especially since the ivory had already
dissolved into its layers.
The vessels are: 1) a 50 cm high
single-handled jug with a circular mouth and elaborate lid, which ends
in a single-handled cup on a high base; Another bird is sitting on top
in the middle of the cup (cf. grave VH). The painting is strictly in
the dipylon style; there are swastikas, triangular motifs, zigzag lines
and the like. The jug is entirely consistent in terms of clay and
painting.
2-6) three larger and two smaller bowls of the usual
form with a high rim and a slight bulge below it. The larger ones have
a diameter of 28 cm, the smaller ones of 20 cm. Thin bones were found
in one of the bowls, which may have come from food that the dead man
had been given. The painting of the edge is ordered in a
circumferential stripe, which is divided into regularly repeating
fields by individual vertical lines. These are decorated with stars,
swastikas, etc. filled. Under the stripe there are triangles, meanders,
etc. The similarity of these 6 vessels in clay and painting suggests
that they were all made by the same potter and bought for burial.
Another is more simply ornamented and does not belong in this series.
7) a large amphora, decorated on the belly with simple (p.129) strips
of varnish, and on the neck bearing a system of triangles between two
circles.
More important than these vessels and hitherto without
any precise analogy are the 6 ivory female figures, some of which are
very fragmented. One of them is poorly illustrated with other objects
from the grave in the newspaper "Αστυ" of May 6, 1891. They are of
different heights, from 6-25 cm. That they are women is clear from the
indication of the breast. Naked, legs together They are standing on a
low plate made of the same material, their arms hanging long down their
body.The hair falls long at the back to the shoulders and is divided
into individual strands by vertical lines, which in turn are carefully
stroked across.The arms of the largest Figures are attached to the body
by iron pins, the feet are also connected to the base by iron nails,
and on the head they wear a high polo-like diadem, which on the largest
is decorated with a meander.
The proportions of the body are
very narrow, the waist narrow and, as a result, the hips wide; the
shoulders are at right angles to the neck. The clumsy head is of
considerable size in relation to the rest of the body. The impression
of rigidity and right angles in the way the diadem sits, the way the
shoulders are formed, the way the waist is pinched is exactly that
evoked by the human figures on the dipylon vases. The shape of the
human figures in the vases and our figurines originates directly from
the Dipylon style, which is caught up in the geometric. These close
relationships are most evident in the headdress. The meanders of the
Attic dipylon vases provided the ornament for the diadem.
Given
this close relationship, which the ivory figures show with the dipylon
vases, we have no hesitation in proposing them as the oldest products
of Attic sculpture, especially since the crude use of iron to (p.130)
connect the individual ivory parts to those of the dipylon culture
indicates Iron technology.
Likewise, the ornaments of bone
work found together with these figurines cannot be distinguished from
those in the dipylon vases.
1) Fragment of a flat disc with an
incised leaf star (fig.25). The star plastically reproduces what
ornaments, such as the stars, for example, are in painting. B. mean on
the large funeral vase Monumenti IX
plate 39 in the uppermost strip. The triangles placed between the rays
to fill in are not yet found on the vases (thickness 3-4 mm). The
individual rays of the star, the leaves, are worked separately in
several examples (fig.26). A better piece of the kind, in which the
middle is sawn out, is shown in fig.27.
2) The piece in fig.28
appears to represent a dolphin (thickness 2-3 mm). The tail broke off.
The fish is rarely used ornamentally, it is only often found to
indicate water on ship depictions. But the figure of the dolphin is not
observed so happily there, if the painters really wanted to depict one.
3)
The rhombus in fig.29 with a hole in the middle is represented in two
specimens. While one is 3-4mm thick. the thickness of the other is 5-6
mm. The rhombus on the vases can be compared with the dot in the middle.
The
bone ornaments were made with a saw and were intended to be inserted
into a base or glued onto it. Their Attic origin has been established
by the analogies cited from Attic dipylon painting dating from the
same time.
There are also two well-preserved and a very
fragmented reclining lion made of bluish Egyptian porcelain. A
porcelain scarab was also found in Eleusis in a grave of the same type
as ours (cf. Έφηmερίς άρχ. 1889 p. 175 note 2), and others in the Kerameikos itself (cf. Milchhöfer, Anfange der Kunst p. 4 5. Helbig, Hom. Epos
2 p. 75. On the lower side of the lions, unfortunately heavily rubbed,
remains of hieroglyphs are recognizable, the reading of which was
partly successful [Bull, de corr. hellen. 1893 p. 189) and seems to indicate the time of Saitic kings.
Tomb XIV
A
thread-thin stripe of blue paint ran across the grave. The skeleton
with the skull in the east was not in the middle of the grave, but
close to the long side. In this way, space was gained for the two large
chambers, which were set up next to one another at head height. These
are 1) an approximately 60 cm high jug with a leaf-shaped spout and
just such a lid, the handle of which is crowned by a bird. The neck is
high and slender, the belly is spherical and has two warts on the
front. The decoration consists of meandering bands, on the middle of
the (p.132) belly there are grazing deer. 2) An equally large amphora,
with powerful vertical handles, which are connected to the bit by a
crossbar in the middle. The wide neck tapers downwards, the belly is
spherical and also shows two wart-like protrusions on one side. The
decoration is the same as that of the jug. The main band on the vessel
body shows a complicated triangular system instead of the deer. Both
vessels came from the same workshop. They did not contain any bone
remains. The remains of another vessel next to the last one described
cannot be regarded with certainty as belonging to the grave.
Tomb XV
The
bottom of the grave was slightly below groundwater level. Next to the
skull in the south of the grave stood a high vase with a lid in the
south-west corner, on the middle of which several little horses were
plastically attached. In the neck of the vase was a very strong thigh
bone, which we called the bull bone. On each side of the corpse stood a
low, wide bowl, as in Grave III; in one lay the remains of bones, but
probably from a buried food offering. At the end of the tomb was a
bronze urn containing burned bones; it belonged to another tomb and
appeared to be similar to that found in tomb III, but it could not be
determined with certainty whether it was of the Dipylon period, as the
wall of rubble above could not be dug any further.
Tomb XVI
In
this grave the skull could no longer be found, only the remains of the
lower extremities were uncovered. That the tomb belonged to the Dipylon
period is proved by two low goblets of this period with pierced
feet (cf. plate 8-1).
Tomb XVIII
The
tomb, like the previous one, was destroyed. We concluded from small
(p.133) sherds lying in the grave and from the remains of an iron sword
that it also belonged to the Dipylon period.
Two dipylon graves
lying outside the excavation area given in the plan of plate 7. Grave
XVIII was important because 75 cm above the floor there was a step of
30 cm around it, intended as a support for beams or boards. In the
upper part of the burial shaft numerous sherds of dipylon technique
were found, and also a fragment of a very large vessel lower down. You
will have heard about the tomb monuments. The contents of the tomb were
small. The skull lay on the west side of the grave, eyes directed
upwards. At hand height, two drinking cups with open-worked bases
appeared, both 15 cm high, of exactly identical clay and painted with
the same zigzag systems and swastika.
Tomb XIX
is a colossal pithos about 1.40 m high (fig.30), the largest diameter
is 82 cm, that of the mouth 50 cm. There was therefore enough space for
a full-grown person. However, the insufficient height of the vessel
forced the dead man to be placed in a squatting position. The pithos
was not standing upright but, as usual, had been laid on its side. It
reached a little below the groundwater level. A plate of clay was used
to close it. Apart from the bones of the deceased, no additional vases
or other utensils were found in it.
The pithos, shown in fig.30,
has a fairly even profile from neck to body. Where the swelling
increases, an edge is applied in relief, under which an ornamental band
of very carefully pressed Mycenaean-shaped spirals appears; the same
ornament has been placed around the neck of the vessel. More remarkable
is the streak that is found in the middle of the vascular belly at its
greatest swelling. Unlike the other ornaments, it is not wholly but
only partly pressed into the moist clay; the straight lines are
scratched. Exactly the same ornament in connection with the spirals
(p.134) is found on the fragments of an unvarnished vessel from the
Acropolis.
The size of the ornaments is also completely the same
there, so that one would like to believe that both vessels came from
the hand of a master. The analysis of the ornament follows easily from
a comparison of other dipylon vases. which use the same elements
painted. The jug at Conze, in History of the length of Greek art,
Plate VI, 4 shows exactly the same ornament, just without the circles.
The same can be found on a large number of dipylon vases, unfortunately
not illustrated, and thus shows that it is entirely peculiar to this
style; the imprinted circles become dots in the painting.
.
Footnotes:
1. The plate from Eleusis and the Copenhagen diadem are now also depicted in Collignon, Sculpture grecque I Fig. 43.44,
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