TERRACOTTA
PLAQUES
FROM EARLY ATTIC
TOMBS
By Gisela M. A. Richter
Curator of Greek and Roman Art
middle and second half of the sixth century
B.C. During that period the quadrangular
tombs were evidently in frequent use. That
they were also employed earlier is indicated
by two examples acquired by the Boston Museum in 1927 (see fig. 3).6 Mr. Caskey at that
time described them as "earlier by half a century than any other known examples."7
The tablelike structures of sun-dried brick
which have been found in several cemeteries
of Attica (see fig. 1)1 have long been recognized
as early Attic tombs, and the surmise that they
were once decorated with terracotta plaques of
the type of the well-known ones in Berlin has
been generally accepted.2 The evidence for
the theory is indeed strong. The plaques in
question are decorated with funerary scenes,
and a number of them are known to have been
found in cemeteries.3 In many cases the
plaques are evidently parts of a series. For instance, the ones in Berlin formed parts of at
least twelve slabs; and several other sets of two
or four have survived. Moreover, on some examples only mourners are represented, without the prothesis, or lying in state, a fact which
presupposes other representations. An example now in Athens (fig. 2)4 is inscribed: . .. .o
Soct c pto, "this is the monument of
Us.a To806'
warlike .... ," indicating that it was applied
on the outside of a monument and was visible
to the passer-by. Most of the slabs have no
holes for suspension, such as votive plaques
regularly have, and they are larger than most
of those known to have been votive-generally
thirty-odd by forty-odd cm. and about three to
four cm. thick. The backs are mostly not properly smoothed and were evidently not intended
to be seen.
On this cumulative evidence it seems reasonable to suppose that the slabs in question decorated quadrangular tomb structures, though it
must be admitted that the final proof is missing-a tomb with the slabs actually in place.
Since each slab is decorated with a scene
which is complete in itself, the decoration evidently did not form a continuous frieze. Each
slab must have been a sort of metope, perhaps
enclosed by wooden or stucco triglyphs, and
the whole surmounted by a simplified Doric
cornice.
Most of the extant plaques belong to the
1 For instance, at Velanidesa ('Apxw,oXoytxbv Ae^iTov,
vol. vi [1890], pp. 16 if.; G. Perrot and C. Chipiez,
Histoire de l'art dans l'antiquite, vol. viii [Paris,
1903], pp. 73 ff.); at Vourva ('ApXtoXoyCxbv Ae)zXov,
op. cit., pp. 105 ff.; Mitteilungen des deutschen archiiologischen Instituts, Athenische Abteilung, vol. xv
[ 1890], pp. 318 ff., pl. IX;Perrot and Chipiez, loc. cit.);
in the outer Kerameikos ('EqSlyjipit'Apa!oxtoy^ox,
1888, cols. 181 ff.). The example shown in fig. 1
still has its roof as well as a stucco coating.
2 Cf. G. Hirschfeld in Antike Denkmiler, vol. II (Berlin, 1908), pls. 9-11, and Festschrift fur Johannes
Overbeck (Leipzig, 1893), pp. i ff.; A. Furtwangler,
Beschreibung der Vasensammlung im Antiquarium
(Berlin, 1885), pp. 315 ff., nos. 181 ff.; W. Technau,
Exekias (Leipzig, 1936), p. 22, no. 22, pls. 14-19 (pl.
19, e and f = Athens 2414 and 2415).
3 W. Zschietzschmann, Ath. Mitt., vol. LIII (1928), pp.
39 f., listed over twenty besides the Berlin ones. Several can now be added, e.g., four decorated by Lydos
(A. Rumpf, Sakonides [Leipzig, 1937], pl. 14).
4 'E?je?spi 'ApxytoXoy'txh,1888, cols. 183 ff., pl. 11;
Technau, Exekias, p. 22, under no. 22.
5 The adjective "warlike" is more likely here than the
proper name Areios, which apparently occurs only in
the later periods as a name of historical persons; cf.
E. Sittig, De Graecorum nominibus theophoris (Diss.
Halle, 1912), p. 116.
6Bulletin of the Museum of Fine Arts, vol. xxv
(1927), p. 55 (ill.); A. Fairbanks, Catalogue of Greek
and Etruscan Vases (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston)
(Cambridge, Mass., 1928), no. 557, pl. XLVI.
7 Mrs. Karouzou in her article on Sophilos (Ath. Mitt.,
vol. LXII[1937], p. 111) referred to a badly preserved
fragment of a plaque with mourning women in the
National Museum in Athens, no. 12325 (= 12352 ?),
as the oldest of all extant funerary plaques and
called it "fruiharchaisch." Zschietzschmann in his list
of prothesis scenes (Ath. Mitt., vol. LIII [1928], p. 39,
no. 24) included a fragment of a plaque, no. 12352,
and called it "friihattisch"; but neither he nor Mrs.
Karouzou gave an illustration. To judge by a pencil
sketch kindly sent me by Mr. Beazley, the date
should be before 600 B.c.
80
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TERRACOTTA
PLAQUES FROM EARLY ATTIC TOMBS
Enlarged
FIG.
1. EARLY
ATTIC
TOMB
IN THE
OUTER
from a photograph
KERAMEIKOS,
by W. B. Dinsmoor
ATHENS
In this article I want to present three other
possible early members of this highly interesting class. One has been known for some time,
having been acquired by the Metropolitan
by Dr. Langlotz when he visited the Museum
in 1925.9 His objections
seemed well founded,
for he drew attention to the following facts:
(1) Parts of five women appeared at the top
Museum in 1914 through a Greek dealer, who
and only four below; (2) there was not suffi-
stated the place of discovery to have been
Olympos in Attica (fig. 4). It was published,
though not as a decorative member of a tomb,
cient room for the third woman from the left,
of whom only the hair is preserved; (3) the
style-in the rendering of the eyes, for instance
in the Museum BULLETINin 1915 and in the
-was
first edition of the Handbook of the Classical
others; (4) the head of the couch, without a
voluted top, had no parallel; (5) rubbing with
Collection
in 1917.8 Subsequently
it suffered
an eclipse, for its authenticity was questioned
alcohol removed the black glaze. The relief
was therefore reluctantly placed in the study
collection, and a large question mark was put
on the label. A few years ago, however, a careful re-examination by several experts, including Humfry Payne, re-established its authenticity. But instead of one plaque we now have
two. After removal of the plaster backing it
became evident that one fragment was inde-
8Bulletin, vol. x, pp. 208 f., fig. i; Handbook, p. 57,
fig. 32. Cf. also S. Casson, Journal of Hellenic Studies,
vol.
XLII (1922),
pp.
215
ff., fig.
13; A.
different in some women from that in
W.
Lawrence, Classical Sculpture (London, 1929), p. 89,
fig. 3. Height 44.6 cm.; width 49.2 cm.; thickness
about 2.5 cm. The figures are partly reserved in the
color of the clay, partly painted in black glaze with
applied red; the background is reserved. Where the
glaze has peeled the color is brownish.
9 Cf. Ath. Mitt., vol. LIII (1928), p. 44, note 1.
81
BULLETIN OF THE METROPOLITAN
MUSEUM OF ART
early vase in similar condition,11 the genuineness of which nobody could question. And this
is indeed what one might expect. Only where
the glaze was well preserved did it resist rubbing.
With regard to the form of the couch, it is
true that in later sixth-century representations
of couches with rectangular legs the head is
regularly crowned by a volute.12 The normal
type may be seen on an amphora in Munich13
and on a plaque in the Louvre (fig. 7).14 Here
Ephemeris Archaiologike, 1888, pi. 11
FIG.
2.
TERRACOTTA
PLAQUE
Museum
FIG.
3.
TERRACOTTA
PLAQUE
IN
ATHENS
Boston
of Fine
Arts,
IN
BOSTON
pendent of the others and must have belonged
to a companion piece (fig. 5). This discovery
disposed of three objections-the difference in
style, the difference in the number of women
at the top and bottom, and the space occupied
by the woman whose head is mostly missing
(cf. fig. 610). The argument that the glaze was
removable by alcohol, though impressive,
turned out not to be valid. Further experiments showed that alcohol removed the glaze
only where the latter was in bad condition and
was scaling, not where it was nice and firm,
and that it removed also the glaze of another
the mattress is laid over the crowning volute
but does not conceal it. But the representation
on our plaque is not of the later sixth century.
It is about a century earlier and is in relief. It
therefore has every right to look different. The
type of couch is evidently the same-that is,
the rectangular leg at the head is higher than
that at the foot, but the top is hidden by the
mattress. That the relation of the different
planes does not make this quite clear is what
we might expect in a seventh-century representation.
The overwhelming arguments in favor of
the authenticity of the plaque, or plaques
rather, are, first, their physical condition-the
convincing surfaces of the black glaze, especially where diluted, and of the red accessory
color-and, second, the consistent, seventh-century style. Now that we have in comparatively
recent times, through the excavations at Vari,
Aegina, and the Athenian Agora and Kerameikos, become more familiar with Attic seventh-century art, we recognize that the renderings on our plaques-for instance, of the garments (with lower himations in two sections),
the hair (with horizontal wads sometimes fork-
82
10 This illustration shows the plaque after a recent
cleaning of the surface.
11,The "horse" amphora, acc. no. 22.139.7; G. M. A.
Richter and M. J. Milne, Shapes and Names of
Athenian Vases (New York, 1935), fig. 1.
12 G. M. A. Richter, Ancient Furniture (Oxford, 1926),
pp. 58 ff.
13Ibid., fig. 158; A. Furtwangler and K. Reichhold,
Griechische Vasenmalerei (Munich, 1904), vol. I,
pl. 4.
14 L 4. Zschietzschmann, Ath. Mitt., vol. LIII (1928),
p. 40, no. 37, Beilage xi.
TERRACOTTA
PLAQUES FROM EARLY ATTIC TOMBS
ing at the bottom), the features (prominent
noses, voluted ears, and strong chins), the
skulls (flat at the top)-can all be paralleled on
monuments of that time.15 The gestures toothe raising of the hand to the head as a sign
of mourning and the extension of the hand
toward the corpse-are the two conventional
attitudes which occur again and again in prothesis scenes (cf. fig. 7).16 It seems inconceiv-
able that nearly thirty years ago a forger, even
if assisted by an experienced archaeologist,
could have produced so consistent a whole.
A comparison with the vase paintings by the
Nessos Painter, which have been dated in the
last quarter of the seventh century,17 suggests
that our reliefs are earlier. The figures and
faces in our reliefs are not so well organized
or so well proportioned, and the technique is
not yet in full black-figure. That is, our reliefs
should be earlier than about 620 or so, but not
much earlier, for the style already veers toward
that of the Nessos Painter away from that of
the Kynosarges amphora,18 which has been
FIG. 4. TERRACOTTA PLAQUE, AS FORMERLY
RESTORED. ALSO SHOWN IN FIGURE 6
dated about 640 B.C.19 If we date our reliefs
about 630 to 620 B.c. we may not be far wrong.
The consequences of the rehabilitation of
these reliefs are considerable. We can now
push back the period of the known use of the
rectangular tomb structure another few decades; for that these plaques belonged to a
series which decorated such a tomb is suggested by the subject of the decoration, by the
fact that there are two companion pieces, by
the absence of suspension holes, and by the
15 For the garments cf. our fig. 3; for the hair, Corpus
vasorum antiquorum, Deutschland, vol. II, Berlin,
fasc. I (Munich, 1938), pls. 19, 23; F. R. Grace,
Archaic Sculpture in Boeotia (Cambridge, Mass.,
1939), fig. 68; for the features, Corpus vasorum antiquorum, loc. cit.; for the skull, loc. cit.
6 Zschietzschmann,
Ath. Mitt., vol. LIII (1928), p. 20.
17 J. D. Beazley, Attic Black-Figure (London, 1928), p.
11, note i; R. S. Young, American Journal of Archvol. XLVI (1942), p. 57 (about 630-600 B.C.).
18 J. M. Cook, The Annual of the British School at
Athens, vol. xxxv (1934-1935), pp. 195 ff., pls. 56-58.
19 Ibid., p. 205; R. S. Young, loc. cit., about 650-630 B.C.
20 Archdologischer Anzeiger, 1933, cols. 271-273, figs.
6-8.
aeology,
83
FIG. 5. FRAGMENT REMOVED FROM PLAQUE ABOVE
appropriate size. And, what is even more important, we have here one of the earliest extant Attic reliefs, antedating all the sculptures
from the Akropolis and the Sounion group
of kot roi-though later than the terracotta
sphinxes and mourning figures from the Kerameikos.20 For our knowledge of early Attic
sculpture this new accession to our slender
store is invaluable.
My second candidate for a tomb plaque is a
fragmentary terracotta slab that was acquired
by the Metropolitan Museum in 1935 (fig. 8).
On it is painted a lion in late seventh-century
style. It was published in the Museum BtULLETIN and in the American
Journal of Arch-
BULLETIN
FIG. 6. PLAQUE
WITH
OF THE
METROPOLITAN
MUSEUM
PROTHESIS SCENE AS NOW RECONSTRUCTED.
OF ART
IN THE METROPOLITAN
MUSEUM
21 Acc. no. 35.11.15. Bulletin, vol. xxxI (1936), pp. 116 f.;
aeology as a metope21; but perhaps we may
now surmise that it was a metope not of a
diminutive temple but of a tomb. The size is
again appropriate22; there are no suspension
holes; and the subject may well be sepulchral,
for a lion on a tomb monument is a familiar
figure in Greek art from the time of the Corfu
statue23 to that of the Amphipolis24 and
Chaironeia25 ones.
The third early plaque which may be tentatively identified as the metope of a tomb is a
recent acquisition of the Metropolitan
Mu-
American Journal of Archaeology, vol. XL (1936), pp.
304 f., fig. 3. The lion was painted directly on the
surface of the clay in black glaze (which has now
turned reddish brown) with, doubtless, applied red
on certain parts.
22 Preserved height 32.4 cm.; preserved width 28.7 cm.;
greatest thickness 2.8 cm.
23 G. Rodenwaldt, Altdorische Bildwerke in Korfu (Berlin, 1938), figs. 3-8, and Korkyra, vol. ii (Berlin,
1939), PP. 176 ff., figs. 154-16524 0. Broneer, The Lion Monument at
Amphipolis
(Cambridge, 1941), pls. vI-xI.
25 Ibid., figs. 34, 35; G. M. A. Richter, Animals in
Greek Sculpture (New York, 1930), fig. 29.
84
TERRACOTTA
FIG.
7. TERRACOTTA
PLAQUES FROM EARLY ATTIC TOMBS
PLAQUE WITH PROTHESIS SCENE. IN THE LOUVRE
seum (figs. 9-11).26 It is said to have been
found near the Athenian Kerameikos. Only
the right half is preserved. The size is appropriate for a sepulchral metope.27 The scene,
which is in relief, was enclosed by a frame
of varying width, like the prothesis shown in
figure 6. There is no suspension hole on the
preserved part of this frame.
The decoration consists of a nude warrior,
wearing a crested helmet and armed with a
spear and a shield which has a large gorgoneion as a device. He was evidently part of
a composition showing two warriors fighting
over the body of a fallen warrior. Of the opponent, what looks like a bit of the edge of
the shield remains; of the fallen companion,
the right leg28 and what looks like the shield
(held up in profile view) and part of the sword
or spear (traveling obliquely upward). Similar
compositions occur on a number of early vases,
for instance, on the well-known Rhodian plate
where the inscriptions identify the combatants
as Menelaos and Hektor fighting over the body
26 Acc. no. 42.11.33.
27 Height 42 cm.; preserved width 25.5 cm.; total width
probably about 50 cm.; thickness 3.3 cm. Traces of a
reddish brown color remain on Achilles' spear and
crest, and here and there elsewhere. They are presumably the remnants of the black glaze which originally entirely covered the figures (but not the background) and has survived only here and there in discolored form. The inscriptions (figs. 11, 12) are also
painted in brownish glaze directly on the background. What looks like a white engobe in spots
must be part of the lime (calcium carbonate) incrustation which covered some of the surface. This
incrustation covered portions of the inscriptions and
remains of brownish discolored glaze on the figures.
28 As in some other early representations of fallen figures the second leg is not shown; cf. the Rhodian
plate, fig. 17, and the Eurytios krater in the Louvre,
E635.
29E. Pfuhl, Malerei und Zeichnung der Griechen
(Munich, 1923), vol. III, fig. 117; M. H. Swindler,
Ancient Painting (New Haven, 1929), fig. 212.
30 E. Gerhard, Auserlesene griechische Vasenbilder (Berlin, 1847), vol. II, pl. ccv, 3; S. Reinach, Rdpertoire
des vases peints, grecs et etrusques (Paris, 1900), vol.
In, pl. 105, no. 2; A. Rumpf, Chalkidische Vasen
(Berlin, 1927), p. 156, a. The present location of the
vase is not known, Mr. Beazley informs me.
of Euphorbos
(fig. 17).29 In the New
York
plaque the fighting warrior is identified as
Achilles by the inscription 'Axt),us, which is
painted in brown glaze on the background behind him (fig. 11). One might think, therefore, that the relief represents the combat of
Achilles and Memnon over the body of Antilochos, like the scene on the black-figured
amphora shown in figure 15.30 On removal,
however, of the thick incrustation which covered part of the plaque (cf. figs. 9, o), the
85
MUSEUM OF ART
BULLETIN OF THE METROPOLITAN
name of the fallen figure emerged, painted in
brown glaze above the bent knee (fig. 12). The
last three letters are obviously vtc (the direction of the nu shows that they must be read
from left to right). Evidently, therefore, we
have here the end of a feminine name; and in
this context it can only have been that of an
Amazon. The two preceding letters are incomplete (cf. fig. 13),31 but I think they must have
been c and t (cf. fig. 14). There seems to be
no possible name ending in -ainia, and it is
doubtful whether there would have been room
for more letters to the left of the preserved
ones, at least if our reconstruction of the coma round shield in front view
position-with
held by the opponent of Achilles and a shield
in profile view held by the fallen figure-is
correct. But Ainia, as an ethnic name derived
from Ainos, is possible and appropriate32; for
Ainos was the name of a town in Thrace, and
in the Aithiopis, the lost sequel of the Iliad,
which dealt with the Amazons at Troy, their
queen is said to have been a Thracian.33 Ainia
happens not to occur elsewhere as an Amazon's
name, but new names for Amazons are constantly cropping up.
FIG.
9.
PLAQUE
SHOWN
IN FIGURE
10,
BEFORE
CLEANING
If the fallen figure was an Amazon, we also
know the name of Achilles' opponent. She was
Penthesileia, the queen of the Amazons, who
.... went to Troy to help the Trojans and "while
performing heroic deeds" ( sCtcE60ouaav) was
killed by Achilles. In the version of the story
31 Near the right leg of the initial alpha is embedded
a dark particle. This is visible in fig. 12 but has been
erased in figs. 13 and 14 as it confuses the line.
32 As M. Rostovtzeff and M. J. Milne also assure me.
For the use of ethnics as heroic names see A. Fick
andt F. Bechtel, Die griechischen Personennamen
(G6ttingen,
1894), pp. 418 if. For the name Ainios
cf.
Iliad XXI. 210o, one of the Paeonian allies of the Trojans. Ainos
itself
appears
in the Iliad
IV. 519-520:
The name on our relief
Aiv6Oev e[Xo0eO.
cannot of course have been Aineias, even if we suipply letters of which no trace remains. Aeneas did not
&%'
FIG.
8. TERRACOTTA PLAQUE WITH LION. IN THE
METROPOLITAN
MUSEUtM
-----
:
86
fall in battle at Troy; he survived
Proklos Chrestomathia
II.
and went to Italy.
FIG. 10.
TERRACOTTA PLAQUE IN THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM, AFTER CLEANING.
ORIGINALLY IT SHOWED ACHILLES, PENTHESILEIA, AND AINIA
BULLETIN OF THE METROPOLITAN
MUSEUM OF ART
FIG. 11. DETAIL OF PLAQUE SHOWN IN FIGURE 10
sixth century.40 The forms of the letters point
to an Attic origin and thus substantiate the
report that the relief was found in Attica.
The story of Achilles and Penthesileia evidently appealed to Greek artists. We have
many beautiful representations of it-especial-
told by Quintus Smyrnaeus,34we learn that before killing Penthesileia Achilles slew several
of her companions. Moreover, on Attic blackfigured vases a fallen Amazon actually appears
in the combat of Achilles and Penthesileia
(fig. 16).35
The date of our plaque must be somewhere
in the late seventh or early sixth century B.C.
In attitude the warrior closely resembles one
from the temple of Artemis at Corfu,36 which
may be dated about 600-590
B.C.
34 I. 531 ff.
(fig. 20). The
rendering of the anatomy by grooves and
ridges, the large features, and the vigorous,
rather harsh style suggest the period of the
Sounion, Dipylon, and New York kouroi
(about
620-590
B.C.).37 The
Gorgon
on the
shield recalls the marble Gorgon from the
Akropolis38 and stands midway between Early
and Middle Corinthian examples39; note the
squarish form, the rounded outline of the hair
over the forehead, the indication of the chin.
The letters of the inscription would be appropriate for the late seventh or the early
88
35 Munich, no. 478A; Gerhard, Auserlesene Vasenbilder,
vol. III, pl. ccv, 1. Berlin, no. 1847; Furtwangler,
Vasensammlung im Antiquarium, p. 341. Cf. also fig.
18.
36 Rodenwaldt, Korkyra, vol. II, pl. 33.
37 G. M. A. Richter, Kouroi (in press); Metropolitan
Museum Studies, vol. v (1934-1936), pp. 42 ff.
38 No. 701; W. H. Schuchhardt in H. Schrader, Die
archaischen Marmorbildwerke der Akropolis (Frankfort on the Main, 1939), pp. 319 f., no. 441, pl. 184.
On the date (beginning of sixth century), cf. p. 325.
39 Cf. e.g. H. Payne, Necrocorinthia (Oxford, 1931), p.
82, fig. 24 B (Early Corinthian, c. 625-600 B.C.), p. 83,
fig. 25 A-C (Middle Corinthian, c. 600-575 B.C.).
40A. E. Raubitschek, whom I consulted, wrote me:
"The name Achilleus is written in the Attic alphabet, and with letters which may be dated before the
middle of the sixth century. They may well belong
to ca. 600 B.C.,although we have little evidence from
this period."
DETAIL OF PLAQUE SHOWN IN FIGURE 10. FIGURE 12 SHOWS THE INSCRIPTION AS IT APPEARS WHEN PH
FIGS. 12-14.
SHOWS EXTANT TRACES (REINFORCED ON THE PHOTOGRAPH IN PENCIL) AS THEY CAN BE MADE OUT WITH THE
(SEE ALSO P. 86, NOTE 31); FIGURE 14 SHOWS THE INSCRIPTION AS RECONSTRUCTED FROM THESE
BULLETIN
OF THE
METROPOLITAN
MUSEUM
OF ART
Gerhard, Aus. Vas., pl. ccv, 1
Gerhard, Aus. Vas., pl. ccv, 3
FIG.
15. ACHILLES, MEMNON,
ON A BLACK-FIGURED
FIG. 16. ACHILLES, PENTHESILEIA, AND A FALLEN
AMAZON ON AN AMPHORA. IN MUNICH
AND ANTILOCHOS
AMPHORA
FIG. 17. MENELAOS, HEKTOR, AND EUPHORBOS ON
A RHODIAN PLATE. IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM
Furtwangler and Reichhold, Gr. Vas., pi. VI
FIG. 18. ACHILLES AND PENTHESILEIA ON A KYLIX
OF ABOUT 460 B.C. IN MUNICH
Exekias, the Berlin
ly on Attic vases-by
Painter, the Penthesileia Painter (fig. 18), and
others.41 Our relief is, I believe, the earliest
Attic rendering of the subject so far known.42
The painting on the terracotta shield from
Tiryns at Nauplia must be about a century
earlier.43 The "Argive-Corinthian" bronze reliefs from Delphi,44 Noicattaro (see fig. 19),45
and Olympia46 have been variously dated,
41 In a forthcoming dissertation on Amazons by Dietrich von Bothmer a list of these will be given.
42 The theory that epic subjects do not appear in
Attic art before 570 to 560 B.c. (cf. W. Zschietzschmann, Jahrbuch des deutschen archiologischen In-
stituts,
vol. XLVI [1931],
pp. 45 ff.) is disproved
not
only by our relief but also by early sixth-century
vase representations (cf. e.g. J. D. Beazley and H.
Payne, Journal
of Hellenic
Studies,
vol. XLIX [1929],
pl. xv, nos. 17, 19).
43 R. Hampe, Fruhe griechische Sagenbilder in Bootien
(Athens, 1936), p. 81 (end of eighth or beginning of
seventh century). The shield is not yet published.
I owe my knowledge of it to Miss Mary Swindler.
44 Fouilles de Delphes (Paris, 1908), vol. v, p1. xxI.
45 M. Gervasio, Bronzi arcaici e ceramica geometrica
nel Museo
di Bari (Bari,
1921), pp.
119 f., 180, fig.
65, pl. XVII.
46 R. Hampe and U. Jantzen, "Bericht iiber die Ausgrabungen in Olympia," Jahrbuch des deutschen
Instituts, vol. LII (1937), pp. 61, 63,
archiologischen
pls.
90
14, 15.
TERRACOTTA
PLAQUES FROM EARLY ATTIC TOMBS
to the second quarter of the sixth.48 In these
reliefs Penthesileia is represented as falling
backward, while Achilles is striding forward
with spear and shield. In our plaque, however, the bit of terracotta adjoining Achilles
shield, ifj rightly interpreted as part of Penthesileia's shield, would suggest that she was
still fighting, like Hektor on the Rhodian
plate shown in figure 17-.
There is no suggestion of the love motive in
our fierce Achilles, nor in the "Argive-Corinthian" and Tiryns renderings. The expression
l'
ol
o
/:::- g
i
t
-p
of the rather complicated emotion felt by
Achilles when he fell in love with Penthesilei;a
after mortally wounding her was outside the
scope of the early artist. But probably he knew
that aspect of the story. Though in extant
classical literature the love motive does not
actually appear until Roman times, it seems
or
i'
l:
_'.
i,.5
to be implied in Proklos's summary of the
Aithiopis, where Achilles kills Thersites because the latter accused him of love for Penthesileia; and it is vouched for at least in the
in Munich
by the vase paintings
(fig. 18)49 and New York.50
fifth century
J][
J]a flJJI[3yJ
jllJjj
-_<>
-
!==
(f,_j
M ta
8<
..J
5-
,
Archaeological Institute, Athens
German.Archaeological
FIG. 20.
~by
WARRIOR ON A FRIEZE OF THE TEMPLE
OF ARTEMIS, CORFU
That contest with Amazons were consid-
i
ered appropriate
sepulchral
subjects is shown
/?X@ their
_ appearance on the Mausoleum of
Halikarnassos and on many sarcophagi. More-4t
I
over such contests were referred to in funeral
speeches when
__
"~,._ ~
.
,'(%
,were
~_~.~r~.~
'._
the heroic deeds of the past
recalled.5l A plaque with Achilles fight-
i
ing the Amazons would therefore be appropriate for a tomb. The other plaques-since we
R<W_J<A<
)=-{
47 Payne, Necrocorinthia,
p. 225 ("developed
Protocorinthian or Transitional").
48 Hampe,
and Jantzen,
Sagenbilder,
p. 8i. Hampe
Jahrbuch, vol. LII (1937), p. 64, attempt to show a
stylistic development.
and Reichhold,
Griechische
Vasenma-s9Furtwangler
______
i
-
J|9111
JJL1iffJllllJ1(ierlei,0
)ljm
JTJ(
ficr
Gervasio, Br. arc., p. 180, fig. 65
FIG.
19. ACHILLES AND PENTHESILEIA
BRONZE RELIEF FROM NOICATTARO
ON
vol.
lerei,
I, pl. 6.
(1940), p. 40,
vol. XXXV
Acc. no.
n39.11.1 . BULLETIN,
6.
Die Ama1 Arrian Anabasis VII.13.6; A. Klugmann,
zonen in der attischen Literatur unid Kunst (Stuttgart, 1875), pp. 65 ff.; Lysias, II.4-6.
A
91
BULLETIN OF THE METROPOLITAN
must visualize a series of them-presumably
represented other exploits, comparable to
those of the hero who had fallen in battle and
to whose tomb our relief belonged.
The plaques we have discussed enlarge our
knowledge both of early Attic tombs and of
early Attic art. Particularly the relief of
MUSEUM OF ART
Achilles is an important new document. It
shows that the splendid Sounion-Dipylon-New
York kouroi were not isolated phenomena.
The same high spirit pervaded the more modest works. If our dating is correct, this is the
spirit of pre-Solonic Athens, the time of the
wealthy, aristocratic Eupatrids.
92