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Some Early Funeral Lekythoi
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 December 2013
Extract
Among the white lekythoi, upwards of a hundred in number, which have passed into the National Museum at Athens from excavations at Eretria, there is one which especially claims attention on account of its unusual size and exceptionally well preserved design. It is reproduced on Plate II. after a water-colour drawing made in the summer of 1896 by M. Chesnay, architect, of Paris, who was then working in Greece under the direction of the French School. I am much indebted to Dr. Cavvadias for permission to publish what is justly regarded as one of the chief treasures of the Greek national collection, and to Dr. Staïs for facilities in studying it.
It was found in 1889, ἐν κτήμασι Νοστράκη on an estate which yielded a large proportion of the wonderful harvest obtained during the authorised excavations of 1888–92.
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- Copyright © The Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies 1899
References
page 169 note 1 M. Chesnay, who is an accomplished draughtsman, but had then had little experience in vase-copying, was attracted by the noble lines of the original, and determined to reproduce them, more for his own pleasure than for archaeological purposes. Naturally in certain details the result falls short of the rigid accuracy which archaeologists expect. Nevertheless it has seemed better to make use of a copy which preserves so much of the spirit and style of a master-piece, than to wait for the doubtful chance of securing an absolute facsimile. Although I have not had an opportunity of examining the vase since the drawing was made, it has been possible to test its accuracy and have certain corrections made by Mr. F. Anderson with the help of three photographs which I took earlier in the same summer. Copies of these photographs, which are in size two-thirds (linear) of the original, are obtainable through the Hellenic Society.
page 169 note 2 Δєλτίον, 1889, p. 136, 1. Cf. p. 51. It is now numbered 1935.
page 171 note 1 Conze, , Gr. Grabreliefs. Taf. xcviii. No. 411 and plan on p. 95Google Scholar.
page 171 note 2 On lekythoi, Burlington Club Catalogue, No. 120; Athens, No. 1982. On a red-figured loutrophoros, Ath. Mitth. xvi. Taf. 8.
page 172 note 1 The ‘glaze-outline lekythoi of the finest style’ form a homogeneous class distinct from though contemporary with the group discussed in this paper. The published examples are: White Athenian Vases, Plates II.–V. and XXVIB, Burlington Club Catalogue No. 56, Bonner Studien, Taf. xi. xii. One of the finest of them bears the name ῾ Γγιαίνων καλός For convenience I shall refer to them as the ‘Hygiainon series.’ See J.H.S. xvi. pp. 175, 176
page 175 note 1 Berlin, Inv. 3262Google Scholar = Arch. Anzeiger, 1893, p. 92, No. 55.
page 175 note 2 Ἐφ Ἀρχ. 1886, πιν. IV. = Gardner, P., Sculptured Tombs, p. 18Google Scholar. Also Bonner Studien, Taf. x., where I suspect that the sculpture is really a relief, not a statuette.
page 176 note 1 Berlin, Inv. 3171Google Scholar, and 3245 = Arch. Anzeiger, 1893, p. 92, No. 54.
page 176 note 2 Athens 1760 = Heydemann, , Gr. Vasenbilder, xii. 12Google Scholar.
page 176 note 3 Athens 1982, Brit. Mus. D. 65 = W.A.V. Pl. 27.
page 176 note 4 An unpublished lekythos at Carlsruhe.
page 176 note 5 Stool and umbrella are still the insignia of royalty in West Africa, as is shown by the following paragraph about the ex-king of Ashanti. ‘King Prempeh is said to take his exile very complacently. He is a regular attendant at the English church at Freetown, and every Sunday, accompanied by his umbrella-bearer and his stool-bearer, may be seen walking through the streets to the Cathedral. On most occasions his wives and attendants accompany him. The stool and umbrella are always included in the procession.’—Scotsman, June 9 1897.
page 177 note 1 Aristophanes, , Eccl. 730–736Google Scholar. Cf. Acharn. 242, 258; Lys. 1188 ff.; Aves 1550, and the lines of Hermippus quoted by the scholiast on this passage. The assumption that the diphrophoroi were aliens rests on analogy, not on direct evidence. We learn from other sources that aliens performed the σκιαδηφορία, σκαφηφορία and ὐδριαφορία Furtwängler even doubts whether the diphrophoroi were attendants of the kane-phoroi: ‘Die Scholien schliessen fälschlich dass sie hinter den Kanephoren folgten; dies ist (durch Aristophanes) nur für die Schirmträgerinnen bezeugt,’ Meisterwerke, p. 186. He is referring to Aves, 1549 ff. But the passage in the Ecclesiazusac implies that the diphrophoros walked behind the kanephoros, and it is certainly significant that they are mentioned together in two other passages.
page 177 note 2 Archaeologia, xxxvi. Pl. 6.
page 177 note 3 Ussing, , To Graeske Vaser, Copenhagen, 1866, Pl. IGoogle Scholar.
page 177 note 4 Theophrastus, , Char. 7Google Scholar.
page 179 note 1 Another link is furnished by a lekythos at Cassel, (Arch. Anzeiger, 1898, p. 192Google Scholar, No. 9) inscribed 
seated woman holding toilet-vase, and youth wrapped in mantle, a group much like those enumerated above, but connected by the inscription with the four vases of the white-flesh series which mention Diphilos son of Melanopos. An inscription found at Olympia, (Die Inschriften, 30Google Scholar, cf. 797) supplies a fresh indication that the youths thus honoured by the potters were persons of good standing. It is a decree of Elis conferring proxenia on a Diphilos son of Melanopos of Athens, and cannot be dated precisely, but the editors incline to accept the identification with the D. son of M. named on the vases, and perhaps also with the D. who commanded a fleet in 414 (Thuc. vii. 34) and with the M. whose son Laches held a command in 427 (Thuc. iii. 86).
page 183 note 1 From a photograph of the well-known lekythos at Munich, published by Stackelborg, , Gräber, Taf. 47Google Scholar, and by Benndorf, , Gr. u. Sic. Vasenbilder, Taf. 27, 1Google Scholar.
page 183 note 2 The somewhat pointed nose, which detracts from the resemblance of this figure to the Charon at Berlin, is due to the hand of a restorer, Mr. Cecil Smith tells me.