Plate 90. Monuments

The care of the deceased was in the earliest time, as now, of much concern, and their resting places were in some manner suitably designated. Of the different grave monuments, which in later times have been discovered, we here consider only a certain style; namely, those often erected by the Atheneans, and called epithemen or stele. They usually consist of a thin upright marble slab as represented at Fig. 1. On the front side of the slab is often found an inscription, sometimes only the name of the deceased, and thereunder his last words, as indicated at Fig. 4. At the top the slab always had a light cornice, over which was a gable form, or an ornamental crest crowning the whole.

The stele at Fig. 1 represents a well-preserved and excellent example from the most prolific epoch of sculpture. Under this slab presumably was once a base or plinth about 6 inches high. The crest of this monument is executed in the greatest sobriety. Its ornament consists of two volutes or rams' horns and a palmetto, the symbol of peace, the whole in high relief.

At Fig. 2 is shown the upper part of a stele which was found under the ruins of the Temple of Themis at Rhamnus. On the front side of the slab in a panel was represented in relief a parting scene. The top has palmettos or flower leaves springing out of acanthus leaves. The slab, exclusive of the top, was 1[…] ft. high. The back side was left rough, as presumably, it stood against a wall.

At Fig. 3 is an ornamental top of similar outline, decorated with delicate ornament, consisting of flowers typical of everlasting life. The background is somewhat concave.

At Fig. 4 is a crest of particularly good origination. From an acanthus, spring leaves, vines, and palmettos, with a very graceful movement, but not entirely symmetrically arranged. The background is of pointed arch form.

Fig. 5 represents a three-pointed crest with similar flat carving as on the former example. Out of a strong acanthus plant spring, in the center, two branches with small leaves, vines, and palmettos, and at the sides similar vines and leaves. The three-pointed form of this crest is brought about by the arrangement of its ornamentation. The erection of this slab probably falls between the ages of Pericles and Alexander.

The stele shown by Fig 1 was formerly owned by private parties at Venice. Those shown at 3, 4, and 5 are in the British Museum at London. The Royal Institute at Berlin has plaster casts of the four stele after which the drawings shown in this plate have been made. The stele at Fig. 2 is from the Unedited Antiquities of Attica.