The elaborate sacrifices that accompanied the funeral, especially the twelve Trojans, were not replicated in Iron Age burials. Nevertheless, until the eighth century b. c.e., burials could be very lavish. Traditionally, the body was burned on a pyre, which was quite expensive in a non-tree-intensive region such as Greece. Afterward, the remains of the body were placed in an amphora, neck-handled for the men and belly-handled for the women. This amphora was then filled with personal artifacts and covered with a bowl. The covered amphora was placed into the ground, possibly with yet more artifacts and goods, before the whole collection was buried. Early grave markers were often pottery jars, sometimes another amphora, or, for the men, large kraters (bowls used for mixing wine with water). Such receptive vessels were particularly important for the grave, as they could receive the libations to the dead brought by the family after the funeral.
As discussed in chapter 4, such conspicuous consumption moved from the grave to the sanctuary during the eighth century b. c.e., although even as late as the sixth century, Solon of Athens had to establish laws limiting the amount of money families could spend on funerals. The interred could have no more than a rounded stone bearing his or her name, father's name, and deme (the "neighborhood" to which one belonged as a citizen). According to Plutarch, the Spartans buried their dead with no markers at all, except for soldiers who died in battle and women who died in childbirth.
By the mid-fifth century b. c.e., a new desire sprang up in Athens to commemorate the dead with sculpted monuments. These often portrayed an idealized version of the departed, along with an inscription mentioning the individual's name, patronymic, and deme, as well as a few words of remembrance composed by the dedicator. One such stele dating from c. 400 b. c.e. and executed in pristine Classical style was the grave stele of Hegeso from the Ker-ameikos cemetery (see Image 9.37). Here, the departed sits upon a chair examining the contents of her jewel box; a painted necklace that no longer survives would have been hanging from her upturned fingers. Before Hegeso stands a young maid, probably Hegeso's serving girl. The fine quality of the chair, the jewelry box, and the servant all attest to Hegeso's wealth in life, thus, along with the elaborate monument, doubly flaunting the wealth of her family. Such lavish funerary displays were outlawed once again at the end of the fourth century in Athens.
It was in the fourth century b. c.e. when funerary expenditure once again gained (literal) ground in the Greek world. Specifically, this was when large-scale architecture was applied to tombs. The most famous example was the fourth-century funerary monument of King Mausoleus of Halicarnassus (modern Bodrum) in southwestern Turkey, whose tomb—the Mausoleum— was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Unfortunately, nothing now remains of this monument except a very large hole in the ground, and opinions range widely concerning the building's appearance when it existed.
The most impressive burial complex to arise since the Mycenaean tholoi was the Great Tumulus of Vergina in Macedonia, located at the western edge of the so-called Tumulus cemetery and measuring 110 meters in diameter (Tourat-soglou 1996, 221). Within this mound were no fewer than three royal tombs. The largest of these was the so-called Tomb of Philip II, which measures 8.12 meters long by 4.46 meters wide by 5.3 meters high. The tomb's fagade resem-
9.37 Hegeso Stele (Instructional Resource Corp.)
Bles a Doric temple, only instead of a pediment there was a painted frieze above the entablature. The fagade's painted decoration has been preserved marvelously (because it was buried), allowing not only a glimpse of what the structure looked like back in the fourth century, but also an idea of how colorful many of the Greek temples must have appeared.
The tomb's interior is vaulted and consists of two chambers, an antechamber of sorts, and a "main room." Within the antechamber was a marble ossuary (box for bones) containing a gold box, which held burned bones wrapped in gold and purple cloth and topped by a lovely wreath of gold leaves. On the floor were several gold items, including an arrow quiver and a pair of greaves. The "main room" contained another ossuary with another set of bones, also wrapped in gold and purple cloth within another gold chest. Around the room were the burial goods, including an iron cuirass and helmet, bronze and ceramic vases, a sword with ivory handle, a shield, and ivory decorations from a piece of furniture that no longer remains. It is evident that whoever was buried in this tomb engaged in a martial lifestyle and was proud of it.
World History
