Note 105: — XXVII.—METHODS OF BURIAL. (Wall-Cases 58-64.)

Scenes representing the preparation of the body for cremation or burial are frequently depicted on Greek vases. They occur on the large "Dipylon" vases, made specially for standing outside the tomb (see examples in the First Vase Room), and on black-figure vases, where the body is seen lying on the bier surrounded by mourners. It is, however, upon the white lekythi of the fifth century (No. 668; fig. 257), one of which is here illustrated, that funeral scenes are most commonly found. We know from Greek literature that these vases were expressly made for putting in tombs. A speaker in the Ekklesiazusae of Aristophanes talks of "the man who paints the lekythi for the dead."105 On the vase here figured a woman is making offerings at the tombstone. These offerings were made by the relatives from time to time, and consisted mainly of sashes, wreaths, and vases, as may be seen from the vases placed in the Case. The Greek funeral monuments of the best period are characterised by their restrained beauty. Examples of the different types will be found in the Phigaleian Room downstairs and in the Gallery of Casts. In the Cases 59-60, the only tombstones are the archaic one of Idagygos of Halikarnassos (No. 669; fig. 258) found in Cyprus, inscribed with an elegiac couplet in which he is called "the squire of Ares,"106 and a round stone (No. 670) with a late inscription showing that the tomb was that of Menestratos, a Corinthian buried in Attic soil. The Greek tombs were generally ranged on either side of the main roads leading from the city gates.