STELE
STELE (
στήλη) is the name given
to any block (usually of stone or marble) set up for a monumental purpose;
thus it is constantly applied in inscriptions to the block on which a public
document is to be incised. But the best known use of the term is to denote a
monument set up over a tomb, either plain or with merely ornamental
decorations, or containing a commemorative inscription, or a portrait of the
deceased, painted or in relief, alone or grouped with other figures;
combinations of these characteristics are common. The simplest form of stele
consists of a plain marble slab or pillar surmounted by an anthemion, and
inscribed with the name of the deceased; often two rosettes. side by side,
are added--possibly a survival of
 |
|
Fig. 1. Tombstone of Phrastclea. (Athens.)
|
an anthropomorphic representation. The most common subjects
represented on grave reliefs may be thus classified:--
(1).
Stmple representations of the deceased, often in some
common employment of daily life. Thus the warrior appears fully armed,
standing as if on parade (Aristion), or on horseback slaying a prostrate foe
(Dexileos). An athlete holds his strigil or exercises, and is attended by
his trainer or his slave; a lady sits playing with her jewels, also
accompanied by her attendants (fig. 1). A man or child is often represented
playing with a pet animal.
(2)
Parting scenes.--The deceased, standing or seated, takes
leave of his or her relatives or friends; family scenes are usually
depicted. In later and more elaborate designs a horse appears, as if the
deceased were about to start on a journey, and a serpent also is seen as a
symbol of the dead. These two symbolic figures are, however, only common in
the next class; and in parting scenes of the best period the subject is only
indicated by the appearance of melancholy in the faces and attitudes of the
persons represented (fig. 2).
 |
|
Fig. 2. Parting scene; Stele of Damasistrata. (Athens.)
|
(3)
Banquet scenes.--These seem to have originated in a kind
of ancestor-worship, as is seen in the very early stelae from Sparta: in
them the deceased, as a “hero,” holds out a cup as if to
require a drink-offering; his wife is seated on another throne behind him,
and small worshippers approach with offerings. In later times we find some
similar examples; on the painted stele of Lysias at Athens the deceased
stands, holding a cup in his hand. In the Spartan reliefs a great serpent
coils over the back of the throne, representing, probably, the deceased as
the inhabitant of his tomb. In the typical banquet scene of later times the
deceased reclines on a couch, and his wife sits on the foot of the couch or
on a chair beside it; before them is a feast, of which they partake, and
servants with cups or viands take the place of
[p. 2.713]the
worshippers; a snake and a dog are often present; and a horse's head, as a
symbol of a journey, often appears in a square at the upper corner (fig. 3).
It has been suggested that we should see here the funeral banquet idealised,
or
 |
|
Fig. 3. Tomb-stone with banquet scene. ( Marm.
Oxon. ）
|
the enjoyments of the deceased in another life: the typical
succession seems to indicate that we see rather a development of the
representation in which the deceased, as a hero, receives offerings from
worshippers, and reminds his descendants to give him more; but the enjoyment
of those
 |
|
Fig. 4. Marble Stele, found at Sparta. (From Murray,
Ancient Sculpture. ）
|
presents in another life is doubtless included. The type of these
reliefs is often reproduced in dedications to Asclepius and Hygieia or other
minor divinities; and thus we receive a confirmation of the view that the
deceased is, originally at least, to be regarded as a deified hero.
The numerous series of Greek stelae which still survive is of great value,
not only for their subjects but also for their execution; they were mostly
the work of inferior artists or mere artisans, but reflect the style of the
greater artists of the place or period to which they belong. The most
important are those found in Athens, and preserved either
in situ in the Outer Ceramicus or in the National Museum at
Athens.
The inscription on a grave stele usually gives merely the name of the
deceased, with his father's name and his country or deme, and her husband's
also in the case of a woman: this simplicity was almost universal in Attica,
but simple metrical inscriptions containing the same information are found
from the earliest times. Elsewhere, and commonly later,
χαῖρε or
χρηστὲ
χαῖρε is added; but elaborate eulogies are extremely rare, at
least before Roman times.
(A complete collection of ancient grave-stelae is now being published by the
German Institute,
Die antiken Grabreliefs, Berlin, 1890. See
also Le Bas,
Antiquités figurées, p.
85; Welcker,
Alte Denkmäler, ii. p. 232; Stephani,
Der ausruhende Herakles; Pervanoglu,
Das
Familienmahl auf altgriechischen Grabstelen; Holländer,
De operibus anaglyphis, &c.; Salinas,
Monumenti Sepolcrali; Mittheilungen des deutschen Instituts zu
Athen, ii. p. 459, iv. p. 161, vii. p. 160, &c.;
Journal of Hellenic Studies, 1884. p. 105; Pottier,
Les Léoythes blancs antiques;
Furtwängler,
Die Sammlung Sabouroff, A discussion
by P. Gardner and references to previous authorities may be found in the
Journal of Hellenic Studies, 1884, pp. 105-142.)
[
E.A.G]
