THE GREEK MIND IN PRESENCE OF DEATH. 



269 



couch stands a draped bearded figure ; beneath it 

 is a dog gnawing at some fragment of food. In 

 the place of this dog we elsewhere find a snake. 

 4. Two men recline side by side on a couch ; in 

 front of one is a three-legged table laden with 

 food. At the two extremities of the couch sit 

 two women. In the foreground is a galley, of 

 which the oars, but not the rowers, are visible, in 

 which is seated a weird figure with matted locks, 

 clad in a short, rough cloak, who stretches his 

 hand toward one of the reclining banqueters. 

 This latter figure has usually been taken for the 

 ferryman of the dead, Charon, come to claim the 

 feasters as his passengers into the next world. 

 In scenes of this character, also, it is not unusual 

 to find in the background a horse, or at least the 

 head of one; here, too, the coming journey 

 throws its shadow over the group. 



With the sculptures of this class are frequent- 

 ly associated a set of representations, which 

 would seem to have something more than a casu- 

 al connection with them, though the exact nature 

 of such connection is very obscure. I refer to 

 the ex voto tablets commonly set up in Greek 

 temples by those who had escaped from disease, 

 peril, or death, in honor of the deity to whom they 

 attributed their deliverance, and for a lasting me- 

 morial of their gratitude. Such tablets have been 

 found in special abundance in the temeni, sacred 

 to Hades or Sarapis, as god of the nether world, 

 and of Asklepius and Hygieia. When Sarapis is 

 the deity thus honored, he appears on the tablet 

 as reclining on a couch, on his head the modius, 

 which is the symbol of his dominion in realms be- 

 low, and sometimes as accompanied by his bride 

 Isis or Persephone. A train of worshipers ap- 

 proaches from the side of the tablet, bringing in 

 animals for sacrifice. Of the ex voto tablets dedi- 

 cated to the deities of healing, perhaps the clear- 

 est specimen appears copied on certain coins of 

 the city of Perinthus, in Thrace. On these we 

 see Asklepius reclining on a couch. Beside him 

 sits his daughter Hygieia, and in front is a three- 

 legged table laden with food, at the feet of which 

 is a serpent. From the side enters a train of vo- 

 taries dragging in a sacrificial pig. Above, a 

 cluster of arms hangs on a peg, and through a 

 window appears the head of a horse who stands 

 without. It is not easy to understand the sym- 

 bolism of all parts of these pictures, but the gen- 

 eral meaning cannot be doubtful. We see in 

 them representations of the gratitude of those 

 whose health was restored in the temples of the 

 deity Asklepius, the hospitals of antiquity. The 

 train of worshipers represents their family, and 



the pig of the reliefs had, doubtless, his original 

 in an animal actually sacrificed to the god. Why 

 the horse and the arms appear in the background 

 we need not try to ascertain. 



It will be easily understood how difficult it 

 sometimes becomes, in the absence of inscriptions, 

 to tell whether a relief is to be classed among the 

 ex voto tablets of deities or among sepulchral 

 scenes. In many cases we seem to be near the 

 border-line between the two classes of monuments, 

 as in the following: Two men recline on a couch, 

 each of them holding a drinking-horn. By them 

 sits a woman, while a slave in the foreground is 

 engaged in pouring wine into a vessel. In front 

 appears a three-legged table, beneath which is a 

 snake ; in the corner is seen a horse's head. Here 

 horse's head and snake remind us of the ex voto 

 tablets, although there can be little doubt that 

 the subject is from a tomb. Both horse's head 

 and snake reappear in the following, which seems 

 to belong to the ex voto class of monuments : Two 

 men recline on a couch, one holdiDg a drinking- 

 horn. On either side a woman is seated. Three 

 figures approach in the attitude of worshipers. 



Now, the greatest perplexity has arisen from 

 the confusion of two classes of reliefs, which may, 

 indeed, have something in common, but are wide- 

 ly different in meaning. To separate finally the 

 classes, and to trace out their ultimate connec- 

 tion with each other, is a work still to be done, 

 and one which will require patience and judgment. 

 Meantime we may perhaps be permitted to ex- 

 press doubt whether there is a single relief proved 

 by inscription or other circumstance to be from 

 a tomb in which worshipers appear in the act 

 of sacrifice or adoration. Wherever these are 

 seen it seems reasonable, in the absence of evi- 

 dence to the contrary, to assume that the monu- 

 ment is erected in honor of a deity, not in mem- 

 ory of a man. But all the scenes where simple 

 feasting is going on, where servants are decant- 

 ing wine, and wives seated, according to the 

 Greek custom, near the couch on which their 

 feasting husbands recline, may be presumed to 

 be sepulchral until proved to be otherwise. 



There are three theories, all well supported by 

 the voice of learned men, as to the meaning of 

 these scenes of feasting on tombs. According to 

 the first view, what is represented is the dead 

 supping in Hades. This theory was mainly based 

 upon the confusion above pointed out. The per- 

 son reclining on the couch was thought to be fre- 

 quently receiving worship and sacrifice. Some- 

 times on his head he was supposed to bear the 

 modius, the emblem worn by Sarapis in his char- 



