FREE ESSAY ON GREEK GRAVE STELES

GREEK GRAVE STELES

The portals to immortality-Greek Grave Steles
To us who live in modern times the 'melancholic look' that we find in the sculpture of
cemeteries throughout the world is something we take for granted. Although its
authenticity has been lost to us, this so-called look can be traced back to 5th century
Greek funerary sculpture. For us it is only natural to associate such a look with death.
However, as the above verse elaborates, the Greeks viewed death somewhat differently from
the way we do. To them death freed their souls and brought true happiness: then why does
their grave sculpture look so pensive and thoughtful? It is because unlike today where
the dead are only represented figuratively in a sobbing angel or mournful cherub, the
Greeks depicted their dead as they were in life - life which was full of uncertainties
and burdens but also with simple pleasures that made it all worth while. The Greeks
successfully combined these two juxtaposed experiences, and harmonized its contradictions
to portray in steles the individual, whose simplicities and complications was a
reflection of the bitter-sweetness of life. No where is this combination more successful
than in the Greek grave stele of the 5th century before Christ. The 5th B.C. encompassed
two distinct periods: the early classical and the high classical. However both these
periods shared the uniquely contradicting, constantly explorative, and modestly
idealistic vision of life, which made the subjects of the stele, at their moment of
death, all the more human to the observer. Neither the previous Archaic period, nor the
following 4th century, or the preceding civilizations quite so convincingly capture for
the observer the poignancy of death the way a fifth century BC stele could.
The period of the 5th century B.C. is sometimes referrd to as the golden age, which is
the height for Greek art and civilizations; and ironically has its beginning and ending
in war! "The 480 B.C. marked the defeat of the Persians and 404 B.C. the beginning of the
pelopannasian war and the collapse of Athenian democracy. " Perhaps the culturally
significant buildings and sculptures that were destroyed and the many lives that were
lost during the long war with Persia might made grave monuments and stele all the more
personal to the Greeks during this time. For whatever reason Greek stele of this
particular period, between two historically significant moments (480-404), stand-alone in
more ways than one.
"Between the boundaries of 480 and 404 the human figure ran through a wide gamut of
psychological nuances. " Of these many 'nuances' there are two significant styles that
are observed in art history. First there is "the self-confidence brought about by a
deep-seated certainty of the outcome of the struggle with the environment in the course
of the 'severe style' which is a characteristic of the early classical period. And then
there is the resignation bought about by dashed hopes the fickleness of illusions and
escapism in the ever fragile creatures of the 'rich style' ", which can be identified in
the high classical period. The stylistic differences mentioned above tend to break this
so-called golden era of the 5th century B.C. into two periods. However, ironically the
one factor that combine these periods together is death- or at least monuments erected
for death -the stele. "If there is any hint in Greek sculpture of a sunset melancholy
that were brought upon by the war years it remains to be seen not in the civic monuments
but in the beautiful series of grave stele that were produced during the 5th century BC.
" The common thread that runs through the two periods of the fifth century are "the touch
of unpretentious and sublime otherworldliness " combined with a sense of austere
melancholy.
During the Archaic period although vases were the popular method for marking graves,
steles with human figure relief begin to appear during this period. These steles later
predominate during the classical period. The Archaic grave steles usually "consisted of a
rectangular slab surmounted first by capitals and then back to back volute scrolls with a
sphinx atop. " An example of an archaic stele is the stele of a warrior runner made in
Athens around 500-450 B.C. The runner according to Lawrence is "Hoplitodrome the winner
of a race in armor. " The young man wears a warrior helmet and looks down at his feet,
which are twisted in an impossible running position. He has stylized hair and his cap
looks too big for him. He has an Archaic smile although it is not quite evident in the
photograph. The warrior looks in the opposite of where his legs seem to heading. Since
this position represents a running as well as flying position, it could be possible that
he is flying towards Hades and is taking a last look at the earth he knew. There is a
desire on the artists' part to produce a reaction through this sculpture. However,
conventions such as the Archaic smile and the lack of knowledge in certain technical
aspects keeps the sculpture from being successful realistically, and therefore less
impressive emotionally and physiologically to the viewer. Also keep in mind that unlike
the photograph the stele in its restored state would be taller than the relief itself,
and the sphinx at the very top (a sculpture in the round) would have taken the focal
point away from the warrior. The bright colors used during this time to paint the surface
would have given the stele a glaring effect. It is appropriate that this stele made
almost at the end of this period should be a warrior. For the coming years would produce
a war and victory for the Greeks that not only wipes the predictable smiles out of their
sculpture but also would bring new discoveries to sculptural techniques that would bring
even the dead alive.
"The classical period (480-404) removes us from the world of Archaic rigidity and patter
into one in which art takes on the task of representing even counterfeiting life, and not
merely creating tokens of life and as a result involves the viewer more intimately ."
Also, there is neither a high pediment nor sphinx that would take the emphasis away from
the figure. One of the earliest 5th century examples is the grave stele by Alexnor of
Naxos dated around 490-480B.C. "The inscription proudly states in hexameters: ALXENOR OF
NAXOS MADE (ME): JUST LOOK. " Although this stele still contains some archaic rigidity,
compared with the previous stele, here, there is clearly an experimentation to produce a
more natural stance and a genuine identity. In addition, the old man here is engaged in a
passive activity compared to the runner who was involved in an aggressive action. In this
stele an old man lovingly holds a locust to which the dog enthusiastically responds. One
cannot help feeling that the smile of this man is a genuine representation of the
affection he has towards the dog and not a remnant of the Archaic period, therefore in
context to the scene the smile is appropriate. The staff in his hand suggests that he is
about to embark on a journey. Perhaps in his old age he might not have anybody but the
dog and therefore takes time to say his farewells. Apart from the technicalities such as
the slightly schematic rendering of his drapery and the experimentation of the right
angled feet, the overall impression that the artist projects of this lonely man and his
dog evokes a certain empathy between the subject and the viewer. 
Gravestones during the 5th century identified not only the gender ad occupation of the
deceased but also of the age. As seen in the (fig.2) example this gravestone of a little
girl depicts her, as she would have been in life. Here the little girl holds two doves,
one with its beak close to her mouth as if kissing it; the other is perched on her left
hand. The girl wears a peplos fastened at both shoulders and open along her arms and
buttock. Her tender years are indicated by the lack of a belt and the slight disarray of
the bloused upper part of her dress, which has been flipped up by her motion in raising
the dove to her face. This gravestone found on the island of Paros was carved at a time w
hen decorated gravestones did no appear in Athens perhaps "because of an anti luxury
decree ". Her hair is exquisitely stylized and according to Oliver "the detail of the
straps of her sandal and part of the plumage of the doves would have been indicated in
paint. " One could imagine that the original result of the surmounted palmette finial and
the elegant hues of the painted pigments would have made this stele even more enchanting.
The experimentation in the previous example has paid off with an overall simplistic and
naturalistic look. This could be a description of a young girl saying her final farewells
to her treasured friends, or the doves could be a representation of her soul. Therefore,
just as she would free the doves so would death free her soul. There is a simplification
and fluidity of form and at the same time a complexity of meaning. Here, unlike in the
previous example, the artist is not so much confused with the physical renderings as he
is with the emotional representations, which are indicated by the contemplative gaze of
the child that goes beyond her years. The viewer can fully appreciate through this
sculpture "the artist's innate feeling about what was right and perfect, and identify
with the unhurried, unsensational revelation in the common place of this beauty. "
The Greeks had a saying " 'Kalos Kagathos' the beautiful and the good ," where the outer
appearance of physical beauty reflected the moral goodness of mind and spirit. This was
the principal used to measure the essence of the mortal human. To the Greeks "Mortal man
became the standard by which thing were judged and measured. Buildings were made to
accommodate the body and please the eye of man, not a giant. Gods were portrayed as
resembling human beings, not fantastic creatures. As Sopohokles wrote in Antigone
'wonders are there many, non more wonderful than man'. " The fifth century stele of the
Athlete from Athens does justice to the statement above. Here is "a boy of fifteen " who
must have loved sports when he was alive. He stares at his 'strigil' (the curved metal
tool used for cleansing the body after exercise), perhaps contemplating its use in his
next life in Hades, or perhaps reminiscing the many years it had served him by cleansing
his beautiful human body. His name Eupheros is inscribed on the pediment above his head.
Eupheros is dressed in a himation (large cloak) and sandals and wears a headband. The
folds of his drapery, which pile on his arm and wrap around his body subtly indicating
the natural contours of his body. According to Oliver "Eupheros was a victim of the
plague that ravaged Athens in 430-427 " however, nothing the stone confirms this.
Furthermore, she goes on to say "a desire to commemorate the many victims of the plague
may have something to do with the reappearance of decorated gravestones in Athens at this
time. " Whatever the reason, Eupheros certainly conveys the divine spark that the Greeks
found in every mortal through their outer appearance. With his noble simplicity and quite
grandeur Eupherous could have passed off as a God (had he not been on a stele). However,
the fact that he is not naked the lack of heroism which becomes evident in the next
century, show that although still experimenting the artist is not quite bold as to pass
of man as God. In the search to embody the complete man the artists of this period had to
grapple with the question of man's immortality. This was a question that had to be left
unresolved till the next century. Consequently, this very doubt makes one appreciate and
understand the vulnerability in the simplicity of this boy. For, immortality is a
question for which we too have yet to find an answer.
Finally as we come to the end of the 5th century there continues to be a preference for
the lone figure steles, although steles with two or more figures do exist as well. Steles
that belonged to women most often depicted them with maids, and scented oil vases. They
were also depicted admiring their jewelry or gazing at mirrors, as in the example (fig.
5). However, this sort of depiction was not to exaggerate their vanity but to simply
state that their outer beauty reflected the inner. The artist "endeavors to create ideal
beauty and goodness that were identical not only figuratively but actually. " As a result
the artist went beyond the formal and technical means of creating harmonious and balanced
images to impart to their works of art something of this "greatness of spirit. " There is
nothing that is affected theatrical or superficial about this girl. She simply stares at
the mirror in the same contemplative mood as Euperous. The back of her hair is veiled and
she is adorned with earrings. She wears a peplos with an additional shawl wrapped around
her shoulders. The shawl has then been flipped casually over her arm, and it has fallen
back towards her elbow when the mirror was raised up. It is a pity that this stele should
be so damaged. However, the pleasure of a ruined antiquity is imagining it original
splendor. With the other examples one sees the tremendous strides that the artist has
made by desiring to reach higher planes technically and physiologically through his
sculpture. And these two planes met during the fifth century before Christ and made an
impact on people, for many centuries to come. Therefore, at the end of this golden period
when art was almost at a climax one could anticipate the achieved advancements of this
stele even though the stele itself is quite ruinous. Likewise, one cannot help but be
reminded, just as the girl in the stele might be thinking, that even such idealistic
achievements must come to an end. This young girl with her broken arm damaged hair who in
the prime of her life was the embodiment of the Greek ideal gives this stele a poignancy
of an unfinished epitaph. 
By the end of the Pelopenisioan war and the beginning of the fourth century gravel steles
change dramatically. Gone are the elusive single figured steles. During the fourth
century steles with three or more figures become popular. As a result these steles become
less like the original steles and more like meteopes of a building, where the stone slab
becomes less rectangular and more broader. According to Bordman, by the addition of more
figures, apart from taking the viewer's focus away from the deceased, it also made it
harder for the deceased to be always readily distinguished, unlike in the example.
(fig.6). Dated around 350-340, this marble stele was found in Athens at the river
Ilissus. The aloof nude young man is the dead, while "his father sadly contemplates his
sons untimely death. " There is ambiguity on weather a slave or a younger brother weeps
or sleeps. According to Barron the boy weeps and according to Rielter the boy ignorantly
sleeps while a dog noses around in a puzzled air. Unlike in the classical period and in
the Archaic period the dead is depicted as a nude. And unlike in the classical period
where the viewer was able to identify with the deceased, here the viewer is more inclined
to identify with the mourners. It seems that the artist having mastered the techniques of
depicting a realistic profile view in the previous century now depicts a successful
frontal view. The diseased (fig.6) is in a vacant gaze, and stares past the observer. The
artist has rendered the young man with a heroic quality, and in doing so has distanced
the viewer from the diseased. In the classical stele "there are no obvious promises or
threats of what might lie beyond the grave, simply an appreciation of life and a quite
record of loss. However the fourth century stele begins to popularize even in Attica the
death feast motif where the dead reclines as a hero and there are intimations of
immortality. " The artist no longer doubts mans immortality but is completely sure of it
and so is the young man on the stele. This takes away the vulnerability that the
classical steles embodied. One might more likely be awed by this than be touched as one
was with the classical stele. Steles such as this one continued to be built, until
cemeteries of Athens become cultural showplaces. "By a sumptuary decree Demetrious
Poliorketes who governed Athens put an end this lavish display in 317. "
"And here the story ends, the anti luxury decree of Derrios forbade the erection of
sculptural gravestones and thenceforth there appear only insignificant pillars bowls and
slabs in the graveyards. " The new law killed one of the most beautiful forms of artistic
expression and not until the second century B.C did elaborate sculptural gravestones
appear. However, it never rose to the enchanting simplicity and physiological complexity
that the classical period achieved. Although the Romans did make successful copies of
these steles "the Roman copies do not convey the subtleties and magnificence of the Greek
proto types, and they lack the inner life we sense in the original work. " In the
classical period if the figures on a stele contemplated they did not make an outward show
of it as steles from the fourth century, if they were engaged in a certain action, it was
done simply and naturally, unlike the exaggerated action of steles of the Archaic period.
And yet these steles were not absolutely perfect or flawless, for that was something
artists were still striving for during the fifth century. This makes it all the more
appealing since it represents the continuous human struggle for perfection and never
quite reaching it. The statement below shows how the emotion that the classical period
evokes in one is capable of even overriding logical thought 
One of the most deeply rooted notions of civilized man is that there existed, at some
time in the remote past an era when humanity reached a glory from which it has been in
decline ever since. This is the belief in the golden age. The Greeks dreamed of a golden
age just as we do now:
When Saturn did reign, there lived no poor 
The king and beggars on roots did dine.
But when we think of a golden age we think most often of that classical period in Ancient
Greece roughly defined as the fifth century BC, distinguished for art of a serene and
restrained majesty, and an ideal beauty of proportion form and impression to which we
have never attained. 
(Robertson Davis - The Greek Miracle : Reflections of a Golden Age pp69)
Finally one cannot help but ponder if the Greek stele sculptors would still have carved
such enigmatic expression of the departed had they known that these would be their
portals to immortality.
Bibliography
Bibliography
1. Barron, John. Greek Sculpture, E.P. Dutton and Co. Inc., Newyork, 
1985.
2. Bordman, John. Greek Sculpture : The Classical Period, Thames and 
Hudson Ltd., 1985.
3. Bordman, John. Greek Sculpture: The late Classical Period, Thames and 
Hudson Ltd., 1995.
4. Lawrence, A.W. Greek and Roman Sculpture. 
5. Oliver, Diana. The Greek Miracle, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 
1993.
5. Richter, M.A. The Sculpture and Sculptors of the Greeks, Yale University 
Press, London, 1950.
List of Illustrations
Fig.1 Relief of warrior runner, Marble, 570-500B.C National Museum, Athens. Photo taken
from : Richter, The Sculpture and Sculptors of the Greeks, pp372.
Fig.2 Grave Stele by Alxnor of Naxos, Marble, 490-480B.C. National Museum of Athens.
Photo taken from: Barron, Greek Sculputre, pp50.
Fig.3 Grave Stele of a little girl, Marble, 450-440B.C. The Metropolitan Museum of Art,
New York. Photo taken from: Oliver, The Greek Miracle. Pp141.
Fig.4 Grave Stele of Eupheros, Marble, 430-420B.C. Kerameikos Museum, Athens. Photo taken
from: Oliver, The Greek Miracle. PP143.
Fig.5 Grave Stele of a girl with mirror, Marble, 420-410B.C. The Museum of Fine Arts,
Boston. Photo taken from : Richter, The Sculpture and Sculptors of the Greeks, pp535
Fig. 6 Gravestone from near the river Ilissos, Marble,340B.C. National Museum of Athens.
Photo taken from: Bordmen, Greek Sculpture: The Late Classical Period. Pp125
Figure 1 Relief of warrior runner, Marble,
Figure 2 Grave Stele by Alxnor of Naxos, Marble, 490-480BC.
Figure 3 Grave Stele of a little girl, Marble 450-440
Figure 4, Grave Stele of Eupheros, Marble, 430- 420BC.
Figure 5 Grave Stele of a girl with mirror, Marble,420-410
Figure 6 Gravestone from near the river Ilissos, Marble 340BC.
The Portals to Immortality
By
Carol corera