Shapes and Uses of Greek Vases

(7th 4th centuries B.C.)

Edited by Athena Tsingarida

TUDES DARCHOLOGIE 3

diteur CReA-Patrimoine Centre de Recherches en Archologie et Patrimoine (CReA-Patrimoine) Universit libre de Bruxelles 50, av. F.D. Roosevelt / CP 175 B-1050 Bruxelles crea@ulb.ac.be ISBN : 9789077723852 Impression : Le Livre Timperman Couverture Stamnos signed Smikros egrapsen. Side B, man and youth filling a dinos (inv. A717) Muses royaux d'Art et d'Histoire, Bruxelles

tudes darchologie 3 tudes dArchologie Classique de l'ULB 4

Marker vase or burnt offering? The clay loutrophoros in context1

Victor ia Sa be ta i

Archiades1 died unmarried. And the proof? A loutrophoros was erected on his tomb2. On the basis of this late 4th century B.C. source, which is a pseudo-Demosthenean court speech dealing with issues of inheritance and which is also the earliest reference to the use of the loutrophoros in connection with the unmarried dead, most scholars postulate that the slender terracotta vase of amphora

I am grateful to A. Tsingarida for inviting me to participate in this conference, to A. Delivorrias and E. Papageorgiou for assistance at all levels and by all means at the Benaki Museum, to E. Stasinopoulou and Chr. Avronidaki for facilitating my study in the National Archaeological Museum at Athens, to M. Pipili for encouragement to pursue this research and to E. Langridge-Noti for editing my English text. For stimulating discussions, comments, feedback and exchange of information and ideas I thank especially C. Jubier-Galinier, F. Lissarrague and H. Mommsen.
1

or hydria form known as the loutrophoros was used to mark the tombs of those who died before marriage, as a memento of the nuptial rites of which they had been deprived due to their premature death3. In addition to this testimonium, a handful of scenes painted on pottery attest to the use of the loutrophoros as a marker vase. However, a combined examination of the archaeological record and the vases themselves suggests that the clay loutrophoros must have been put to a variety of ritual uses in the mortuary record. In this paper I concentrate on the funerary ritual use of the clay loutrophoros, based on a scrutiny of the vases themselves. I also examine the sparse archaeological record in order to retrieve whatever data can be gained from excavation reports in order to produce a more coherent picture of provenances, circumstances and contexts in which funerary clay loutrophoroi occur. There are notoriously few archaeological contexts for clay funerary loutrophoroi, largely because of the extensive grave robbing that took place in Attica in the beginning of the 20th century4. As an Attic creation for specific use in the local nuptial and funerary rituals and customs, the loutrophoros was not exported in antiquity, contrary to what happened in modern times when this impressive, elaborate vessel became an object of desire for art collectors, museums and grave robbers. The first loutrophoroi to have traveled outside Greece came from Trachones (ancient deme Euonymon) and were a royal gift to the Archaeological Museum at

Demosthenes 44, 18 (ed. Rennie). For the problematictestimonia and related discussion questioning the nomenclature of the loutrophoros see Bergemann 1996, esp. 189-190. For further discussion of the literary sources and critique to Bergemann see S. Kaempf-Dimitriadou, Aus einem Grabperibolos: Die Marmorlutrophoros des Philon in Athen, AntK 43 (2000), 70-84, esp. 72-77. J. Fabricius, , in: S. Vlizos (ed.), , Athens, 2004, 151161, esp. 152-154. These scholars take marble loutrophoroi as the starting point of their thorough analysis, but their discussion of the clay examples is not comprehensive. That this elongated clay vessel, whatever its name, was used in the transportation of the nuptial bathwater from the 7th century B.C. onwards is proven by its depiction in a scene of a loutrophoria procession on a Protoattic loutrophoros from the Sanctuary of the Nymphe, at the foot of the Acropolis. For an illustration see H. Winkler, Lutrophorie: Ein Hochzeitskult auf attischen Vasenbildern, Freiburg, 1999, 107, pl. 1.
2

For the loutrophoros, in general, see most recently Kokula 1984; Boardman 1988; Msch 1988; Sabetai 1993, 129-174; Agora XXX, 14-16; Msch -Klingele 1999; eadem 2006; S. Schmidt, Rhetorische Bilder auf attischen Vasen, Berlin, 2005, 79-85.
3

There seems to be a peak in the decades 1910-1930, esp. 1920-1930.

4

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Berlin in 18455. By 1891, when Wolters compiled the first list of known loutrophoroi, some thirtyfive examples were known to him, mostly in Berlin and Athens, the latter deriving from the city itself and ancient coastal demes such as Phaleron6. In the first decades of the 20th century interest in the form increased and by the 1930s more than one hundred examples, on occasion complete but usually in fragments, were displayed in the cases of major museum collections in England, Germany, France, Denmark and North America, usually largely restored and on occasion overpainted. As a result of this passion for loutrophoroi, valuable information concerning the shapes findspots and archaeological contexts is today irrecoverable, leaving us dependent on the written sources and on the appearance of loutrophoroi in vase paintings when we attempt to determine their use. However, written texts and vase paintings are sources of two different natures, each characterized by their own norms and conventions and with only partial information to give; a third source, the archaeological record, may, on occasion, have yet another story to tell. As a point of departure I take a group of loutrophoroi in the Benaki Museum in Athens, which, although declared as unprovenanced, may safely be associated with Attica and specifically with the cemeteries of the central and southern Mesogheia plain as will be seen below. The loutrophoroi form part of a larger ceramic group, which almost certainly derived from intensive unauthorized digs that took place before the 2nd WW at burial grounds; part of it, once in the hands of the art dealer Th. Zoumboulakis was appropriated by the National Archaeological Museum at Athens already in 1938 and occupies about half of Karouzous CVA Athnes 2. Of the figured vases that remained in Zoumboulakis hands, most were donated to the Benaki Museum by his daughter in law in the 1980s and are now part of this museums relatively large collection of wedding vases7. Before that, the Benaki Museum owned only one, heavily restored, loutrophoros, formerly in a Swiss private collection and about which we know nothing of its

actual provenance. It is a late work by the Syriskos Painter, but nevertheless the earliest example of the foot procession type on a loutrophoros (fig. 1-2)8.

1. Athens, Benaki Museum 30247, loutrophoros, Syriskos Painter (photo by S. Delivorrias)

They were offered by the King of Prussia Friedrich Wilhelm IV (1840-1861) to his museums. Cf. A. Furtwngler, Knigliche Museen zu Berlin: Beschreibung der Vasensammlung, Berlin, 1885, 371. I owe the reference to H. Mommsen.
5 6 7

2. Athens, Benaki Museum 30247, loutrophoros,

underside, Syriskos Painter (photo by S. Delivorrias) Inv. no. 30247; ARV2 261, 27; Add2 205; Sabetai 2006, pl. 20-23.
8

Wolters 1891, esp. 371-384. Sabetai 2006, 10-11. 292

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The condition and state of preservation of several of the Benaki Museum loutrophoroi deserve comment, for not only did they come to the museum in fragments, but the sherds were numerous, small and worn. As is the case with other vessels meant for ritual funerary use as indicated by an open bottom or a floor perforated after firing9, two of our loutrophoroi are totally missing their underside, while another is missing a small sherd from its floor, perhaps a manmade hole made after the firing of the vase10. But what is even more interesting is that the surface and underside of two of our loutrophoroi have been secondarily burnt, a fact that raises serious questions about their use as grave markers. This is particularly evident on the Benaki loutrophoros by the Syriskos Painter (fig. 1-2). This example has a worn surface and has turned grey over most of its surface due to fire damage. On other specimens, for example on a loutrophoros by the Naples Painter, there is a marked difference in the colour of the fragments that join. On the latter example, the difference in colour shows that the fragments have been subjected to different conditions, for some were damaged by secondary fire while others not (fig. 3)11. The variability presented by the condition of the Benaki loutrophoroi does not stop here, as another small specimen dated to the last decades of the 5th century B.C. arrived at the museum in a relatively good state of preservation, broken only into a few large fragments, with its underside intact and no traces of secondary burning (fig. 4)12. With regard to the findspot of our loutrophoroi, there are marked similarities of condition, vase shapes, vase painters and date of the Benaki vases

3. Photomontage of Athens, Benaki Museum 35421 and (Munich, Staatliche Antikensammlungen NI9493, loutrophoros, Naples Painter [photo by R. Khling])

Usually craters or cups. See H. Frielinghaus, Fragmente Rotfiguriger Schalen (Streufunde)-Fragen, Mglichkeiten, Stand der Bearbeitung, AM 114 (1999), 171-183, esp. 179-183. B. Rafn, The Ritual Use of Pottery in the Nekropolis at Halieis, in: H. A. G. Brijder (ed.), Ancient Greek and Related Pottery: Proceedings of the International Vase Symposium in Amsterdam, 12-15 April 1984, Amsterdam, 1984, 305-308. Manufactured with open bottom: no. 7676, for which see E. Walter-Karydi, Schwarzfigurige Lutrophoren im Kerameikos, AM 78 (1963), Beil. 50-51. Possibly, though less certainly, open-bottomed: no. 35494; Sabetai 2006, pl. 25-26. Missing a sherd at the floor: no. 30247 (see above, n. 8).
10

Inv. no. 35421 which joins no. NI9493 in Munich: see Sabetai 2004, 18-19, fig. 5.
11 12

Inv. no. 30900; Sabetai 2006, pl. 29-30. 293

4. Athens, Benaki Museum 30900, loutrophoros (photo by S. Delivorrias).

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with vases in a collection now in Canada that was formed by art dealer, amateur archaeologist and conservator Vincent Diniacopoulos in the first decades of the 20th century13. This collection contains several remarkable, occasionally unique vases, among which wedding vase shapes; some of these give the appearance of having been literally crushed and are secondarily burnt, just like ours. On the basis of epigraphic evidence, this collection has recently been associated with the ancient necropolis at modern Koropi, Mesogheia, traditionally thought to occupy the greater area of the ancient deme of Lamptrai14. One loutrophoros formerly in the possession of Diniacopoulos and now in Karlsruhe may also be linked with this area and its cemeteries15.
Fossey and Francis 2004, esp. 113, no. 30; see further 134, no. 72.
13

See Oakley 2004, 52; J. M. Fossey, A Family of Lamptrai, Attike, in: Fossey and Francis 2004, 9095; C. Epstein, A Timeless Classic: the Story of the Diniacopoulos Family Collection, in: ibidem, 18-26; see further Sabetai 2004, 15-25, esp. 36, n. 49. On topographical issues regarding Lamptrai see C. W. J. Eliot, Coastal Demes of Attika, Toronto, 1962, 47-64 (placing Upper Lamptrai in the area of modern Lambrika, just south of Koropi and Lower Lamptrai at Kitsi, or KitsiPigadi). For a recent diverging view see H. Lauter, Zwei Horos-Inschriften bei Vari, AA (1982), 299-315, esp. 306-307 and 310-311 (placing Upper Lamptrai at Kitsi, or Kitsi-Pigadi and Lower Lamptrai at Vari; the latter is traditionally thought to occupy the area of the ancient deme Anagyrous).
14

An important piece of evidence, the Karlsruhe loutrophoros offers the definitive link of this vaseshapes dual association with the nuptial and the funerary domain, as it was manufactured with a clay tube in its deliberately perforated floor for funerary use, but is decorated with a scene of the festive transportation of the nuptial bathwater, a theme that was borrowed from the realm of nuptials and is attested from the last third of the 7th century B.C. onwards on loutrophoroi from the Nymphe shrine. An additional indication of the extensive looting of the cemeteries at this area is further provided by some equally important, occasionally unique, wedding vases from the Koropi area, that are part of the Vlastos collection, Athens. The fact that some of the most prominent Attic vase-painters of the 5th century B.C. decorated these vases found in the Mesogheia, their occasional unique imagery and shape-type as well as their monumentality, may be an indication that some were special commissions for the distinguished dead of the Attic coastal demes. Shattered loutrophoroi, some manufactured with open bottoms and with visible traces of secondary burning are by no means peculiar to loutrophoroi from the above collections, nor are they a particularity of the Koropi area. Although there is a general lack of accurate descriptions of the condition of loutrophoroi in the published record, a closer look reveals that there exist, in fact, several examples, that not only had been shattered and recomposed from numerous fragments, but also occasionally display sherds that have turned grey under the effect of fire. In this category we should place the elaborate unprovenanced loutrophoroi by the Sappho Painter in London16, one by the Sabouroff and another by the Syracuse Painters in Copenhagen17, one by the Talos Painter in Amsterdam18, as well as the monumental example by the Kleophrades Painter in the Louvre19 to name just the more familiar ones.

This shattered loutrophoros, first known in 1927 or 1928, was first published by K. Schefold, Statuen auf Vasenbildern, JdI 52 (1937), 57, fig. 14-17. See further Weiss 1988, esp. 663, n. 4; CVA Karlsruhe 3, pl. 44-45 (after restoration). There is a marked difference between the older and more recent photographs of this vase, which show it originally stained, but later clean; the conservators of the Landesmuseum Karlsruhe informed me that no traces of secondary burning can be detected at present on this loutrophoros but that it has undergone several restorations in the past (I thank M. Maass for this information; see, however the color photos in Maass 2007, 97 wich show traces of burning). It is possible that loutrophoroi acquired in the 19th and early 20th century have undergone heavy cleaning which may have erased any existing signs of secondary burning, esp. if these are light and limited on the surface of the vase. For an example with light burning see the loutrophoroi by the Painter of Naples 132 (ARV2 233, 2; H. Schulze, Ammen und Pdagogen, Mainz a. R., 1998, pl. 2, 2; here fig. 10) and the Kleophon Painter in Athens (ARV2 1146, 49; CVA Athnes 2, pl. 24, 1-2; here fig. 14).
15

Mommsen 1997, 70, no. 59 (shattered; I do not know whether it is also burnt).
16

See CVA Copenhagen 8, 264, pl. 340-342, where it is noted that the fragments from which the vases were mended are bruls de sorte que largile a pris par endroits une couleur grise, la surface ayant souffert and that the surface is un peu meurtrie par endroits.
17

CVA La Haye, Scheurleer 2, III.ID.6-III.ID.7, pl. 4, 1-3, where noted that the sherds bear traces du feu du bcher.
18 19

See CVA Louvre 8, III Ic, pl. 56-57, 1-2. This vase,

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Some late and unattributed black-figured examples also give the appearance of having been shattered, as the loutrophoroi in Tbingen20, in Amsterdam21 and in the Diniacopoulos collection22. In the case of the truly monumental, secondarily burnt and bottomless loutrophoros by the Painter of Bologna 228 in Athens, the provenance is known to be the cemetery of Phaleron (Pikrodaphni), but its precise findspot and grave group are lamentably lost (fig. 5)23. This is only one in a relatively long series of loutrophoroi in the National Museum at Athens, which come from necropoleis of the Attic countryside, such as Phaleron, Pirnari and Vari, all of which should be put on the map of loutrophoroi findspots in addition to the Koropi-Kitsi area24. Recently, more loutrophoroi became known from

extensively overpainted and restored by the Greek artist Lekas, is mended from burnt and unburnt fragments. I am very indebted to F. Lissarrague and N. Kay for having examined the Louvre loutrophoros on my behalf, esp. to the former for his detailed comments on it and to M. Denoyelle for her assistance in the museum. CVA Tbingen 3, pl. 11-13, esp. 11, fig. 2; H. Mommsen kindly verified that this example bears traces of secondary burning on its mouth.
20 21 22 23

Mommsen 1997, 68, no. 4. Fossey and Francis 2004, 103, no. 11.

ARV2 512, 13; 1657; Para 382; Add2 252. See also discussion below. For black-figured loutrophoroi from Phaleron (Pikrodaphni) see Mommsen 1997, 69, no. 26 (no visible traces of burning, but the vase is lacking a large section of its body); CVA Athnes 1, pl. 8, 1-4 and pl. 9, 3 (burnt); the loutrophoros no. 1153, stated in the CVA (pl. 8, 3-4) as from Pikrodaphni, is, in fact, of unknown provenance (appropriated from the art dealer Nostrakis, son, in 1888). For a fragmentary red-figured example, said to be found at the area of Aghios Kosmas, close to Phaleron and bought from the dealer Erneris, in 1867 see ARV2 1127, 15. For a (slightly burnt) example from Pirnari, acquired in 1877 from the art dealer I. Liligiannis see ARV2 539, 40. Pirnari lies at the foot of Hymettus, between the area of Trachones and Brahami. For Anagyrous-Vari see below. Loutrophoroi in foreign museums are mostly unprovenanced, or mention Athens and Attica as their usual findspot. Only in a few cases is a precise provenance in Attica recorded: see CVA Berlin 7, pl. 10-12, 15 (Berlin, from Trachones); ARV2 1322, 20 (Berlin, from Sounion) and 1323, 32 (Amsterdam, from Laurion).
24

b 5a-b. Athens, National Archaeological Museum 1170, loutrophoros, Painter of Bologna 228 (photo author) 295

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graves at Trachones25, Marathon26, Acharnai27, Ano Voula (Halai Aixonides)28 and Myrrhinous29. Loutrophoroi have been also found in the cemeteries outside the walls of Athens, but in less numerous examples and only rarely with specific contexts. Such crushed and burnt funerary loutrophoroi cover the time-span from the late 7th to the end of the 5th century B.C. and force us to rethink the use of the loutrophoros as a tomb marker in the course of the centuries30. A closer look at the archaeological record is indeed revealing, for it shows that from early on, loutrophoroi were actually discovered in primary cremations or funerary trenches and funerary places, the socalled Opferrinnen and Opferstellen. The earliest known example of a loutrophoros from a funerary pyre is a Protoattic loutrophoros-hydria from the cemetery at Vari, that was found together with ritual drinking pots (oinochoe, mugs, highstemmed cup) a dice and a gaming table with a terracotta mourner attached at each of its four corners. The assemblage was in fact excavated from the fill of two adjacent disturbed pyres that were, however, taken as a single deposit by the excavator, most probably correctly. The loutrophoros-hydria was attributed

25

G. Steinhauer, , Athens, 2001, 178-179 (by the Washing Painter).

26

CVA Marathon 1, pl. 5; 31-32; 33; see also discussion below.

27 M. Platonos-Giota, , Acharnai, 2004, 429, fig. 8b (misnumbered 15b); see also discussion below. 28

to a local, provincial vase-painter and dated to the Middle Protoattic, ca. 675-650 B.C.. The excavator noted that it was smashed and subsequently burnt on the pyre, while some fragments were found later dispersed in the area around the grave31. That the ritual breakage took place before burning is indicated by the fact that not all the joining fragments of the vessel are burnt32. The switch from inhumation to cremation for adults in 7th century B.C. Attica has been interpreted as having symbolic associations to the world of the epic and to a golden heroic era, in the new symbolic system that reflected the emergence of the polis and the new social order33. Offering a vase which alluded to the deceaseds age class and to its special status as an aoros was apparently regarded as important already in this early period. The aoroi constituted a special category of the dead, their name referring to an untimely or early demise and they were accorded distinct funerary rites, as is amply attested in the literature and visual arts34. The existence of toys together with the loutrophoros in the same deposit may be a corroborating indication that this assemblage was once intended as grave gifts for a prematurely deceased person. This cremation grave is situated in the necropolis of Vari, the burials of which cover the time-span from the Late Geometric to the 4th century B.C. Several other graves are known from this necropolis, either primary cremations or inhumations, usually covered by low earth mounds and equipped with offering trenches in which several crushed and burnt vases were found, among which also loutrophoroi35. One example by

A. Patrianakou-Iliaki, ADelt 34, (1979), B1, 87, pl. 23, b. E. Vivliodetis, o, AEphem, 2007, 79-129, esp. 84-86. The material from Myrrhinous, excavated in the years 1948 and 1961-1972, contains among other things fragments of black and red-figured loutrophoroi, unfortunately with very limited information on archaeological context. I thank warmly Dr Vivliodetis for showing me photos of this material. The first to have noted that not all loutrophoroi could have been marker vases were Furtwngler and Wolters: see Wolters 1891, 387, n. 1. Bergemann 1996, 166167 and Fabricius (op. cit. n. 2) 154, n. 59 attempted a primary list of examples found in offering trenches. However, because of the importance placed on the literary sources and the images depicting loutrophoroi as grave markers, the general impression still remains that loutrophoroi were primarily used as marker vases. 296

29

Callipolitis 1963, esp. 122-123; idem, , ADelt 20 (1965), B1, 112-117, esp. 117; D. Callipolitis-Feytmans, Cramique de la petite ncropole de Vari, II, BCH 109 (1985) 1, 31-47, esp. 33-35.
31 32 33

Callipolitis 1963, 118.

I. Morris, Burning the Dead in Archaic Athens: Animals, Men and Heroes, in: A. Verbanck-Pirard and D. Viviers, Culture et Cit, Bruxelles, 1995, 45-74. R. Rehm, Marriage to Death, Princeton, 1998; For the distinct burial treatment of an aoros as early as the Geometric period see M. A. Liston and J. K. Papadopoulos, The Rich Athenian Lady was Pregnant, Hesperia 73 (2004), 7-38.
34

30

For the excavations of the tumuli at Vari see H. Riemann, Archologische Funde vom Sommer 1936 bis Sommer 1937, AA (1937), esp. 119, fig. 10 and 124, mentioning black and red-figured loutrophoroi; O. Walter, Archologische Funde in Griechenland von Frhjahr
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6. Athens, National Archaeological Museum 991, loutrophoros, Sophilos the early local Anagyrous Painter (first quarter of the 6th century B.C.) with traces of secondary burning on its rim, shoulder and foot is reported as found in the offering trench that was created at the perimeter of an earth mound36. A better documented case of a loutrophoros excavated in a funerary complex with a tumulus, central cremation and offering trench is the early 6th century B.C. loutrophoros-amphora by Sophilos (580-570 B.C.) (fig. 6). This vase has been approached largely with stylistic considerations in mind, while the fact that it is a wedding vase-shape deposited together with fine ceramics for food and drink has received no discussion at all and has passed unnoticed so far. The tumulus, admirably excavated and published by Stais in 1890 was located at Vourva, a site east of modern Spata, but almost impossible to locate nowadays37. The loutrophoros was found with
1939 bis Frhjahr 1940, AA (1940), 175 ff, esp. 177178, fig. 34 (state-plan of the cemetery); Alexandridou 2008; Alexandridou 2009. ABV 20, 1; Ahens, Nat. Mus. no. 19170; according to the museum records it was found in the offering trench no. 13, which is associated with grave E, dug in 1936.
36

a kotyle-krater by the Painter of Berlin A 34 or his workshop (ca. 630 B.C.) which was the earliest find (an heirloom?)38, a skyphos by a local vase-painter (580-570 B.C.)39, as well as a chalice and a lekanis by Sophilos40. All the vases were deliberately crushed in small pieces and packed onto the floor of a long offering trench at the exterior of the tumulus41. Stais called this peculiar trench stenon, a narrow channel, and noted that the grave robbers of the region were particularly skillful at locating these shallow mudbrick structures rich in shattered pottery and usually richer than the graves themselves. The fragments of the loutrophoros were found in a burnt layer of charcoal and ashes; traces of secondary burning are particularly visible at random areas on the vases body. It is impossible to tell whether it was manufactured with open bottom for funerary use, since neither its foot nor underside have been preserved. Its decoration consists of zones of animals, which is a common theme of nuptial loutrophoroi as well, as can be seen in those unearthed in the Nymphe Shrine42. The offering trench containing the loutrophoros was an external repository of offerings that was not covered by the earth mound right after the funeral, but remained uncovered for a while, possibly for subsequent offerings to the dead in annual commemorative rituals. Stais associated the trenches with the offering rituals that followed burial on the third or the ninth day as attested in the literary sources43. Since evidence such as bones of animals were not found in this Opferrinne, the

M. Petropoulakou and E. Pentazos, , Athens, 1973 (series A.G.C. no. 21) 156, site no. 19, fig. 21.
38 39 40 41

ABV 1, bottom. CVA Athens 4, pl. 6. ABV 39, 11 and 41, 28 respectively.

As a matter of fact the Vourva tumulus was equipped with two offering trenches, a small one at the side of a grave situated in the middle of the tumulus, and a larger one, of interest to us here, on its periphery and apparently built for the entire complex, not just for one grave. In the interior Opferrinne Stais excavated a lekanis and a blackglazed oinochoe amidst ashes and fowl bones (see Stais 1890, esp. 320-321; 325). See further Alexandridou, op. cit. above, n. 35. C. Papadopoulou-Kanellopoulou, . , Athens, 1997, passim.
42 43

Stais 1890, 318-329. For the vase see ABV 38, 1; Add2 10. For the location of the tumulus at Vourva, see
37

., . 612 and scholiast; VIII, 39, 73. Followed by S. Papaspyrydi-Karouzou, , Athens, 1963, 46-49.

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possibility of a funerary meal should probably be excluded and the trench should rather be interpreted as a ritual deposit, a relic of a very particular funerary practice, as will be seen below44. The fine ceramics in this trench, all fashioned by leading artists of the period and one possibly an heirloom, may be best interpreted as symbolic of the status of the deceased as a person of high ranking who never partook of the symposium nor of the wedding rites. After Stais discoveries, several other offering trenches were identified and unearthed elsewhere, such as in the Athenian cemetery of the Kerameikos, one of the best documented Athenian cemeteries due to its more systematic excavations. Opferrinnen have the form of a long trench with three ridges dividing the trench into two long channels; it is made with mud bricks and is lined with clay. It came to be characteristic of the 7th century B.C. burials and gradually spread to burial grounds in the Attic countryside, with a peak in its popularity ca. 600 B.C., and a relative decline around the mid 6th century B.C.45. Evidence regarding loutrophoroi in the 7th century B.C. Kerameikos Opferrinnen is lacking. The earliest loutrophoros with mourners in the Kerameikos is a fragment of a neck dated in the second half of the 7th century B.C., but it is a random find and it is unknown when loutrophoroi became integral part of the Opferrinne ritual. The first documented case dates in the 6th century B.C. and is an elaborate loutrophoros by the KX Painter (585-580 B.C.) retrieved from a 5.20 m long offering trench situated south of the Sacred Way, in the vicinity of archaic tombs. It is decorated with friezes of animals and mourners, while terracotta mourning figurines are attached on its rim. It was found with several other black-figured vases, among which two hydriai, two skyphoi, three olpai and two dishes, but the grave to which it originally belonged

had been destroyed by later burials46. Several other archaic loutrophoroi were found in the Kerameikos in a fragmentary state, but they are unfortunately mostly random finds, without secure archaeological context attached to them. The custom of ritually killing the pots by crushing, burning and sweeping them afterwards into an Opferrinne outside the grave continued unchanged in its basics with the so-called Opferstellen, pits replacing the long mudbrick channels in the Classical period47. From the inception of the custom, at the point when the first documented offering trenches appear in the Late Geometric Kerameikos, the ritual was an elaborate one. Cavities with charcoal found at regular intervals in one Opferrinne, led to a reconstruction of a table-like, wooden frame placed over the length of the trench to support the offerings, which, under the effect of fire collapsed into the pit; this was then filled up and sealed with a layer of plaster48. In her study of the Opferrinne, S. HoubyNielsen noted that the dramatic burning of fine ceramics and the composition of vase-types in each Opferrinne were not actual relics of a funerary meal, but rather a reference to a banquet service, which meant to recall the cardinal value of male social living in the polis, representing the deceased as a partaker in the symposion. Against this background of civic ideology in a cemetery context, the vases were not gifts to the dead but rather a material expression of a quality of the dead49. Kistler, in a recent monograph on the Opferrinne ceremony in the last third of the 8th and in the 7th century B.C.

K. Vierneisel, Die Ausgrabungen im Kerameikos 1963, ADelt 19 (1964) B1, 41, pl. 37; U. Knigge, Der Kerameikos von Athen, Athens, 1988, 140, fig. 135 and 146, fig. 140.
46

Although the recovery of animal bones is reported from offering trenches at other tumuli (V. Stais, , AM 18 [1893], 46-63, esp. 53-54) such evidence may point to sacrifices of fowls to the dead rather than a funerary meal: see Houby-Nielsen 1996, 44-47.
44

For Opferrinnen and their associated tumuli see J. Whitley, The Monuments That Stood before Marathon: Tomb Cult and Hero Cult in Archaic Attica, AJA 98 (1994), 213-230 who argued that there is a heroic dimension in these burials with offering trenches and tumuli and interpreted the funerary votives in the trenches as cult offerings to the dead rather than senso strictu grave goods.
45

Several fragments of a red-figured loutrophoros by the Kleophrades Painter the reserved areas of which are brownish, as if burnt, were found at the so-called OstrakaSchicht, situated by a 5th century B.C. fountain at the Kerameikos. The uniform dark shade on the reserved areas was interpreted as the result of firing procedures, but I wonder whether it may be an indication of secondary burning. See U. Knigge, Neue Scherben von Gefssen des Kleophrades-Malers, AM 85 (1970), 15-21, who theorized that the vase may have crowned the cenotaph of a warrior fallen at the battle of Plataea.
47

R. Hampe, Ein frhattischer Grabfund, Mainz, 1960, 71-75; Houby-Nielsen 1996.

48 49

Houby-Nielsen 1996, 49-54.

298

V. S a b e t a i M a r k e r v a s e o r b u r n t o f f e r i n g ?

Kerameikos also posits that its meaning was embedded in the vessels themselves rather than in anything they may have contained50. The occasional inclusion of loutrophoroi in the trenches from the 6th century B.C. onwards indicates that these vases were considered essential symbols of an unattained ideal status, that of becoming a husband or a wife and, founders of a new oikos. In the polis system, marriage as a civic virtue and prescriptive social ideal is pivotal in shaping personal and collective identities and its deprivation in the case of an untimely death required special emphasis in order to underline the tragic lack of its fulfilment. At the end of the 6th century B.C. one more documented funerary deposit for a burnt loutrophoros is known from an earth mound of rural Attica. It is a black-figured loutrophoros from the so-called tumulus of the Plataeans at Marathon, also known as the Vrana tumulus51. This structure is peculiar in that instead of a plain earth mound, the burials were covered by rounded river pebbles, that upon removal revealed a well packed layer of earth, 20-30 cm thick and severely burnt, lying just above the graves of nine inhumations and two cremations of young adult males, as well as an older man (30-40 years old) and a child. In a vivid description of this excavation, Marinatos noted that an unperforated black-figured loutrophoros depicting the nuptial chariot was found smashed on the burnt layer which was full with charcoal and animal bones and which he interpreted as a big sacrificial pyre in honour of the dead (fig. 7)52. In the pyre were smashed twenty-five

7. Marathon Museum K 160, loutrophoros (photo from H. RuppRecht Goette and T. M. WebeR, Marathon, Mainz a.R., 2004, 85, fig. 104, as cited at footnote n. 52)

E. Kistler, Die Opferrinne-Zeremonie, Stuttgart, 1998. He argued that in the early period, the vessels were clay versions of oriental metal ones and their display at burial, stemming from the oriental banquet type known in Ugaritic as the marzeah, alluded to the participation of the deceased in the oriental style banquets of the elite.
50

Another deposit is known from Eretria, a town with similar burial patterns to Attica. Although here the picture is less clear, a loutrophoros fragment also appears associated with pyres. In a layer of black, burnt earth, 40 cm in thickness and covering an area of 6-7 sq. meters, sherds of a loutrophoros depicting mourners were found among a wealth of more than 30.000 other fragments. This deposit was interpreted as a votive pit containing debris from a purification of Eretrias cemetery around 480 B.C. See A. Andreiomenou, AAA 7 (1974), 230, fig. 2 (below).
51

black-figured vases in total, mostly mass produced lekythoi and secondarily dishes, stemmed dishes and a pyxis. This is a rare example of a black-figured loutrophoros that was not manufactured for funerary use, since it bears a nuptial theme and is unpierced, which places it in the same category as loutrophoroi from shrines of wedding divinities. Although it is generally believed that loutrophoroi with nuptial imagery replace the funerary ones in graves around the mid 5th century B.C., this example shows, in fact, that this was a much earlier development53. The
20-27; S. Koumanoudis, , AAA 11 (1978), 232-242; J. McCamp, Eugene Vanderpool, in ' , , 1992, esp. 49-51. For the loutrophoros see CVA Marathon 1, pl. 5 and for a colour photo see H. Rupprecht Goette and T. M. Weber, Marathon, Mainz a.R., 2004, 85, fig. 104. For nuptial loutrophoroi either antedating or being contemporary with the funerary ones see related discussion in Sabetai 1993, 129-146; 232-233.
53

For the so-called tumulus of the Plataeans see S. Marinatos, , Prakt. 1970,
52

299

V. S h a p e s i n C o n t e x t s

9. Athens, National Archaeological Museum 450, loutrophoros, Sappho Painter

8. Athens, National Archaeological Museum 1153, loutrophoros

10. Athens, National Archaeological Museum 1452, loutrophoros, Painter of Naples 132

appearance of wedding themes in funerary contexts is best explained in view of the ancient belief that the premature death of an unmarried person could be conceived of in terms of wedding imagery. This is the case also in modern times, when unmarried individuals are buried in the costume of a bride or a groom, or wedding symbols are incorporated in the funerary ceremony to highlight the untimely demise of a young person. In light of the evidence from the archaeological record, it seems reasonable to associate several other black-figured loutrophoroi showing traces of secondary burning with the practice of ritual killing54

and subsequent burning of the vases in an Opferrinne or an Opferstelle, as, for example, the long known examples in Athens already discussed (fig. 8)55. The

Mycenaean Telestas at Mochlos in Aegaeum 20, LigeAustin, 1999, 787-791. See CVA Athnes 1, pl. 8-9. The loutrophoros no. 450 (pl. 8, 1-2 and 9, 3), by the Sappho Painter (from the cemetery at Pikrodaphni, close to Old Phaleron) was bought from I. S. Palaeologos and entered the museum in 1863. No. 12947 is reported to be from Attica and was offered to the museum by A. Rhoussopoulos (1823-1889), a professor at the University of Athens. For this archaeologist, who was also an art dealer, see G. Kavvadias, 5 .. Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum, 2 (2001), 34; and recently with further bibliography, Y. Galanakis, Doing Business : two unpublished letters from Athanassios Rhousopoulos to Arthur Evans in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, in: D. C. Kurtz et al. (ed.), Essays in Classical Archaeology for Eleni Hatzivassiliou (1977-2007), Oxford 2008, 29755

54

For the symbolic killing of objects as a ritual of separation that is widely attested in various cultural traditions in Europe and elsewhere through prehistory and beyond see N. G. Politis, , 17 (1894), 8187; W. Cavanagh and C. Mee, A Private Place: Death in Prehistoric Greece, Jonsered, 1998, 112-113; J. S. Soles, The Ritual Killing of Pottery and the Discovery of a 300

V. S a b e t a i M a r k e r v a s e o r b u r n t o f f e r i n g ?

exceptional loutrophoros by the Sappho Painter deserves special mention for, although it is burnt, it depicts a scene of interment, combined with lamentation before a loutrophoros atop a tumulus (fig. 9)56. Black-figured loutrophoroi were also thrown into primary cremations as indicated by the neck of a loutrophoros attributable to the workshop of Lydos (550-540 B.C.) that was recently reported as found on the upper levels of a disturbed pyre in the deme of Acharnai57. The situation does not change much in the 5th century B.C., although archaeological contexts and secure provenances are fewer. In the first half of the 5th century B.C. red-figured loutrophoroi become elaborate and monumental, as would be particularly appropriate for marker vases. However, traces of secondary burning on the magnificent examples by the Kleophrades Painter58, the Painter of Naples 132 (fig. 10)59, the Syracuse Painter60, the Painter of Bologna 228 from Phaleron (fig. 5a-b)61, the Syriskos Painter (fig. 1-2)62, the Sabouroff Painter63, and an unattributed loutrophoros in the Diniacopoulos collection from Lamptrai64 attest to their having been ritually killed and burnt in Opferrinnen and Opferstellen. The prothesis theme which decorates those vases dated in the first decades of the 5th century B.C. and alludes to ostentatious funerals gradually gives way to the stately union of the couple in the middle and the second part of the century. This is in accordance with the general preference on many shapes for nuptial iconography in the years
310. For the loutrophoros no. 1153 see above, n. 24 (unprovenanced). CVA Athnes 1, pl. 8, 1-2; 9, 3. For the Sappho Painter see recently C. Jubier-Galinier, La production du peintre de Sappho dans latelier des peintres de Sappho et de Diosphos : parcours dun artisan figures noires parmi les ateliers athniens de la fin de larchaisme, unpublished Diss., Universit de Monpellier III, 1996.
56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64

of the democracy, when a shift towards the visual sphere of the oikos and idealized aspects of domestic life predominates. However, the production of loutrophoroi with explicitly funerary themes never totally ceases, as is generally believed. Elaborate 5th and 4th century B.C. examples from Myrrhinous, Lamptrai, and Vari still depict scenes of prothesis and lament, which may indicate the persistence in old habits on the Mesogheia plain65. When combined with hydriai, loutrophoroi may have been popular gifts burnt at or in front of womens graves to honour them as aorai, namely as unmarried maidens or wives who died before or at the time of their first pregnancy. The importance of citizen wives, possibly in association with Pericles citizenship law in 451 B.C.66 is reflected in two extremely rich Opferrinnen of the third and the last quarter of the 5th century B.C. in the Kerameikos; these contained not loutrophoroi, but paired nuptial lebetes, together with vessels for food, liquids, cosmetics and perfumed oil, they were, in short, full bridal vase sets. In her discussion of them, Houby Nielsen argued that, by analogy to funerary epigrams praising the bride, the industrious wife and the citizen-warrior, the burial record and the funerary iconography also expresses a wish to display the deceaseds fulfilment of a certain valued lifestyle67. In addition to red-figured loutrophoroi found in the necropoleis of Attic demes, in Athens itself some examples are known from locations close to the city walls. A fragmentary loutrophoros that should probably be attributed to the Marlay Painter68 (ca.

For loutrophoroi from Myrrhinous and Lamptrai see nn. 29 and 64 above; for Vari see Para 457, 52 bis.
65

See n. 27 above. See n. 19 above. See n. 15 above. See n. 17 above. See n. 23 above. See n. 8 above. See n. 17 above.

For this law as a symbolic statement that reinforced the ideals of Athenian womanhood and promoted the domestic sphere as the cradle of citizen status see most recently, R. Osborne, Law, the democratic citizen and the representation of women in classical Athens, in: R. Osborne (ed.), Ancient Greek and Roman Society, Cambridge, 2004, 38-60. However, this law is not the only responsible for the emphasis on nuptial imagery. The aoros should be seen as a cultural category that transcends the classical period, and indeed spans the whole time period from the 7th century B.C. to the end of antiquity; one should further remember that loutrophoroi engraved on stone monuments appear to Roman times.
66 67 68

Houby-Nielsen 1996, 49-51.

See Oakley 2004, 38-40; Fossey and Francis 2004, 113, no. 30. 301

A. Liangouras, ADelt 29, (1973-74), B1, 52, pl. 56 z. Zoumboulakis also had in his possession a loutrophoros

V. S h a p e s i n C o n t e x t s

11. Athens, National Archaeological Museum 16279, loutrophoros, Washing Painter

430 B.C.) was uncovered together with sherds of other shapes in a rescue excavation close to Syntagma square, by the Diochares Gate, while a contemporary loutrophoros-hydria was retrieved from the surface of a primary cremation at the Acharnian Gates together with two cups69. Two loutrophoroiamphorae associated with the Washing Painter (430420 B.C.) were found at the excavation of the Royal Stables close to Syntagma square (fig. 11-12). They were retrieved from a pyre, together with a hydria and a chous70. This finding is our only documented instance where more than one loutrophoroi are found together and it should be further stressed that they are almost never depicted in twos71. Their

12. Athens, National Archaeological Museum 16280, loutrophoros, manner of the Washing Painter

by the Marlay Painter, the best example by him known so far: Sabetai 2006, pl. 27.
69

See O. Alexandri, ADelt 18 (1963), B1, 34, pl. 32 and 34d. E. Stasinopoulou kindly communicated the inv. nos. of these vases: 16258 (hydria, unpublished); 16258 (chous; see G. M. Hedreen, Silens in Attic Black-Figure VasePainting, Ann Arbor, 1992, pl. 7).
70

iconography is complementary depicting bridal preparations and the union of the couple, yet the former subject, usually reserved for loutrophoroihydriai, appears here on a loutrophoros-amphora. There is no doubt that this was one of the richest burials of this cluster of graves as is also noted by the excavator. The preliminary reports mention that the nucleus consisted of cremations and inhumations in connection to a peribolos enclosure. Peribolos tombs, groups of graves enclosed by dressed stone walls, appear in the last quarter of the 5th century B.C. on the private grounds of a family or genos and were often richly decorated with sculpted monuments and on occasion with large clay vessels; erecting a peribolos and fitting it out with such monuments

ARV2 1127, 14; (Athens, Nat. Mus. 16279; uncertain as to whether its floor was pierced); ARV2 1133, 1 (Athens, Nat. Mus. 16280; foot unperforated). Both bear traces of secondary burning on random areas. For the excavation see the brief reports by N. Kyparissis, , ADelt 9 (1924-1925) Appendix, 6872, esp. 70-72; S. Karouzou, Un cimetire de lpoque classique, BCH 71-72 (1947-1948), 385-391, esp. 389390 where it is in fact stated that three loutrophoroi were
71

retrieved from the same pyre (Les riches dbris dun bcher ont fourni les plus beaux vases figures rouges de la fouille: trois loutrophores, une hydrie, un chous dun art admirable). E. Stasinopoulou who kindly looked into this matter in the records of the National Museum at Athens has been unable to identify the third loutrophoros stemming from this cremation. For pairs of loutrophoroi see further Sabetai 2004, 25 discussing contemporary examples by the Naples and the Marlay Painter (the loutrophoros featuring on p. 21, fig. 7 should be amended as by the latter; see also Sabetai 2006, pl. 27). 302

V. S a b e t a i M a r k e r v a s e o r b u r n t o f f e r i n g ?

must have been a costly undertaking, as making a tumulus in earlier times also was72. If not an accident of preservation, it seems that loutrophoroi were much less common in less elaborate tombs. In the cluster of graves in Syntagma square dating to the last quarter of the 5th century B.C. and consisting of rather plain burials, loutrophoroi are almost absent, as less than a handful of tiny sherds of this vase-shape have been reported. Almost no sherds of loutrophoroi are reported from the Kerameikos cemetery in the second half of the 5th century B.C. either73. Only one relatively large fragment is reported from the recent Metro excavations of dense nuclei of graves in the area of the Kerameikos74. A whiteground lekythos depicting a loutrophoros at the tomb, or a chous may have been cheaper substitutes for young but less distinguished dead. The end of the 5th century B.C. usually sees smaller examples, apart from some exceptional, monumental pieces by the Talos Painter; one, found dispersed and unassociated with any grave, outside the city walls, in the area of the present day German Institute displays a worn surface, but no evident traces of burning75, while another is secondarily burnt76. Since all the monumental loutrophoroi in major museums were found in the early 20th century, with the only provenanced ones associated with Attic demes of the countryside, extensively looted at precisely that time, I think that most of the unprovenanced loutrophoroi can be assumed as deriving, together with other nuptial vases, from Opferrinnen, Opferstellen and cremations associated with tumuli and peribolos enclosures that occur around Athens, but abound and are best documented in south-eastern Attica and Marathon. Since the genealogy of such tumuli can be traced back to the 7th and early 6th century B.C. aristocratic funerary complexes, it could be argued that the spectacular burning of loutrophoroi, among other monumental

grave goods, bore connotations of aristocratic status in addition to connoting the special dead that the aoros was77. To be noted, the monumental funerary loutrophoroi spectacularly burnt in Opferrinnen of the first decades of the 5th century B.C. fall in the period when legislation curbing extravagant and lavish funerals is generally thought to have been implemented in Attica. In our understanding of the customs and the expenditure involved in making them we need to consider that the huge loutrophoroi, as well as those bearing unique iconography, required several days for their manufacture and must have been special commissions. Whether these were burnt in the ritual of the offering trench on the day of the burial, or on the 3rd or 9th day after it is impossible to tell, as we do not know whether these vases were shipped from Athens to the coastal demes, or were manufactured during the three-day time period of the deads lying in state by potters and painters who would have been summoned from Athens, or by local craftsmen who had their workshops at the Mesogheia; it is also possible that local shops may have had a few loutrophoroi on hand78. The variability in the use of the loutrophoros in funerary customs does not end here, however, as there are examples, although very few, that were almost certainly placed in cist graves or sarcophagi. This can be surmised from their good state of preservation, with only minor breakage or none at all. In this category can be placed an unperforated red-figured loutrophoros by the Pan Painter preserved intact with only a minor break in one handle79 and a white-ground loutrophoros in the
It is not always easy to assess whether a rich burial reflects aristocratic status, or just designates the special dead: see the discussion about the geometric burial of the rich Athenian lady, which was rich because the woman lost her life at pregnancy: Liston and Papadopoulos, op. cit. n. 34, above.
77

R. Garland, A First Catalogue of Attic Peribolos Tombs, BSA 77 (1982), 125-176.

72

For the rarity of loutrophoroi from Syntagma and Kerameikos see Fabricius, op. cit. above, n. 2.
73

Houby-Nielsen 1996, 44, n. 15 argued for a contemporaneity of the closing of the grave and trench, due to the impossibility of the dead laying exposed in the grave for several days, but maybe such burial customs would have taken place in front of a closed grave as well.
78

L. Parlama, N. H. Stampolides, (ed), , Athens, 2000, 369-370.

74

G. Bakalakis, Die Lutrophoros Athen (ex Schliemann)Berlin 3209, AntK 14 (1971), 74-83.
75 76

See above, n. 18. 303

See ARV2 554, 79; for a colour photo see Reeder 1995, 162-163, no. 22. This intact loutrophoros was bought in 1936 from Th. Zoumboulakis together with two others; all three are now in Houston, Texas. The other two loutrophoroi are: no. 37.12 by the Washing Painter (ARV2 1127, 13; H. Hoffmann, Ten Centuries that Shaped the West, Houston, 1970, 406, no. 183, pl. 183a-183b) and
79

V. S h a p e s i n C o n t e x t s

13. Athens, National Archaeological Museum 19355, white-ground lekythos, Phiale Painter

Louvre80. A black-figured loutrophoros in New York may also belong here, for, although broken, it was exceptionally well preserved with almost no pieces missing. In publishing it and probably under the influence of the literary sources, G. Richter noted that it would have been placed over a low mound, but it is hard to imagine how a loutrophoros in such a good state of preservation could have been a marker vase81. This could have also been the case of the Benaki loutrophoros depicting a sphinx and a siren (fig. 4), as well as other late 5th century B.C. examples of small loutrophoroi, evidently too small to have served as markers82.

At this point we may return to our original question. Where does all this leave the question of the use of the loutrophoros in burials? Can we exclude its use as a marker? The answer may be more complex and nuanced than readily apparent. The 4th century B.C. testimonium mentioning a loutrophoros standing on the grave of a person who died unmarried could well refer to a marble loutrophoros, the use of which as crowning low tumuli and peribolos enclosures is well documented from the last quarter of the 5th century B.C. onwards. Yet, there are three depictions of a loutrophoros atop a tumulus, one on the already discussed burnt loutrophoros by the Sappho Painter from Phaleron, the other two on white-ground lekythoi of the second half of the 5th century B.C. that obviously refer to clay vases, esp. a lekythos in Ticino which seems to transcribe a slightly earlier clay loutrophoros, as can be judged from its handles83. One could argue, however, that the combination of a loutrophoros and a tumulus may have been an artistic creation conveying heroizing or aristocratic connotations and not an accurate reflection of a real tomb monument, since quite often, the visual images on the white lekythoi are constructions of an ideal rather than representations of a reality. There exist other vase-paintings unrealistically depicting marker vases, such as, e.g., a white lekythos depicting a plemochoe atop a tumulus, or a lekythos atop a stele and white lekythoi often show unrealistic tomb monuments otherwise unattested in the archaeological record84. It seems that the scene by the Phiale Painter depicting a loutrophoros with greenery atop a tumulus85 (fig. 13) is a motif poetically recalling the missed wedding, as it is borrowed from the repertory of nuptial imagery,

no. 37.11, unattributed (Msch-Klingele 2006, fig. 3ac). I have not examined these vases myself and rely here to the comments provided by the conservator at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Mrs J. Gillies. According to her, no. 37.12 is potted open-bottomed and may have been slightly burnt while intact ; no. 37.11 features a rhomboid perforation, made perhaps after firing and according to her, there is no obvious burning, but the body is fairly grey. L. G.-Kahil, Loutrophore fond blanc au muse du Louvre, AntK, Beih. 4 (1967), 146-151.
80

scnes de marriage, BmusRArtHist (1931), 90-94; Sutton 1981, 256, no. W.75 (perhaps by the Marlay Painter). For small, yet shattered examples, see further one attributed to near the Eretria Painter, but which should be placed in the circle of the Washing Painter; ARV2 1256, 11; A. Lezzi-Hafter, Der Eretria Maler, Mainz a. R., 1988, 355. This small loutrophoros can be compared with another fragmentary piece in Brussels, also associated with this painters latest period of activity: see CVA Bruxelles 2, III Id, pl. 5a-b. See J. H. Oakley, The Bosanquet Painter, in: APP 241-248, esp. 242-243.
83

Mommsen 1997, 70, no. 65; G. M. A. Richter, A newly acquired loutrophoros, BMetMus 23, (1928), 5457. I know this vase only from black and white photos.
81

For small, late loutrophoroi see, e.g., CVA Bruxelles 3, III Id, pl. 17, 1a-d; V. Verhoogen, Vases attiques
82

See Bergemann 1996, pl. 28, 1-2 and Sabetai 2004, 28, fig. 12 a.
84 85

ARV2 1022, 139 bis; Para 441; Add2 316.

304

V. S a b e t a i M a r k e r v a s e o r b u r n t o f f e r i n g ?

whereby wedding vases filled with sprigs are brought to the bride, or are just part of the background. However, the scene by the Sappho Painter (fig. 9) cannot be easily discredited, for this artist often favours anecdotal details drawing from everyday life, as, e.g., the deposition of the dead in the coffin and its subsequent lowering to the grave86. Further, the remarkable evidence from the cremation at the Royal Stables indicates that on occasion more than one clay loutrophoroi could have been used at a funeral, which leads to the thought that if these vases could have been burnt offerings in multiple numbers, then, some could have also been saved to serve as grave markers after the completion of the ritual. It may then be just an accident of preservation that what loutrophoroi came down to us stem primarily from rich cremations and Opferrinnen, while almost none can be securely claimed as from the top of a tumulus or a peribolos enclosure. Thus, although the use of the clay loutrophoros as a marker cannot be rigidly excluded, we should keep in mind that this was only one option and that there were several others available.

Bibliography-Abbreviations
Alexandridou 2008 = A.-F. Alexandridou, Athens versus Attika: Local variations in funerary practices during the late seventh and early sixth century BC, in: D. C. Kurtz et al. (ed.), Essays in Classical Archaeology for Eleni Hatzivassiliou (1977-2007), Oxford 2008, 65-72. Alexandridou 2009 = A.-F. Alexandridou, Offering Trenches and Funerary Ceremonies in the Attic Countryside. The evidence from the North Necropolis of Vari, From Artemis to Diana, Acta Hyperborea 12 (2009), 467-491. Bergemann 1996 = J. Bergemann, Die sogenannte Lutrophoros: Grabmal fr unverheiratete Tote?, AM 111 (1996), 149-190. Boardman 1988 = J. Boardman, Sex Differentiation in Grave Vases, AnnArchStorAnt 10 (1988), 171-179. Callipolitis 1963 = V. Callipolitis, , ADelt 18 (1963), A, 115-132. Fossey and Francis 2004 = J. M. Fossey and Francis (ed), The Diniacopoulos Collection in Qubec, Montreal, 2004. Houby-Nielsen 1996 = S. Houby-Nielsen, The Archaeology of Ideology in the Kerameikos: New Interpretations of the Opferrinnen, in: R. Hgg (ed.), The Role of Religion in the Early Greek Polis, Stockholm, 1996, 41-54. Kokula 1984 = G. Kokula, Marmorloutrophoren (AM Beih. 10, Berlin 1984). Maass 2007 = M. Maass, Maler und Dichter, Mythos, Fest und Alltag: griechische Vasenbilder aus der Sammlung des Badischen Landesmuseums Karlsruhe, Karlsruhe, 2007. Msch 1988 = R. M. Msch, Le mariage et la mort sur les loutrophores, AnnArchStorAnt 10 (1988), 117-139. M Msch-Klingele 1999 = R. M. Msch-Klingele, Loutra und Loutrophoros im Totenkult. Die literarischen Zeugnisse, in: R. F. Docter-E. M. Moormann (ed), Proceedings of the XVth International Congress of Classical Archaeology, Amsterdam, July 12-17, 1998, Amsterdam, 1999, 273-275. Msch-Klingele 2006 = R. M. Msch-Klingele, Die loutrophoros im Hochzeits- und Begrbnisritual des 5. Jahrhunderts v. Chr. in Athen, Bern, 2006.

14. Athens, National Archaeological Museum 17336, loutrophoros, Kleophon Painter

See n. 56 above. To be noted, the Opferrinne ritual never became an artistic motif, even in the repertoire of the most innovative painters such as this one.
86

Mommsen 1997 = H. Mommsen, Exekias I, Mainz, 1997.

305

V. S h a p e s i n C o n t e x t s Oakley 2004 = J. H. Oakley, Classical Athenian Ritual Vases, in: Fossey and Francis 2004, 34-52. Reeder 1995 = E. D. Reeder, Pandora, Princeton, 1995. Sabetai 1993 = V. Sabetai, The Washing Painter, Diss. University of Cincinnati, 1993. Sabetai 2004 = V. Sabetai, Red-figured vases at the Benaki Museum: reassembling fragmenta disjecta, 4, (2004), 15-25. Sabetai 2006 = V. Sabetai, CVA Benaki Museum 1, Greece 9, Athens, 2006. Stais 1890 = B. Stais, , AM 15 (1890), 318-329. Sutton 1981 = R. F. Sutton, The Interaction Between Men and Women Portrayed on Attic Red-Figure Pottery, Diss. University of N. Carolina, Chapel Hill, 1981. All photos at the Nat. Mus. Athens were done by the author after permission of the Museum. Weiss 1988 = C. Weiss, Ein bislang unbekanntes Detail auf dem Hochzeitsbild der Karlsruher Lutrophoros 69/78, in: J. Christiansen, T. Melander (ed), Proceedings of the 3rd Symposium on Ancient Greek and Related Pottery, Copenhagen, August 31 to September 4, 1987, Copenhagen 1988, 652-664. Wolters 1891 = P. Wolters, Rotfigurige Lutrophoros, AM 16 (1891), 371-405.

306

Abbreviations

ABL = E. Haspels, Attic Black-Figured Lekythoi, Paris, 1936 ABV = J.D. Beazley, Attic Black-Figure Vase-Painters, Oxford, 1956 Add 2 = T.H. Carpenter et al., Beazley Addenda 2 , Oxford, 1989 Agora 12 = B.A. Sparkes et L. Talcott, Black and Plain Pottery of the 4 th, 5 th, and 6 th, Centuries B.C., Princeton, 1997 [The Athenian Agora 12] Agora 21 = M. Lang, Graffiti and Dipinti, Princeton, 1976 [The Athenian Agora 21]. Agora 23 = M.B. Moore, Mary S. Pease Philippides, Attic Black-Figured Pottery, Princeton, 1986 [The Athenian Agora 23] Agora 29 = S.Rottroff, Hellenistic Pottery : Athenian and Imported Wheelmade Table Ware and Related Material, Princeton 1997 [The Athenian Agora 29] Agora 30 = M.B. Moore, Attic Red-Figured and White-Ground Pottery, Princeton, 1997 [The Athenian Agora 30] Amasis Papers = Papers on the Amasis Painter and his World, The J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu, 1987 Amasis Painter = D. von Bothmer, The Amasis Painter and his World, Malibu and New York, 1985 APP = J. H. Oakley, W. D. E. Coulson, O. Palagia (ed.), Athenian Potters and Painters, The Conference Proceedings, Oxford, 1997 [Oxbow Monograph 67] ARV 2 = J.D. Beazley, Attic Red-figure Vase-painters 2 , Oxford, 1963. AWL = D. C. Kurtz, Athenian White Lekythoi, Patterns and Painters, Oxford, 1975 Barch = Beazley Archive Database, online resource : http: /www.beazley.ox.ac.uk/BeazleyAdmin/Script2/Pottery.htm FAS = H. Bloesch, Formen attischer Schalen, Bern, 1940 Gericke 1970 = H. Gericke, Gefdarstellungen auf griechischen Vasen, Berlin, 1970 Graef, Langlotz = B. Graef, E. Langlotz, Die antiken Vasen von der Akropolis zu Athen I-IV, Berlin, 1914-1933 Kreuzer 1998 = B. Kreuzer, Die attisch schwarzfigurige Keramik aus dem Heraion von Samos, Bonn, 1998 [Samos 22] Kunst der Schale = K. Vierneisel, B. Kaeser (ed.), Kunst der Schale Kultur des Trinkens. Ausstellungskatalog Antikensammlungen Mnchen, Mnchen, 1990 Le vase grec = P. Rouillard, A. Verbanck (ed.), Le vase grec et ses destins, Muse royal de Mariemont, 23-28 septembre 2003, Munich, 2003 Para = J. D. Beazley, Paralipomena, Additions to Attic Black-Figure Vase-Painters and to Attic Red-Figure Vase-Painters 2 , Oxford, 1971 Payne NC = H. Payne, Necrocorinthia : a Study of Corinthian Art in the Archaic Period, Oxford, 1931 Periplous = G. R. Tsetskhladze, A. J. N. W. Prag, A. M. Snodgrass (ed.), Periplous. Papers on Classical Art and Archaeology presented to Sir John Boardman, London, 2000 Tosto, Nikosthenes = V. Tosto, The Black-figure Pottery signed Nikosthenes epoiesen, Amsterdam, 1999 [Allard Pierson Series 11]

Contents

Foreword

Athena Tsingarida

7 9 11

Abbreviations Introduction
Francine Blond

I. Production: Workshops and Potters

The exaleiptron in Attica and Boeotia: Early black figure workshops reconsidered Bettina Kreuzer Die Botkin-Klasse Heide Mommsen Les ateliers de potiers : le tmoignage des doubleens amphorae Ccile Jubier-Galinier Attic red-figured Type D pyxides John H. Oakley

15 17
31 47 59

II. Containers, Capacities and Uses

Mae, Form und Funktion. Die attisch-schwarzfigurigen Halsamphoren Martin Bentz Some Practical Aspects of Attic Black-figured Olpai and Oinochoai Andrew J. Clark Kleine Trinkschalen fr Mellepheben? Elke Bhr Calculating vessel capacities : A new web-based solution Laurent Engels, Laurent Bavay & Athena Tsingarida

77
79 89 111 129

III. Shapes and Uses

Les pithoi reliefs de l'atelier d'Aphrati. Fonction et statut d'une production orientalisante Thomas Brisart Sacrificial and profane use of Greek hydriai Elisabeth Trinkl Suction dippers: many shapes, many names and a few tricks Eurydice Kefalidou Vases for heroes and gods : early red-figure parade cups and large-scaled phialai Athena Tsingarida An unpublished dimidiating animal-head cup in the Muses royaux dArt et dHistoire, Brussels Susanna Sarti

135
137 153 173 185 203

IV. Images and Shapes: Iconography andUses

Un Dionysos pour les morts Athnes la fin de l'archasme : propos des lcythes attiques figures noires trouvs Athnes en contexte funraire Marie-Christine Villanueva-Puig Black-figure albastra by the Diosphos and Emporion Painters : specific subjects for specific uses? Eleni Hatzivassiliou Vases grecs : vos marques Franois Lissarrague

213
215 225 237

V. Shapes in Contexts
A propos dune coupe de Sellada : les coupes de prestige archaques attiques reconsidres Quelques rflexions concernant leur usage Nassi Malagardis Marker vase or burnt offering? The clay loutrophoros in context Victoria Sabetai Parfumer les morts. Usages et contenu des balsamaires hellnistiques en contexte funraire Natacha Massar The daily grind of ancient Greece: mortars and mortaria between symbol and reality Alexandra Villing

251
253 291 307 319

VI. The Greek Vase and its Purchasers

Les amateurs des scnes rotiques de l'archasme rcent Juliette de La Genire Greek shapes among the Lydians: retentions, divergences and developments Stravos A. Paspalas Le vase grec entre statut et fonction : le cas de la pninsule Ibrique Pierre Rouillard

335
337 347 365 377 381

Conclusions

Franois Villard

About the Authors