Tomb Marker and Turning Post: Funerary Columns in the Archaic Period Author(s): Elizabeth P.

McGowan Source: American Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 99, No. 4 (Oct., 1995), pp. 615-632 Published by: Archaeological Institute of America Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/506185 Accessed: 20/01/2009 08:40
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Tomb Marker and Turning Post: Funerary Columns in the Archaic Period
ELIZABETH P. McGOWAN
Abstract Freestanding columns marked tombs throughout Greece in the Archaic period. The Homeric phrasing of hexametric funerary epigrams on some columns suggests that the columnar tomb marker was meant to evoke the Age of Heroes. The choice of the column as a funerary marker may have broader significance. Greek vases show isolated Doric, Ionic, and plain columns as turning posts or goals in horse-, chariot-, and footraces. Allusions to races in the epigrams on two funerary columns, one from Troezen, the other from the Argive Heraion, suggest that tomb columns were also meant to call to mind turning posts on stadia and hippodromes. The Heraion inscription indicates that great honor was associated with burial near the racecourse. Early literary evidence for the possible use of a tomb as turning post is found in Homer's account of the funeral games of Patroclus in the Iliad. Later authors also report heroes buried in or on stadia and hippodromes. The columnar tomb marker may reflect the desire of the family of the deceased to associate itself with the heroes of epic, and also with contemporary aristocrats who could afford the time and leisure to raise horses and compete in athletic games* INTRODUCTION

A freestanding Doric column was erected on Corfu as a marker on a tomb shortly after the construction of the Temple of Artemis (fig. 1).1 Only the capital remains, and an inscription on the abacus identifies the funerary function of the column. Removed from its context as an architectural component, where it serves with other columns to support the architrave of a sacred building, the isolated Doric column seems odd and, at first, devoid of meaning or purpose. In this paper I explore the use of freestanding columns as funerary markers, and suggest possible iconographical explanations of the column on a tomb. Nine funerary columns are preserved from the Archaic period.2 Although few in number, the monuments are distributed over a fairly wide geographical range. In addition to the find on Corfu, fragments of funerary capitals and columns have been discovered in Attica, the Argolid, East Greece, and Sicily. The dates of the columns span the period from

* Early versions of this paper were presented at the University of Minnesota in 1988 and at the Archaeological Institute of America's annual meeting in 1989 (AJA 94 [1990] 303, abstract). I thank EA. Cooper for encouraging my study of funerary columns, and for the chance to speak on tomb columns and turning posts at the University of Minnesota.J.R. McCredie,J.W. Day, and E.B. Harrison read the paper at various stages, and G. Hedreen read the latest version. I am grateful to all four, to the two anonymous AJA reviewers, and to the AJA editors for their time, ex-

Eighth to the Fifth Centuries B.C.2

(Oxford 1990).
Richardson N. Richardson, The Iliad: A Commentary, Volume VI: Books 21-24 (Cambridge 1993).

All translations from Greek are by the author unless 1For the capital of the monument of Xenvares (Corfu, Archaeological Museum 3), see IG IX, 1, 869 and G. Rodenwalt ed., Korkyra: Archaische Bauten und Bildwerke I: Der Artemistempel(Berlin 1940) 77, fig. 60 and pi. 19a. For the otherwise noted.

pertise, and valuable comments. This article is dedicated

to the memory of Charles M. Edwards: [Tro 68 Oav]6vTOq (Agora inv. I 2352; Epigrammata no. 28a). The following special abbreviations are used: CEG P.A. Hansen, CarminaEpigraphicaGraeca: Saeculorum VIII-V A.Chr.N.(Texteund Kommentare,vol. 12, Berlin 1983). J.W.Day, "Rituals in Stone: Early Greek Day
eXOUol (piXol [viv 7cv0]oq aaortov

date of the Temple of Artemis, about 580 B.C., see W.B.

Dinsmoor, The Architecture of Ancient Greece2 (New York 1975) 73; also E.B. Harrison, Agora XI: Archaic and Archaistic

(Princeton1965)12.B.S.Ridgwaysuggestsa slightly Sculpture later date for the sculpture of the temple, about 570 B.C.:
2 In addition to the capital of Xenvares (supra n. 1), a capital from MegaraHyblaia, now in Syracuse,Museo Archeologico Regionale "P.Orsi":P. Orsi, "MegaraHyblaea: storia, topografia, necropoli e anathemata,"MonAntI, 2 (1891) 786-87, pl. 4.2; two columns from Troezen:IG IV,

The Archaic Style in Greek Sculpture (Princeton 1977) 193.

Epigrammata

Grave Epigrams and Monuments," JHS 109 (1989) 16-28. P. Friedlander and H.B. Hoffleit, Epigrammata: Greek Inscriptions in Verse from the Beginnings to the Persian Wars

(Berkeley 1948).
Jeffery L.H. Jeffery, The Local Scripts of Archaic A Study of the Origin of the Greek Greece: Alphabet and Its Developmentfrom the

800,Jeffery 176-77, pl. 32.3, and IG IV, 801, G. Welter, Troizen und Kalaureia (Berlin 1941) 39-40, pl. 22 b-d; Argos E 210: L.W.Daly, "An Inscribed Doric Capital from the Argive Heraion," Hesperia 8 (1939) 165-69. These columns are discussed below. Additional columns include a fluted shaft from Attica: CEG no. 36, one fragment, said to be from

615
American Journal of Archaeology 99 (1995) 615-32

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ELIZABETH P. McGOWAN

[AJA 99

Fig. 1. Corfu, Archaeological Museum 3. Doric capital of the funerary monument of Xenvares. (Photo Deutsches Archaologisches Institut, Athens, Corfu 79) about 570 to 470 B.C., and each example reflects its local architectural style. The funerary columns, like slab-form grave stelae, are identified by inscribed epitaphs. The letters of the epigram are carved horizontally across the abacus of the capital or vertically along the shaft of the column. The inscriptions vary in complexity from monument to monument. For example, a Doric capital from the necropolis of Megara Hyblaia is inscribed simply Kak(X))ioto;, EiLti, "I am (the monument) of Kallisteus."3 Other columns, like the octagonal grave marker of Damotimus at Troezen, may bear up to four lines of hexameter verse in praise of the deceased.4 Why was the column considered an appropriate form of tomb marker in the Archaic period? In general terms, the vertical grave marker may have served a totemic function, as a surrogate for the dead person: though he no longer stood on the earth, the marker stood in his place. Kouroi, korai, and sculp-

Liopesi, is now in London, British Museum nos. 1823-25; the other, discovered at Kalyvia Kouvaras,is now in the apotheke of the Second Ephoria in Athens (?).For illustration: A.E. Raubitschek,"Zualtattischen Weihinschriften," OJh31 (1939) cols. 59-60, fig. 17. A funerary column of 16 facets from Corfu (Corfu, Archaeological Museum 6) that dates to about 470 B.C.was reused in the fourth century as a dedication to the Dioscuri. See IG IX, 1, 696;Jeffery 233 with n. 3, 234.16, and pl. 46.16.Twofunerary columns havebeen found in EastGreece. One, a fragmentaryfluted column from the necropolis at Assos, is now in the Istanat Assos(Cambul Museum: EH. Bacon ed., Investigations bridge, Mass. 1902) no. 31, 281-82; R. Merkelbach, Die von Assos(Inschriften Stidte aus KleinInschriften griechischer asien 4, Bonn 1976) no. 1. Also see the fifth-centuryIonic capital carved in one piece with lion, now in the Ankara Museum:W.Koenigs and H. Philipp, "DieLowensaulevon Ankara,"in Festschrift Anatolia)21 [19781 Akurgal(Anadolu 1980](1987)157-73. A sixth-centuryIonic capital on Paros (Paros Museum 733) was discovered and reused in the fourth century B.C.to mark the tomb or cenotaph of the poet Archilochus. See N.M. Kontoleon, "Archilochusund EntrHardt 10 (1964)41-44. FourArchaicbases, three Paros,"

from Attica and one from Thessaly, each inscribed with a funerary epigram, may have served as supports for columns.The basesare 1)Athens,Epigraphical Museum13290, see C. Karouzos,Aristodikos: zur Geschichte derspdtarchaischattischen Plastikund der Grabstatue (Stuttgart 1961) 68, no. II.C.4and 69, fig. 2; 2) Athens, KerameikosMuseum no. I Grabmalbasenaus der 332, see E Willemsen, "Archaische athener Stadtmauer," AM 78 (1963) 110-17 and Beil. 60; 3) Athens,EpigraphicalMuseum10647-48, see L.H.Jeffery, "TheInscribedGravestones of ArchaicAttica," BSA57 (1962) 120,no. 8; and 4) VolosMuseum605, see T.Arvanitopoullos,
"Ad6s&KasoodltKa Entyp6dtxaa" nIoXCov 2 (1934-1938)

no. 139A) 47-49, fig. 14.The funeraryepigram (Epigrammata suggests that the last example supported a sphinx on a column. 3 Syracuse, Museo Archeologico Regionale "P. Orsi," supra n. 2. See also SEG39.987.For the restoration of the text see L. Dubois, Inscriptions dialectales de Sicilie. grecques Contribution a letudedu vocabulaire greccolonial(CEFR119, 1989) 29-30, no. 23.Jeffery 270, 276.26 suggests a date in the beginning of the fifth century for the inscription. 4 Welter (supra n. 2) 39-40, pl. 22b-d, and see infra fig. 2. For the epigram see CEGno. 138.

1995]

TOMB MARKER AND TURNING POST

orTXoI yap OIKOV eioi 7aTi6eS apoEve'

617

ted stelae on tombs are the most obvious examples of this kind of substitution.5 That the column might also serve in this capacity is suggested by occurrences of a metaphor in Greek poetry of the sixth and fifth centuries B.C.At times poets refer to men as columns that support homes, or act as "pillars of the commnunity,'as in an epigram attributed to Archilochus: 'Apto(ropo6ovT' TENd6,ou 'YrpXoi6qMNydtrlTov Kiovotq, ) EydXrqyai', 6xTvepOev EX?tq. Earth, you hold beneath you Naxos' tall columns GCreat Megatimus and Aristophon.6 Pindar, when describing the feats of Achilles, uses the column metaphor to describe Hector's role as the main support of Troy: O; "EKTopa o(pats, Tpoiaq Kiova ala%XovCoTpaUpi [he] felled Hector, Troy'sunconquerable, immovable column.7 In both cases the term "column" is reserved for individuals of unusual strength, those who are indispensable to the structure of the community. Thus, in Aeschylus's Agamemnon (897-98), Clytemnestra calls
her returning husband iwlJri),fiqg oTYYT oTiov 7oSlipl,

o0voKouot 6' OS; advX9pvtPes; 3dXaco' [tai. It seemed to me that only one pillar of my father's house remained, and golden hair flowed from its capital, and it took a human voice; then I, observing my stranger-slaying duty, sprinkled it, like one condemned to death, with lustral water, weeping. Now I will pull together this dream of mine: Orestes is dead, whom I prepared for sacrifice, for sons are the pillars of the house, and they die on whom my sprinklings fall."' Euripides, like Aeschylus, uses cTiXooSinstead of The two words appear to be interchangeable KiCOV. because each refers to a vertical element with a capital that supports the superstructure of a building. The column in Iphigenia's dream, the last support standing in the fallen megaron, represents Orestes, the last son of the house of Atreus. Even the shape of the column is drawn into the comparison. The capital that suddenly sprouts hair becomes the head of the brother Electra believes dead. The literary tradition that associates columns with men may offer one explanation why the column was considered a proper shape for a grave marker. But no explicit references to this association are preserved among the inscriptions on the extant column monuments. Most of the epitaphs on columns are in hexameter verse, the meter of Greek epic poetry, known best through its use by Hesiod and Homer. In general, an epitaph in hexameter verse has a Homeric cast, whether it is inscribed on a stele, a statue base, or another form of funerary monument." The Homeric gloss is subordinate to the praise poem that commemorates the dead man on most examples.12 This does not seem to be the case with the earliest-known funerary column, the column of Xenvares on Corfu. There the hexameter epitaph appears to be more than a reflection of Homeric phrasing. Instead, it describes in Homeric terms the monument it adorns. The column itself appears 145. :)For Euripides' conscious reference to Aeschylus, see

the "grounded pillar of a high roof."8 Poignant reference to this use of the metaphor is found in the
opening lines of Euripides' Iphigenia in 7iuris

(42-58).t' Iphigenia, unwilling priestess of Artemis, recounts a dream in which she lives once more in Argos, in Agamemnon's palace. While she sleeps, an earthquake strikes. She escapes to witness the destruction of the house:
' 0 6d0 ?6o I6voq; OTUXO;, X?i(pp0q ot, SK 6' EiTKpdtvov KO6Cta 66Ltov racTppbov,
tav0o; Kac0?vatt,

(pOy?ta 6' &v0pcinou

XatEiv,

TrV' /iv eXCo Kayd) T?XVrTV SEVOKTOVOV rttLt6' S6paive1V aurt6v 60q; avoV?sevov, KXaiouoa. roivap 6' C6OouglpdXXoT66s
E?Y). 'Opr(oTNl, 06 KaTTrptdlrnLv T0OvqrK'

pensee chez les Grecs, etudes de psychologie historique2 (Paris

Vernant,"Figurationde l'invisibleet cat6gorie psy5J.-P. chologique du double: le colossos," in Vernant, Mytheet 1966)262; S.C.Humphreys,"Deathand Time,"in S.C.Hum-

recently A.M. D'Onofrio, "Koraie kouroifunerari attici," AnnArchStorAnt 4 (Naples 1982) 136, n. 3. Pal. 7.441. Greek text after Archilochus, Epigr. 1'Anth. Friedlandernotes that if this couplet does belong to Archilochus, it may be the first two lines of a threnodic elegy. 16 in E. Diehl, Anthologia Lyrica Graeca3 (Leipzig 19491952) 8. Translation by Friedlander, Epigrammata 67.

phreys and H. King eds., Mortality and Immortality:The Anthropologyand Archaeologyof Death (London 1981) 269. Most

Poetry(London 1990) 170-71. l0Eur.IT 50-58. Greek text after D. Sansone ed., Euripforms the ritual act of purification before sacrifice, the act she must carry out each time a stranger is offered on the altar of Artemis. 11 7-9. Hexameterepigrams have long been Epigrammata recognized as emulations of Homeric-and, thus, heroicstyle. For a discussion of heroization of the dead in light of Homer in the Archaic period, H.A. Shapiro, "The Iconography of Mourning in Athenian Art,"AJA95 (1991) 631-44, esp. 632, n. 20.
12 Day, passim. ides, Iphigenia in Tauris (Leipzig 1981) 4-5. Iphigenia per-

R. Garner, FromHomer to Tragedy: The Art of Allusion in Greek

7 Pind. 01. 2.78-82. Greek text after B. Snell ed., Pindari

Carmina cum Fragmentis4 (Leipzig 1964) 11. 8 Translation by E. Fraenkel, Agamemnon1 (Oxford 1950)

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ELIZABETH P. McGOWAN

[AJA 99

to be the sixth-century mason's interpretation of a specific type of monument described in the Iliad and the Odyssey.In order to understand fully the connection between the monument and the inscribed verse, we must examine closely this column, the epigram it bears, and, in addition, the descriptions of funerary monuments in Homer.
THE CAPITAL OF XENVARES AND THE HOMERIC GRAVESTONE

horizontally, retrograde, across one face of the abacus. The letters are inscribed neatly and evenly across the top third of the surface. The letter cutter ran out of room and the last three letters of the inscription turn the corner and run down the abacus face. The epitaph identifies the column as the marker of the tomb of Xenvares: TOO Tzullot. MhEit6oqeil' 'Eni otrd,a Xevf 6pEoqS I am the stele of Xenvares son of Mheixis on (his) tumulus.'7 Scholars have noted that the wording of Xenvares' epitaph reflects descriptions of individual tombs in the Iliad and Odyssey.'8No one has explored, however, the actual relationship between the inscription, the monument on which it appears, and portrayal of heroic burial by Homer. The epigram refers to the physical aspect of burial: the marker stands iEci T6,5pcO,on the tumulus. Homer often mentions tumuli that cover the dead and mark the tomb as part of a proper burial. The Greek words used in the Iliad and Odyssey and appear to be interchangeable: Tz6U3So fipiov both mean mound or tumulus and, by association, grave; and ofiga means the "sign by which a grave is known," that is, a mound or tumulus built

The well-preserved Doric capital of poros limestone, inscribed with the epitaph of Xenvares, was discovered at Kastrades, a suburb of Corfu in 1866 (fig. 1).13 The shape of the capital and the letterforms of the inscription suggest a date in the second quarter of the sixth century.'4 The capital is similar in form to the one surviving capital of the Temple of Artemis, though only half the size of its counterpart in architecture.15 The rectangular abacus is taller than the echinus and provides a smooth ground for the funerary inscription. A series of nail holes across two faces of the abacus indicates that ribbons, garlands, or other ornaments were hung from the capital, perhaps in memory of the dead man.'6 The funerary epigram in Corinthian script runs

Nuove ricerche e studi sulla Magna Grecia e la Sicilia antica in onore di Paolo Enrico Arias 1 (Pisa 1982) 113-20. 15For the capital of the Temple of Artemis, see Rodenwalt (supra n. 1) 32, fig. 14. The style of Xenvares' capital

13 According to IG IX, 1, 869, the finding place of the capital was near that of the Menekrates monument and several other sepulchral monuments. 14On the date of 570 B.C.for Xenvares' capital, Jeffery und Kerkyra, 233, 234.13. Also see W. Alzinger, "Akragas in AwapXai: Fixpunte der fruharchaischen Chronologie?,"

is typical of Doric architecture on Corfu in the middle of

the sixth century: the echinus is low and the profile, though well rounded at top, quickly flattens out and meets the shaft at an angle close to 90? A convex molding between two raised fillets runs around the bottom of the echinus. The molding was painted with a chevron pattern in three colors, of which only faint traces remain. The capital is carved in one piece with the beginning of a column shaft of 16 flutes with sharp arrises. The top of the shaft is carved in an overhanging molding of leaves and darts, once painted in alternating dark and light colors. This decorative ring, while it disguises the transition from echinus to shaft, creates the impression that the echinus rests upon a leafy crown. For a study of the style of Doric capitals with foliate decoration, see B.A. Barletta, "An 'Ionian Sea' Style in Archaic Doric Architecture," AJA 94 (1990) 45-72. On the painted decoration of Doric capitals, see K. Herrman, "ZumDekor dorischer Kapitelle," Architectura13 (1983) 1-12. 16 In vase painting both votive and funerary columns are sometimes shown hung with offerings or decorated

is found on a second gravestonefrom Corfu (CEGno. 144) and also on a stone in Euboea (CEGno. 108). For an overview of the proprietary formula eigi + object + owner's name, see M. Burzachechi, "Oggettiparlanti nelle epigrafi 24 (1962) 3-54. greche,"Epigraphica 18 M. Guarducci, Epigrafia grecaI (Rome 1967) 178 with note; Epigrammata 10;Day 17 notes the "Homericecho"but suggests that the traditional form of the epitaph, "I am the tomb of...," is more important than the Homeric gloss.

mata 10) suggests that Tn6ot is the local form of nflfi.

with ribbons. For example, a funerarycolumn is decorated with taeniae on a red-figureAttic vase;Athens, NM 17283; ARV21134.17;CVAAthens 2, pl. 28.1-2. A bucranium is suspended from the capital of a column near an altar on a Lucanian pelike that shows the death of Aegisthus at the hands of Orestes; Christchurch, New Zealand, Logie Collection, Universityof Canterbury,156/73;LIMC1.2,289 no. 15, s.v.Aigisthos (R.M.Gas). A series of holes is drilled along the outside edge of the abacus of a votive Doric capital of the early fifth century B.C. discovered at Ugento in southern Italy. The excavator suggested that a cluster of grapes in gilded lead, found with the capital, might have been one of the offerings attached to the abacus. See N. (Rome 1981) 113,n. 461. Degrassi, Lo Zeusstilatodi Ugento A small bronze candelabrum in the shape of an Ionic capital with a striding figure on top in the Athens National Museum has added tendrils that hang down from the abacus. See S. Karouzou,"EinKandelaber-Kapitell aus Orchomenos,"Boreas1 (1978) 9-18, pl. 1. 17Greek text after CEGno. 146. Friedlander (EpigramT6Ool

1995]

TOMB MARKER AND TURNING POST

vares epitaph:
OTzIIq KcKXLtVO; &v6pOKiTTOp

619
E'ti

up over the mortal remains.19 In Homeric burial a body is burned on a pyre, and then the bones and ash are collected and placed in a receptacle.2' In the case of Hector's burial (I1. 24.784-800) the casket of bones is placed in a hollow in the ground, and stones and earth are piled on top of it. In Odyssey 24, Agamemnon's soul describes the tumulus the Greeks built for Achilles, Patroclus, and Antilochus:
d& aToiot 6't' CESTa yav Kai aL6iovu T apc`r rpova Xs6uatLv 'ApyEi(ov iep6bS oTpacto aciXrnTdcov aKTT ?1ct TpoUXoUOT, ncaT?c 'EXXrloT6vTc, ?;7ci 6i) K?VTrlk,(paCVn; ?K TOVTO6pIv &vSpdotv ?1t TOI o' vOv yuydaot Katiol' TOtIO6tosv goovTat.

z6licp ("leaning on a stele on a manmade tumulus").25STriki, in the dative case, occupies the first foot of the line, while EmiTu4r13O fills out the last oneand-a-half feet as it does in the hexameter epitaph of Xenvares. The next description of a stele on a tumulus occurs in Iliad 16 when Hera and Zeus discuss the impending death of Sarpedon. Hera proposes that, if Zeus allows his son by Laodameia to be killed, the body will be returned by Sleep and Death to Lycia. There, Sarpedon's relatives will bury him with a tumulus and a stele, "an honor due the dead."26
-Tr Kai aic)v, auTdp ETniv6i T6v yEXin71 WuXi/ O?vao6v TE LUV nErctstcv (pTpEt1VKai V6SuLOV "Ynvov, si, 6 KE 68I AUKiriSEiUpsiri;6ftov
Ev0a ?: T(ap%6oouot KaoiyvrlToi

Then around these [remains] the holy army of Argive warriors heaped up a great and flawless mound on ajutting headland above the wide Hellespont, that it might be visible far out on the sea to men who live now, and those who will come after.21 In some cases in the Iliad and the Odysseya tomb may be adorned by a vertical marker in addition to the mound. For example, the tomb of Eetion in Iliad 6 has a grove of elm trees planted around it.22 The oar with which Elpenor rowed is planted on top of his tumulus in Odyssey12. His grave is also marked by a second vertical element, a stele.23 In four cases in the Iliad and this one in the Odyssey, stelae are placed on the burial mounds. It is likely that the maker of Xenvares' monument was directly inspired by the descriptions of the tombs marked by stelae in Homeric poetry.24 The clearest point of contact is in the wording: both the author of Xenvares' inscription and Homer speak of the
oTrjirl ... ?ci Ttlnpp. This construction first appears in

IK(OVTCat, EoTi Oav6vTCv. at the begin-

TE ET(Xa TE

TE o'TXrlXiTE' rTO yap ypa(; T6UpOp

Here TljA3og and oTiXTrlare mentioned

ning of the same line, both in the dative case, a different pattern from that of Iliad 11.371, the description of the tomb of Ilos. After Sarpedon is killed at the end of Book 16, Zeus repeats these instructions for burial to Apollo.27 Finally, in Iliad 17, when Patroclus has died on the battlefield, the immortal horses that pull Achilles' chariot refuse to move despite Automedon's efforts: a&X'6c; TEOTriXrl EtCVEl i7i TgOt(3p E947[E6OV, fi T''
dvEpO( Uvtpo0 EOTnKTJTOvr16'roq TE9VT|TO< 8o'trKB E7DVOlKOC 'it yuvcttK6q

They stood immovable

the tumulus of a dead man or woman.28

like a stele that is put up on

Iliad 11 in the description of the tomb of Ilos (the founder of Troy) on the Trojan plain: Paris leans against the stele on the grave mound when he shoots an arrow at Diomedes. In this case, the phrasing of the hexameter line is the same as that of the Xen-

In this example the word OTfikrl falls in the middle of the line, but here again Eti t3j1t3q makes up the last one-and-a-half feet of the hexameter as it does in Xenvares' inscription. The funereal tone of the
passage is emphasized by the next few lines. The horses muddy their manes as human mourners might

17.434; 23.245;24.666;Od.1.239= 14.369;4.584; 11.77;12.14,

15; 24.32, 80. fipiov:1M. 23.126. ofla: II. 10.415 (rnapdOCilaCT); 2.814; 6.419; 7.86, 89; 11.166; 21.322; 23.45, 255, 257; 24.16, 51, 349, 416, 755, 799, 801; Od. 1.291; 2.222; 11.75. Sfita may refer

19 Tr6poq: I1. 2.604; 4.177; 7.336, 435; 11.371; 16.457 = 675;

to other types of markers besides the tumulus. See, e.g., /I. 23.331 for Nestor's description of a ofiia made up of a tall piece of wood and two stones.
20 See, e.g., Patroclus' burial in 1M.23.45, 215-57, and Elpenor's burial in Od. 12.11-15. Both Trojans and Greeks

use another form of burial for large numbers of fallen soldiers in II. 7: each group burns the bodies of the dead on a common pyre. A common mound is piled up to commemorate the Greek war dead (II. 7.405-10), though the

after the war (I1. 7.333-35). For analyses of epic burial, M. Andronikos, Totenkult(ArchHom3W, Gottingen 1968) 1-37; I. Morris, Burial and Ancient Society:The Rise of the GreekCityState (Cambridge 1987) 46-47; also, U. Ecker, Grabmal und Epigramm (Stuttgart 1990) 12-18. 21 Od. 24.80-84. 22 II. 6.416-20. 23Od. 12.14-15. 24 Supra n. 9. 2511. 11.371. 26 II. 16.453-57. The funeral itself is a y?paq, and so is the Iliad: The Tragedyof Hector (Chicago 1975) 175. 27I1. 16.671-75. 28 1. 17.434-35.

the form of burial. See J. Redfield, Natureand Culturein

bones havebeen removed for return to each soldier'shome

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ELIZABETH P. McGOWAN

[AJA 99

soil hair and clothing, and their tears stream to the ground.29 References to tumuli that mark graves and cenoThere is, howtaphs appear throughout the Odyssey. ever, only one reference to a marker on a burial mound in the Odysseythat employs oanzTi and x6Fp3oq together: in Book 12, when he buries Elpenor, Odysseus heaps up a tumulus upon which he places a stele and also the oar that Elpenor's shade requested from Odysseus in the Underworld:3"
' auTctp etnsi VKpoCq i?Ka KCliTsXE8taVsKpOu, EnOTTIrkTV ?p6GotaT? TVr3poV Xt6uavrT KCaEi xtna?,ccv attKporTa6rcp pTOIk iops; EpeFlr6v.

But when the dead man was burned and the armor of the dead man, heaping up a tumulus and hauling up a stele, we planted the well-balanced oar on the topmost part of the mound.31 We learn from these descriptions that, in Homer, a stele on a tumulus was an appropriate grave marker for individuals of varying ages, sexes, strengths, and weaknesses. The simile that describes the stillness of the horses in Iliad 17 indicates that a stele on a tomb could mark the grave of a man or a woman. A stele on a tumulus marked the grave of an illustrious founder of Troy, Ilos, the grave of a semi-divine warrior, Sarpedon, and that of Elpenor, a young oarsman whom Homer describes as "not terribly powerful in fighting nor sound in his thoughts."32 Elpenor's case reveals that one does not have to be among the "best of the Achaeans" to warrant a burial with both stele and tumulus. The intention of the maker of Xenvares' monument becomes clear in light of these five passages from the Iliad and the Odyssey.He has gone beyond mere emulation of Homeric meter and diction and has appropriated a Homeric idea, the stele on the tomb, with all that it implies. In Homer the term c3TXirl 7tniT46t3cp suggests permanence. We know the tomb of Ilos was at least three

generations old when Paris leaned against the marker to take aim at Diomedes in Iliad 11.33Achilles' immortal horses will not be budged as long as they stand fast like a stele on a tumulus.34 The tumulus by itself is also a sign of permanence. Its builders intend it to last for all time, to be seen by people in the future. Elpenor urges Odysseus to build his tumulus (oafla) so that those who pass by Circe's island will come to know of him.35 Hector in Iliad 7 suggests that if he kills the "best of the Achaeans" in a duel, future generations will recognize the monument (ocfita) of a man slain by Hector, and his glory (Kk?O;) will be unquenchable (aopE3cov).36 After learning of Agamemnon's death from Proteus in Odyssey 4, Menelaus builds a tumulus (TU63oq;) in Egypt as a cenotaph for his brother, so that his glory will be undying.37 The image of the enormous burial mound on a headland by the sea is repeated in the description of the tumulus for Achilles, Patroclus, and Antilochus in Odyssey24, built for all who pass to see.38 The maker of Xenvares' grave marker is not merely making a general reference to Homeric epic, but has fit adopted a very specific Homeric idea, the ofTilXrl T61up). The "stele on a tumulus" is a device used in the Iliad and Odyssey to insure that the deceased man's KkoSq, glory, is not forgotten. Memory of the individual will be as permanent as his grave monument. The maker of Xenvares' monument carefully chose the epitaph for the stone marker that would serve as vehicle for the fame and reputation of the deceased in the years after his death. Two further funerary columns from the second half of the sixth century bear inscribed hexameter epitaphs. Again, within each epigram, is a reference not only to the deceased, but to the physical properties of the grave monument itself. Both columns were discovered at Troezen. One, a large, unfluted column, is designed without a capital.3' A hexago-

29 See M.W. Volume 5: Edwards, TheIliad:A Commentary, Books17-20 (Cambridge 1991) 106. Later, the grief of the horses keeps them from racing in the funeral games of Patroclus. See II. 23.283-84 and Richardson 206 for comment on this passage. :"Od. 11.77; 12.13-15. :3 Od. 12.13-15. 32 Od. 10.551-52;R. Lattimore,TheOdyssey (New of Homer York 1965) 166. ' The tomb of Ilos serves as an important point of reference throughout the Iliad. It is the midpoint marker of the Trojan plain, noted when Agamemnon and his men pursue Hector and the Trojans in chariots (II. 11.166-67) and, again, when Priam passes it on his nocturnal visit to the Achaean ships (II. 24.349-50). 34Another passage (I/. 13.436) shows that the Homeric has the strong rooted quality of a tree. In 11.13 PoOTiXTk

seidon casts a spell on Alcathous so that Idomeneus can kill him easily. Alcathous becomes rooted to the spot and "stoodmotionlesslike a oTIXIor a tree with branchesreaching upward."For a discussion of the "fixity"of the grave monument in light of I. 17.434-35, see Vernant(supra n. 5) 262, n. 34; J.-P.Vernant,"Mortalsand Immortals: The Body of the Divine,"in EI. Zeitlin ed., Mortalsand Immortals, Collected Essays(Princeton 1991) 40. 36 1. 7.86-91.
38

3 Od. 11.75-76.

39IG IV, 800;Jeffery 176-77, 182.3, and pl. 32.3, "ca.500 B.C." The column is lost today and we rely on the description of the monument in IG IV,800.Jeffery 177, n. 1 notes that, as of 1959, only a fragment of the column's top surface could be found at the site.

37Od. 4.584. Od. 24.80-84.

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nal socket on the column's top surface indicates that it once bore a statue. An epitaph in three hexameter lines is inscribed vertically on the smooth shaft: two lines run left to right while the third line, consisting of the last word, is in false boustrophedon.40 Ipatl-tXzt T686 pv&da fioov noif/oE O0av6[vtz], 8' trcipotl o&aa av [iapCaoaTsvixovTe; [T]obiTo pv li|TVXa[V]. f?pyov &vT'&y[a]Ov iKix<6tpo Vison made this monument for dead Praxiteles, and his companions piled up this mound, moaning heavily, in exchange for his good deeds; and they completed it in one day.41 Again the epigram has obvious Homeric overtones. 'Etaipot-- friends, comrades-in-arms - bury the dead man and build his monument both at the funeral of Hector and at that of Achilles.42 The formula Rap6 onva6Xcovis used several times in the Iiad to connote deep sorrow or pain.43 That the effort in honor of Praxiteles was finished in one day recalls the heaping up of the tumulus of Hector, in Iliad 24, on the final day of mourning at Troy.44In contrast to the epitaph of Xenvares, the inscription does not mention the column itself, though oailta may refer to the entire tomb monument, that is, the tumulus and marker. The second, large funerary column from Troezen bears a four-line hexameter epigram (fig. 2).45 The epitaph is inscribed on two faces of the octagonal shaft. Each couplet runs in false boustrophedon: A. Aa,toeiiiot : T668 o&jtza: ?piXa 0uaiTsp fspydoaaTo i' yp =iS6&S 'Al (PsId6ia 06 ?vi 6avydtpoItg ?YvovTo.
B. Kati Tpi/ot 1 qbv cto{ vtK{y}l: o}t tov [-v--]

[---i-(-)]]a[.]

'oT' &a'a0?g, * EN7t0KE 68/ nat8i.

A. (His) dear mother, Amphidama, made this tomb for Damotimus because no children were born in his megaron. B. And the tripod that he won running at Thebes ... unharmed, she set up over (her) son.46 In the second line of the epigram Amphidama uses a phrase with Homeric resonance to explain to the reader that her son died without heirs: o oyap Tati"Megaron" is used rarely 8;6S vi gcyd6pot1 y;,YVOVTO. in Greek literature outside Homer to describe do-

Fig. 2. Troezen. Funerary column inscribed with the epitaph of Damotimus, reused in a Hellenistic cistern. (Photo author)

40Jeffery177. 41 Greek text after CEGno. 139. Second and third lines translated by J.W.Day (Day 25.) See also SEG 34.303. 42 I. 24.790-804; Od.24.80-81. See Epigrammata 33-34; Day 24-25. 43E.g., Achilles "moans heavily"first at the loss of his prize, Briseis (11.1.364), then at the loss of Patroclus (Ii. 18.323). Teucer, wounded, "groansheavily"when carried off the battlefield (I1.8.334). Ecker (supra n. 20) 120-29 discusses the use of the phrase 3appeaz oTrv6xovTr; throughout the Iliad and the Odyssey.

24.790-801. 45IG IV, 801. Dimensions (from IG IV, 801): max. pres. ht. 3.50 m; lower diam. 0.715 m, upper diam. 0.65 m. The column, which may date to the third quarter of the sixth century,wasdiscoveredreused in a Hellenistic cistern. The cistern is illustrated by Welter (supra n. 2) pl. 22 b-d. For the date, 550-525 B.C., see Jeffery 176, 181.2.Jeffery 176 notes that the top surface of the column bears a mortise for a capital, lost today. 46 Greek text after CEGno. 138.
44 R.

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ELIZABETH P. McGOWAN

[AJA 99 i:ff:000D0

Fig. 3. Florence, Museo Archeologico 3773. Black-figure amphora by the Castellani Painter (ABV95.8). (Soprintendenza archeologica per la Toscana, Florence, no. 30845/6)

WI-ll 11-IIA.
all w

MAIIIM 4 -

'i% 7

E 875. Black-figuredinos by a painter of the TyrrhenianGroup (ABV104.123).Lower register: Fig. 4. Paris, Louvre/AGER horses race toward Doric column, with spectators and prizes. (Photo R.M.N.) mestic architecture.47 A second heroic flourish is the mention of the tripod that once stood on top of the column. Whether Damotimus won the prize at funerary games or in a contest in honor of a deity is not clear. That the tripod was a prized possession of the dead man is without question. Amphidama places the tripod on the column to personalize the gravestone and to call to mind the individual victory of her son, much as Odysseus places the oar of Elpenor as an identifying feature alongside the stele on his tumulus in Odyssey12.
COLUMNS AND TURNING POSTS

We have seen how the sentiments

expressed

47LSJ 1088, s.v. iayapov.Pindar uses gtyapov with obvious heroic overtones in Pythian 4.143 and Olympian 6.2.

For the Homeric sense of the epigram, cf. II. 23.221-25.

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TOMB MARKER AND TURNING POST

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Fig. 5. Karlesruhe,Badisches Landesmuseum B 2423. Black-figureamphora by a painter of the TyrrhenianGroup. Horsemen race toward a Doric column. (Photo courtesy Badisches Landesmuseum) through the inscriptions on both funerary capitals and columns have Homeric connections. What about the form of the monument itself, the column? Was its shape also considered "Homeric" or heroic in antiquity? The shapes of the stelae on the tumuli in the Iliad are not certain. The ancient Greek word for column, KicOV,is not used in the Iliad and the word oTXriXt may refer not just to a rectangular slab or pillar, but also to any form of freestanding vertical marker.48 That the maker of Xenvares' monument called the Doric column a oniXin suggests that KiOVand oaTilXwere considered analogous in meaning as late as the sixth century. The words oxT1l, and also appear to have been interchangeable in KicOV some circumstances in fifth-century poetry: Pindar refers to the "pillars of Herakles" as KioVSc in Nemean 3 and as oTiiXat in Olympian 3.49 An inscription on a large poros stele found at Eleusis and dated to about 550 B.C. indicates that, in some instances, the word aToXiimay refer to a turning post on a racecourse:
48The word KIOV is used in the Odysseyonce to describe 86tot 'AOevaiovia[pXo]yoTtXa; Ka8s0eKev 'AKicppov IKai ro6v8e 8p6oo iv roi sovl pao6ov [Kai ?spoaep6ve; T]avuitXo. AtMrTp6o TE%Xdptv

For the people of Athens Alkiphron, their archon, set the goalposts and constructed this handsome racecourse in honor of Demeter and long-robed [Persephone].50 The dromos at Eleusis may have been a course for footraces or for races involving horses. In Athens the word was used to describe both types of tracks.51 is used to describe a turning post on a hipETXl%n podrome in a fifth-century source as well. In Sophocles' Electra, the disguised Paedegogus offers Clytemnestra and Electra a specious report that Orestes perished at Delphi when his chariot struck the stele/turning post in the chariot race. EETiXi is used twice in the passage, once to describe Orestes' exOaTiXrv pert driving-K?ivoS 6' un' aXUTqvo%aXdTlnV he atci EX%CV o6ptyya i%piLtg' ("driving, always brought the wheel close to the turning post at each end") the other in the account of the accident: Xav0dvsi
49Nem.3.21:KI6vcoV 01. 3. 44: 'HpaKXog Oiip 'HpaKXcoq. oTawav. 50IG 13,991. Greek text after CEGno. 301. English text after Epigrammata 51, no. 49.
51 For the

the columns that hold Heaven and Earth apart (Od.1.53), and in severalinstancesto describe columns inside palaces: 1.127= 17.29;6.307;8.66= 473, 19.38;22.176,193,466; 23.90, 191. In 23.191, the olive tree that Odysseus carved into a bedpost is "thick like a column." Cf. Od. 6.307, Kiovt
to I. 11.371, ori/TX K1KXIc.tVOq. KeKXit[tVT

dromos in the Athenian Agora see D.G.Kyle,

AthleticsinAncient Athens(Mnemosyne Suppl. 95, Leiden 1987)

60-64, 93-94.

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ELIZABETH P. McGOWAN

[AJA 99

Museo Archeologico I.G.4319.Panathenaic Fig. 6. Taranto, amphora, reverse. Three runners and a Doric column. (Soprintendenza archeologica di Taranto,neg. R. 133/95)
oTXfiiv caKpav iraioaS ("unaware, he struck the stele's

edge").52 Is it possible that the inscribed funerary columns, like the otiXn1 of Xenvares, are meant to
52 El.

remind the viewer of riTiata on hippodromes and stadia? To date, no surviving monuments have been identified as the turning posts of racecourses of the sixth or fifth century B.C.Freestanding Doric columns that serve as turning posts are seen, however, in blackand red-figure vase paintings of chariot or horse races, as well as footraces. Three black-figure vases by painters of the Tyrrhenian Group show scenes of chariots, or horses and riders, striving for an isolated Doric column that is presumably the turning post. The vases date to the middle of the sixth century B.C.53 Florence 3773, an amphora, shows a chariot race (fig. 3).54 Three teams of horses move to the right toward a thick Doric column. Onlookers cheer from a grandstand to the right of the column and a large tripod fills out the scene to the right of the bleachers, no doubt the prize for the victor. One team has succumbed to the dangers of the racecourse: a horse has fallen and a man who has been thrown from his own chariot is crushed by the wheels of his opponent's. A dinos in the Louvre shows six horsemen galloping toward a Doric column (fig. 4).55The onlookers raise their hands in excitement, and several tripods - prizes - fill out the frieze, which continues around the vase. Again, on a small amphora in Karlsruhe, riders on horseback head for a single Doric column (fig. 5).56 A judge or onlooker stands to the right of the column, and farther to the right is a tripod. Finally, on a Panathenaic amphora, three runners in a footrace are shown dashing by an isolated Doric column (fig. 6).57 The column/turning post is not exclusively Doric in vase painting: a dinos in Herakleion by a painter in the circle of Sophilos shows riders on horseback
cient GreekArt and Iconography(Madison 1983) 40, fig. 3.3b. H.A. Shapiro (MythintoArt:Poetand Painter in ClassicalGreece

(Leipzig 1975) 88-89. Richardson 212 notes the similarity of language of this passage to Nestor's advice to Antilochus on driving in the funeral games of Patroclus. This similarity makes sense because Sophocles has the childhood teacher of Orestes deliver the speech about the accident. The Paedogogus has not seen a chariot crash, and must draw on the description of horsemanship known to him from his curriculum (II.23.334-41) for his vocabulary of the dangersof the racecourse.Perhaps, and "knowledge" according to Sophocles, to have the Paedogogus use OTiXi to describea turningpost is to havehim use a Homericterm. 53Recently,T.H. Carpenter has argued that the Tyrrhenian Group painters were active between 560 and 530 B.C.: "On the Dating of the Tyrrhenian Group,"OJA2 (1983) 279-93. 54Florence,Museo Archeologico 3773;ABV95.8 (Castellani Painter);H. Thiersch, Tyrrhenische (Leipzig Amphoren 1899)pl. 4; and, recently,D.A.Amyx,"Archaic Vase-Painting vis a vis 'Free'Painting at Corinth,"in W.G.Moon ed., An-

720, 744. See R.D. Dawe ed. Sophoclis Tragoediae1

[London 1994] 35, figs. 21-22) suggests that Florence 3773 may show the chariot race at the funeral games for Patroclus. 55Paris,Louvre E 875; ABV104.123;CVA (Louvre2) pls. 18.2, 19, 20. 56Karlsruhe, Badisches Landesmuseum B 2423; CVA (Karlsruhe 1), pls. 5.5 and 6.4. 57 Taranto,Museo Archeologico I.G. 4319; E. DeJuliis fig. 246. On vases the Doric column appears as a turning or goalpost in horseracingscenes more often than in scenes of footraces.The goals in raceson foot maybe tall or short, plain or fluted stone markers.E.L. Brulotte, "The 'Pillar of Oinomaos' and the Location of Stadium I at Olympia," AJA98 (1994) 53-64, discusses the possibility that a pillar mentioned by Pausanias once marked the course of the first stadium at Olympia.
and D. Loiacono, Taranto: I MuseoArcheologico (Taranto 1985)

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TOMB MARKER AND TURNING POST

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Fig. 7. Florence, Museo Archeologico 4209. The Fran?oisVase, painted by Kleitias (ABV76.1).Neck: the chariot race in the funeral games of Patroclus. (Soprintendenza archeologica per la Toscana, Florence, no. 36883/2) who strive for an Ionic or Aeolic-style column with a curiously fluted or wrapped shaft.58 The painter Kleitias included the chariot race of the funeral games for Patroclus on the Francois Vase (fig. 7).59 In Kleitias's version the chariots have rounded a plain turning post-without flutes or capital-and make for the finish line. Achilles stands to the right, and will judge the winner. Here again prizes, much like those described by Homer in Iliad 23, await those who finish the race. Beazley and Friis-Johansen have noted that this is not an attempt to illustrate exactly the race described in Homer: these are four horse chariots, not the two horse chariots of the Iliad; in addition, the names inscribed above the heads of the charioteers on the vase are all good Homeric names, but do not reflect the order in which the chariots finished in Homer's version, and some names are not mentioned in the context of the race at all.60 Finally, the turning post in Iliad 23 is a six-foot high wooden post (perhaps a desiccated tree trunk) with two white stones on either side. Only the plain column is seen on the vase. Some vase painters show a pair of columns in scenes of chariot racing. This is the case on a blackfigure lip cup where a single chariot, its four horses stretched full out, is depicted midway between two Doric columns (fig. 8).61Two turning posts would be necessary for races of more than one lap, like that The races at Eleudescribed in Sophocles' Electra.62 sis must have included more than one lap because, according to the inscription mentioned above, the archon Alkiphron set up more than one stele on the dromos. Either column could serve as a marker for the start, the turn, or the finish of the contest, depending on the distance required for the race. The chariot race in the Iliad, in contrast, is described as a single circuit around one goal, out and back. The two columns that flank the martial Athena on Panathenaic amphorae may refer to the turning posts set up on the dromos for the Greater Panathenaia

58Herakleion Museum;G. Bakir,Sophilos, ein Beitragzu seinem Stil (Keramikforschungen IV,Mainz 1981)pls. 80-81, figs. 158-60. 59Florence, Museo Archeologico 4209; ABV 76.1. Also see M. Cristofani et al., Materialiper servirealla storiadel VasoFranfois(BdA,serie speciale 1, 1980) pl. 5, and figs. 54, 70-73. For Homer's description of the chariot race in the funeral games of Patroclus,see II.327-33 (Nestor'sdescription of the course) and 11.362-533 (the description of the actual race). of Attic Black-figure2 60J.D. Beazley, The Development (Berkeley 1986) 32 and n. 24; K. Friis-Johansen,TheIliad Art (Copenhagen 1967) 88-91. For further in EarlyGreek discussion of the scene: L.E. Roller, "FuneralGames in Greek Art,"AJA85 (1981) 109. 61 Museo Nazionale,RC4194. CVA (Tarquinia) Tarquinia, and M. Hirmer, A Historyof 1000 Years Arias P.E. 21.6; pl. Vase Painting(NewYork1961)fig. 49. A black-figure of Greek neck amphora is decorated with a single chariot between two plain columns: New York52.11.17;CVA (Metropolitan Museum of Art 4) pls. 44.3-4, 45.4-5. Five chariots race

between two plain white columns on a black-figurehydria: Museo Nazionale, 655;ABV326.6,694. A chariot Tarquinia, race with three columns is represented on a continuous frieze around the base of a black-figurestamnos in Paris (Louvre inv. N 3274 [L P 2621]); CVA(Louvre 2) pl. 6. A single post is shown under one handle, while two posts are shown close together under the other handle. The two together may represent posts at either end of a starting gate or finish line. An oinochoe lid shows three chariots, each separated from the other by a Doric column (Paris, Bibliotheque Nationale cat. no. 182); CVA(Bibliotheque Nationale 2) 64, pl. 81.6.To the right of one column a youth blows a trumpet to signal the start or finish of the race. In this case the addition of the third column may be a device for separating the frieze on the lid into three distinct units. For a similar composition on a black-figure kraterlid, Louvre,inv.Campana703;CVA (Louvre2) pl. 8.4. 62 El. 723-35. The Paedagogusreports that severalchariots crashed during the seventh lap, leaving Orestes and an Athenian charioteer in the running.

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ELIZABETH P. McGOWAN

[AJA 99

Fig. 8. Tarquinia,Museo Nazionale, RC 4194. Black-figurelip cup. A racing chariot between two Doric columns. (Soprintendenza archeologica dell'Etruriameridionale neg. 127247) where several different types of contests were held, and thus may have become a symbol for the games in general.63 Examples of freestanding columns as racecourse markers in scenes of horse racing exist outside of Athenian vase painting. A terracotta frieze from an Etruscan villa at Poggio Civitate shows a repeating design of three horsemen galloping left to right (fig. 9). The racecourse is indicated, at left, by a Doric column that supports a cauldron, presumably a prize for the winner, like the cauldrons and tripods on the Attic vases.64 Likewise, chariots race between Aeolic columns that support cauldrons on the top surface of a Clazomenian sarcophagus dated to the first quarter of the fifth century.65 A single quadriga, led by Nike, races between two Doric columns on a Late Archaic molded terracotta plaque from Gela.66 The images on the vases and other artifacts suggest that, in some cases, freestanding columns were used as turning posts in horse and chariot races, as well as for footraces, in Greece proper, and possibly in Magna Graecia and East Greece. In fact, the column form of the funerary monument may have visual connotations directly related to the use of columns on racecourses. We know from the epigram that Damotimus's column at Troezen, for example, once bore the tripod he won in a footrace. The monument itself may have called to mind a goalpost, like that on the Poggio Civitate frieze, where the column supported the prize for the winner. It is also possible that the chariots shown racing toward an isolated column/turning post on some vases are meant to be read as chariots participating in funerary games. Certain clues help us identify a horse or chariot race as part of the contests held at a funeral. For example, the wealth of tripods and bowls on Louvre E 875 implies a prize for every horseman, as is the case in Homer's account of the games for Patroclus.67 Such an assortment of tripods and stacked bowls is seen on a fragment of a black-figure column krater from the Acropolis (fig. 10).68There can be no doubt that these are intended as prizes for the participants in funerary games: two tripods and two sets of stacked

63 I plan to address the issue of the columns on Panathenaic amphorae (and on amphorae of Panathenaic shape) in a future article. On the imagery of the Athena and columns on Panathenaics see Beazley (supra n. 60) 84, and, most recently,J. Neils, "PanathenaicAmphoras: in J. Neils ed., GodTheir Meaning, Makers,and Markets" dess and Polis: The PanathenaicFestival in AncientAthens (Hanover,N.H. 1992) 29-41, esp. 37-38. 64Siena, Museo Archeologico; M.C.Root, "AnEtruscan Horse Race from Poggio Civitate,"AJA77 (1973) 121-37, pls. 17-22. On an Attic amphora of Panathenaic shape (Paris, Cab. Med. 243), the Doric columns that flank the striding Athena support dinoi instead of the usual cocks. See Neils (supra n. 63) 37, fig. 23. 65Clazomenian sarcophagus, London 96.6-15.1; A. in Stockholm Akerstrom, Architektonische Terrakottaplatten (SkrAth 4, 1, Lund 1951) 89, fig. 47.1. In addition chariots

are shown charging from left and right to a duel in the center of the frieze on the lid of the sarcophagus;a single Aeolic column that supports a cauldron stands at far right, Akerstr6m, fig. 47.2. A second sarcophagus,Istanbul Museum 1426,shows similar scenes of chariot racingbetween columns; Akerstr6m 69, fig. 38.1 and 87, fig. 46. For the BritishMuseum date of London 96.6-15.1,see B. Cook, CVA 8, 52. 66 P. Griffo and L. von Mott, Gela: dessindune citegrecque de Sicile (Paris 1964) 145, fig. 106. 67LouvreE 875,ABV104.123,and supra n. 55. For a general surveyof funeral games in Greekart, see Roller (supra n. 60) 107-19. 68Athens,National Museum,AcropolisCollection, fragments 654b and c; B. Graef and E. Langlotz, Die antiken I (Berlin 1925)80 and pl. 41. Vasen vonderAkropolis zuAthen

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Fig. 9. Siena, Museo Archeologico. Terracotta frieze from Poggio Civitate. Three horsemen and a Doric column supporting a cauldron. (After composite drawing by M. Butterworth et al. in M.C. Root, AJA 77 [1973] 122, ill. 1)

'r;:

--.

Fig. 10. Athens, National Museum, Acropolis Collection, fragments 654b-c. Neck fragments of a black-figure column krater. 654b: tomb mound, Doric column, tripods, and stacked bowls. 654c: athletes, judges, and aulos player. (After B. Graef and E. Langlotz, Die antiken Vasen von der Akropolis zu Athen I [Berlin 1925] pl. 41)

bowls are shown beside a Doric column that stands

next to a tumulus.69 On the Acropolis fragment the

Doric column is to the right of the mound, rather than on top, probably because of the constraints of

the frieze in which the scene is painted. Undoubtedly, columns in many racing scenes on vases refer to the track at athletic games in honor of a deity, such as those at Athens or Olympia.70 The column next to

69 In vase painting a mound often stands for the tumulus over a grave. On two black-figurerepresentations of Achilles dragging the body of Hector, the tomb of Patroclus is shown as a white mound decorated with a black snake: Munich 1719, Friis-Johansen(supra n. 60) fig. 48; London 99.7-21.3, Friis-Johansen(supra n. 60) fig. 49. In each examplethe eidolon of Patroclushoversabovethe tomb. Funerary columns are rare on Attic vases before the second half of the fifth century. For a late fifth-century example see the hydriafragmentby the WashingPainter,Athens NM 17283,ARV2 CVA Athens 2, pl. 28, figs. 1-2. 1134.17; Tomb columns become popular motifs on South Italian vases that served, perhaps, as tomb offerings in the fourth

century.Forexample,three vasesby the ChoephoroiPainter, Naples 2858, Munich 3266, and Louvre K 544, show Electra by Agamemnon'stomb, which is marked by a column. See A.D. Trendall,"The Choephoroi Painter," in G.E.Mylonas and D. Raymondeds., Studies Presented toDavidMoore Robinsonon His Seventieth Birthday2 (Saint Louis 1953) 114-26, pls. 30-44. For a Campanian neck amphora with a scene of mourning at a funerary column, see Getty Museum 71.AE.298,CVA Malibu 4, pls. 222, 223, fig. 2. 70 E.g.,the turning posts in horse-,chariot-,or footraces on Panathenaic amphorae do not necessarily refer to columns on tombs.

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ELIZABETH P. McGOWAN

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Fig. 11. Argos, Archaeological Museum E 210. Doric capital with funerary epigram of Hyssematas, side A. (Photo author) the burial mound on the Acropolis fragment indicates, however, that on some vases the column may mark a tomb in the context of funeral games. The possibility of a visual association between a funerary column and a column on a racecourse is further suggested by a funerary epigram of about 500 B.C. on a Doric capital in the Argos Museum. The capital, discovered near the Argive Heraion, served both as a tomb monument for a young man, named Hyssematas, who died in battle, and as a memorial to his athletic prowess (fig. 11).71The epitaph, provided by a female relative of the dead man, is inscribed on two faces of the abacus:72 A. Qoaiva huoseadrav Oa'xa [n]lsEaq httoSp61ooto avspa al[ya]0[6]v, 7oXol; gvlaga KaiI[o]oOgvoI;, B. Ev ToX,got[(p0]ievov velapIv hepav o6Xoavta, Kai olocpv hatxlKial. o6l(pppova, A. I, Kossina, have buried Hyssematas near the hipArchaeological Museum E 210. Daly (supra n. 165-69 2) compares the profile of the capital to those of the capitals of the Athenian Treasuryat Delphi, around 490 B.C. 72Daly (supra n. 2) 168 suggests that Kossina is the wife of the deceased. It is more likely that Kossina was Hyssimatas'smother. Several funerary markers from the Archaic period are set up by mothers (cf. CEGnos. 35, 108, 117, 138, 157, 169) or fathers (cf. CEGnos. 14, 16, 25, 32, 41,42,46,53,55,68, 113,137,161,316).Although one graveno. 139) and anstone is set up by a husband (Epigrammata other by a sister (CEGno. 37), I know of no surviving inscriptions from the Archaic period that identify the wife as the donor of the tomb marker. 73Greek text after CEGno. 136.
71 Argos,

podrome, providing a memorial for many men today, and those who will come after, of a brave man B. who died in battle and lost young manhood, (he was) prudent, a winner of victories, and wise among his peers.73 The epitaph is in elegiac couplets, each a combination of a hexameter line followed by a pentameter. Again the sentiment is one found first in Homer and then throughout Greek art and literature: the monument will serve to preserve the KXo; of the deceased for future generations.74 Kossina tells us that Hyssematas was a&0oo(p6poq,"winner of victories" or "winner of prizes," and because she chose to bury him near the hippodrome it is possible that his athletic prowess lay in chariot racing.75 Apparently, by using a column for Hyssematas's monument, Kossina intended to bring to mind the shape of a turning post on a racecourse. byElpenor,Menelaus,and Agamemnonwhen they describe Friedlander notes tombs and cenotaphs in the Odyssey. that the third line, ?v 7tnog0ot[(p0]isevov vwlaptv hg3av 6oscavra, is made up of Homeric formulae and phrases. 125-26: cf. II. 18.106ev icoX?cp; II. 13.763, See Epigrammata Heraion. Daly (supra n. 2) 168 points out that the area around the findspot of the capital is flat and would provide a good course for horse racing. H.A. Harris, Sportin
uxat;q 5X;OtavTEq. 75A hippodrome has not been discovered at the Argive

and Rome(London 1972) 162-63, suggests that Ancient Greece

in meaning, though not in diction, to the hopes expressed

74The phrase nokdoiqg IV&ia Kai [9o]ogVvoti is parallel

most Greek hippodromes were probably marked out on land between planting seasons. Harordinaryargricultural ris (supra) 163 notes that only one hippodrome that was not modified in the Roman era is known from ancient Greece, the track associated with the Lykaon sanctuary in Arcadia.

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LITERARY SOURCES FOR BURIAL ON THE HIPPODROME

It may be possible to find a connection between the use of the isolated column as turning post and the use of the column as funerary monument in Greek literature.76 Homer is the earliest source to suggest that a tomb may be used as a turning post: before the chariot race at the funeral games for Patroclus, Nestor describes the course to his son, Antilochus, who plans to compete:
ou68 ao X1ioat. ofiua 66 TOtEpco ldSX' rpt(ppa6c;, ' 5 O u7 EoTT|IKc 6VXov a uovoov OpyUt' p a(XtS, 1 6Spu)b; i ni6cKTI;' xTOIgV 06 KaTact60Tata l Opxp, Xe& 6 TOV) 6KdTrpOev splpEoaTalt 60oXL)KO)

iv uVvoxiotv66o80,Xsio; 6' iTiot6pooq; a&u(Pl(

: TSU Gorxa ppozoio dncXatt KaTaTOOvrloT0q, 'AXtXls6;.

fi 16 YE v6ooa

tTZoKTZoO Eni rpoT?pwOVvOpC07(CV,

Kai VVV TzpClaT' E0qTIKE 7tOdpKTNq 8io

I describe for you a very clear marker,it will not escape you: a dried-up wooden post stands about six feet high-either oak or pine; it has not been rotted by rain; two white stones are planted on either side of it at the joining of the road, a smooth racecourse on both sides; (it is) either the ofiac of some mortal who died long ago, or the turning post built at the time of earlier men, and now swift-footed godlike Achilles has made it the racecourse marker.77 Nestor is uncertain as to the original purpose of the marker: did it indicate a grave or serve as a turning post?78 Whatever the case, the antiquity of the marker is undisputable: it may be the ofiga of a man
long-dead, iadXat KacaTt0vvflCxToq, or a turning post

built Enti Both explanations retnpoTipcv &vOp6onov. fer to a time period before that of the action in the Iliad and may allude to the generation of great heroes preceding that of the men who fought at Troy.79 According to Nestor's description the area reserved for the racetrack on the flat plain of Troy is not a permanent course, but was used primarily for purposes other than racing, and only occasionally as a hippodrome. During war the plain is used for combat and, one imagines, in times of peace it was used for other purposes. The designation of the racecourse in Homer may reflect an actual practice in Greece in the Archaic period, in which tracts of land were not given over permanently or exclusively to horse racing, but were used for agricultural purposes most months of the year.80This may have been the case at the Argive Heraion where no racecourse has been discovered, and also at Eleusis where the setting up of the stelae/goalposts might have been an annual event, carried out by the archon. A few other ancient authors mention burials on racecourses. Pausanias reports occasional heroic burials on or near long-established hippodromes and stadia. His most detailed description concerns the hippodrome at Olympia. When racing at Olympia, horses become frightened at a certain point on the course and bolt out of control, wrecking chariots and injuring their charioteers.81 The place in the race track is called "Taraxippus" "the frightener of horses"'and the area is marked by a mound "shaped like a round altar"Both ancient and modern authors

76In this section I refer to the association of burials and racecourses in Greek literature, rather than to the metaphor of the "racecourseof life."The concept of the "racecourse of life" in Greek literature has been discussed by many authors, most recently by M.I. Davies, "Ajaxat the Bourne of Life,"in H. Metzger ed., Ei6oAojroiia: Actesdu
colloquesur les problemesde l'imagedans le mondemediterraneen 1982 classique,Chateaude Lourmarinen Provence,2-3 septembre,

(Rome 1985) 83-117. Davies suggests that an image of Ajax in prayer next to his sword and a short, plain pillar, on a vase attributed to the Alkimachos Painter, may have its source in a literarymetaphor:life is a racecourse and Ajax, at the moment before his death, is at the goalpost after the last lap of the race, the "bourne of life."
77II. 23.326-33.

the OTlXirl or ofrita marking a herds grave was also used as a marker at the races held in his honor" (Davies [supra n. 76] 102). 79The term tii itpor6ppo)v &vOpobov is used one other time in the Iliad. In II. 5.631-43 Tlepolemus, the Rhodian commander, sneers that Sarpedon, though a putative son

78 Richardson 211 suggests that the landscape of the Trojan plain could have been marked by "many anonymous monuments of this kind." Davies comments that "Nestor's uncertaintymay disguise an early custom whereby

of Zeus, lacks the character of Zeus's sons ETti tpoTzpcov He then cites Herakles, his father, as an examavOpo6ncov. ple of a true son of Zeus. The venerable antiquity of the monument chosen as turning post in II. 23 may provide it with the patina and honor of an object from the age of great heroes (such as Herakles), the generation of heroes who lived before those who fought at Troy. 80 Harris (supra n. 75) 162-63, n. 111 cites as evidence IG II/III2, 1638, an inscription recording that the hippodrome on Delos was located on leased farmland. The hippodrome for chariot races in the Panathenaic games, most likely located in New Phaleron (W.S. Ferguson, "The Salaminioi of Heptaphylai and Sounion," Hesperia 7 [1938] 25-26) was reputed to be eight stades in length. See Harris (supra n. 75) 163, Kyle (supra n. 51) 95-97, Neils (supra n. 63) 20. Such a great expanse of land must have been cultivated during the long periods between the games. The Athenian hippodrome is first cited by Xenophon (Hipparchicus 3.1), and it is possible that the horse races took place elsewhere before the fourth century B.C. The area of the earlier dromos in the Athenian Agora was used for some races on foot and some equestrian events only when the games were in session. See Kyle (supra n. 51) 64. 81 Paus. 6.20.15-19; 10.37.4.

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are uncertain as to the exact location of Taraxippus on the racetrack. Pausanias (6.20.15) notes that the mound is near the embankment on one side of the hippodrome while Dio Chrysostom (Or.32.77) places it in the middle of the racecourse.82 Modern scholars have reached a general consensus that the mound stood near the east end of the south side of the course, and, therefore, near the first turn where accidents were likely to occur.83 The earliest references to Taraxippus at Olympia date to the fourth century B.C.84Pausanias, however, offers the most thorough account of the phenomenon, though he is hard pressed to say exactly what Taraxippus is. Although he concludes that Taraxippus may be simply a surname for Poseidon Hippios, he first offers six possible explanations for the Taraxippus phenomenon: the mound may mark the tomb of an original inhabitant of the area, Olenius, who was skilled in horsemanship, or the tomb of Cteatus, a comrade of Herakles, who was killed fighting the Eleans and was buried along with his horse. The mound may mark the grave of Alcathus, a suitor of Hippodamaia who died after losing the chariot contest to Oinomaus, the legendary king of Elis. It may be the tvfrta of Oinomaus himself, who was killed during his famous chariot race with the hero Pelops, and whose ghost seeks revenge on charioteers. It is possibly the cenotaph of the charioteer Myrtilus set up by Pelops to appease the soul of the man he murdered. Pausanias credits an Egyptian man for his final explanation: the Theban magician Amphion gave Pelops something to bury on the racecourse, and the team of Oinomaus and every team since, became frightened at this point in the race.85
82 on Lycophron's Cassandra 42, Accordingto Tzetzes,Schol. the grave of Taraxippusis in another location: on the Hill of Kronos, near the turning point of the course. 83 On Taraxippus in general see RE 4 A, 2288-91, s.v. Taraxippos(Gebhard).On the location, see E.N. Gardiner, ItsHistory andRemains (Oxford 1925) 288; L. Drees, Olympia, ArtistsandAthletes Gods, (London 1967) 97-99; N. Olympia: TheArt and Historyof Sport Yalouris, TheEternalOlympics: (NewRochelle 1979)129;Harris(supran. 75) 170;H. AbramHero-Shrines son, Greek (Diss. Univ. of California, Berkeley 1978) 20 with n. 71-75. Both Harris and Abramson point out that the Taraxippusmay have been near or at the turning post of the track because that was the place on the racecoursewhere accidents often occurred. The Castellani painter's vase (supra n. 54) appears to illustrate such an accident (fig. 3). 84Ar. Eq. 247; Lycoph. Cass.42; Anth.Pal. 14.4.5. 85Paus. 6.20.16-19. In the second through fourth centuries A.D., the starting line and turning post appear to have been thought the most important areas for affecting the outcome of the race by magic. Lead curse tablets with spells against charioteers and horses have been discovered buried on the racetracks at Lepcis Magna, Beirut, Antioch, and Carthage.At Lepcis Magna the tablet was found

Pausanias goes on to report that the Taraxippus phenomenon was not exclusive to Olympia: at Isthmia, Glaucus (a son of Sisyphus and the father of Bellerophon) haunts the racecourse as Taraxippus.86 Pausanias does not say whether or not Glaucus was buried on the hippodrome, but does mention that he was destroyed by his own horses at the funerary games for Pelias.87 A more prosaic explanation is given for the accidents that occur during races at Nemea, namely that a reddish cliff above the turning post flashes like fire and terrifies the racing teams.88 In Book 10, the description of the sites and monuments of Phocis, Pausanias notes that occasionally a driver is injured on the hippodrome at Delphi, and concludes "nevertheless the hippodrome itself by nature does not seem to make trouble for the horses, either by means of a hero, or on account of anything else"89 This disclaimer suggests that, although he was not convinced of its validity, Pausanias was aware of a widespread belief that the restless spirits of heroes buried on hippodromes were to blame for accidents that occurred during the races. A hero buried on the racecourse did not always lead to trouble for the competitors on the track in a later period. Pausanias reports that Endymion was buried under the starting line of the stadium at Olympia and that lolaus's heroon was on the running track at Thebes.90 At Thebes Pausanias also saw the vfltiat (either monument or tomb) of Pindar on the hippodrome, the only historical person accorded this honor in the literary sources.91 No mention is made of paranormal happenings at the stadia or hippodromes as a result of these burials. under the starting gate of the circus. At Antioch a tablet was discovered under the meta of the hippodrome. See D.R. Jordan, "New Defixiones from Carthage," in J.H. anda Byzantine at Carthage Humphreyed., TheCircus Cemetery (Ann Arbor 1988) 117-34;Jordan,"A Surveyof GreekDefixiones Not Included in the Special Corpora," GRBS26 (1985) 187, no. 149; 192, no. 167; 193. 87According to Hygin. Fab.250, 273, Glaucus was torn apart and/or eaten by his mares after he lost the chariot race at Iolcus to Iolaus. 88Paus. 6.20.19. 89Paus. 10.37.4. 90Paus. 6.20.9;9.23.1-2. J. Tobin has suggested that Herodes Atticus may have been accorded the honor of burial in the Panathenaicstadium: "SomeNew Thoughts on Herodes Atticus's and Philostratus Tomb,His Stadium of 14314, VS 2.550,"AJA97 (1993) 89. 91M.R. Lefkowitz points out that Greek and Roman writersoften construed details about the life of a poet from the body of his poetic work ("ThePoet as Hero: Fifth CenturyAutobiographyand SubsequentBiographicalFiction," CQ28 [1978] 459-69). Although Lefkowitz does not mention the ivrma of Pindar on the hippodrome at Thebes, her
86 Paus. 6.20.19.

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The inscription on the capital of Hyssematas provides a locus for the burial, the hippodrome. We have seen that the single column may represent a goalpost in horse-, chariot-, or footraces on sixth-century vases. In the case of Hyssematas's funerary monument the Doric column not only provides a vertical marker and a ground for the inscription, but also serves as a symbol of the racecourse. Similarly, the column of Damotimus at Troezen may refer to the goalpost on the track at Thebes where, according to the inscription, he won the tripod that adorned his tomb marker. The sources in Greek literature indicate that burial on or near the racecourse or stadium was an honor reserved for heroes (and a "heroized" poet). Were some heroes' tombs at the turning post of the track? Traditionally, the turning post is the most dangerous point on the racecourse, where the charioteer is most likely to lose control, and where accidents might be credited to vengeful daimons.92 Although most of the sources that describe burials on or near racecourses date after the fourth century B.C., Nestor's designation of the turning post as perhaps a tomb in Iliad 23 shows that the idea is an old one. The Homeric reference to the tomb that serves as turning post may even be the source of inspiration for the tradition. The belief that heroes may be buried in or on hippodromes and stadia, reflected by the ancient literary sources, suggests that the use of the column, the thesis, that the heroic lore that grew up around the reputation of the poet was based on his oeuvre, works well in this case: Pindar wrote victory odes for the winners of Panhellenic chariot races and compared them to heroes of a past age.Hence, by the second centuryafterChrist,Pindar himself is said to be buried in a manner worthyof a heroic charioteer. For the literary phenomenon of creating the circumstancessurrounding the death of an ancient author from the author's corpus, see A. Chitwood, TheDeathsof the Greek (Diss. Johns Hopkins Univ. 1992). Philosophers 92Harris (supra n. 75) 170; Abramson (supra n. 83) 20. 93Day 22 n. 46 notes that scenes of horsemen and chariots on gravestones"wouldrecall typical pursuits of &yaOoi and suggest the dead man had participated in them."On gravestones as status symbols, most recently E.A. Meyer, "Epitaphs and Citizenship in Classical Athens,"JHS 113 (1993) 91-121, esp. 107, 112. 94D.C.Young, The Amateur AthletOlympic Mythof Greek ics (Chicago 1984), has reminded us that participants in athletic competitions such as the Olympic games did not belong exclusively to the wealthiest families. Neverthless owning a horse (or horses) was, and still is, an expensive proposition. See Young 111, n. 6. Also see A. Snodgrass, Archaic Greece (London 1980)98, who quotes Arist.Pol. 1289 b35:"Horserearing is alwaysexpensive."On the actual cost of keeping horses in antiquity, see M. Vickers, "Golden Greece: Relative Values, Minae and Temple Inventories," AJA94 (1990) 614 ns. 7-10. Two gravestones from Boeotia (CEGno. 111 and IG VII, 1890) that celebrate the fact that the deceased was "skilledin the knowledge of hospitality

symbol of the racecourse, as a funerary monument in sixth-century Greece was an attempt on behalf of the survivors of the deceased to evoke an affiliation with the heroes of a previous age. But the use of the columnar tomb marker was not simply an act of nostalgia for the Age of Heroes. It may also have been symptomatic of a desire to show connections with a current dominant social class.93 Horse and chariot racing were expensive pursuits in sixthcentury Greece, luxuries reserved for the aristocrats who could afford to keep horses.94 Two of the four votive Doric capitals that have survived from the sixth century B.C. with inscriptions intact are dedications of the Alcmeonids, the wealthy Athenian family whose passion for horse racing spanned several generations.95 One, found at the Ptoion sanctuary in Boeotia, commemorates a chariot race victory. The other, from the Athenian Acropolis, is a double dedication commemorating victories in the pentathlon and, possibly, the hippios dromos.96

CONCLUSIONS

When used as a tomb marker the isolated column appears to have specific iconographical associations. The Homeric language in the epitaphs of Xenvares, Praxiteles, Damotimus, and Hyssematas reflects the attempt by the families and friends of the dead men to establish a link with a pre-sixth century aristocracy and equestrianship"also underscore the importance for a family'sname to be associated with horse-raising in the Archaic period. 95Herodotus (6.103.3)tells the story of the Alcmeonid Cimon, who won three Olympic victories in the second half of the sixth century with the same team of mares. His horses were entombed next to him in Athens, an unusual honor with heroic overtones. Plutarch also comments on the tomb (Catothe Elder5.4). Alcibiades, a later member of the same family, also achieved fame and infamy for the lavish amounts he spent on chariot racing: Thuc. 6.16.2; Plut. Alk. 11. Morris discusses horse sacrifice within the context of conspicuous consumption in Athenian burial from 1000 to 500 B.C.,and analyzesthe archaeological evidence for horse burial in Athens (supra n. 20) 48, 129. 96Athens, Epigraphical Museum 6222; A.E. Raubitschek, Dedications from the AthenianAkropolis (Cambridge, Mass. 1949) 338-40, no. 317. Thebes 633 + 633a,J. Ducat, Les kouroidu Ptoion (Paris 1971) 242-51, no. 141 and pls. 72-73. The inscription on a late sixth-centurycapital dedication from the Argive Heraion commemorates several athletic victories. See Athens, Epigraphical Museum 582; Jeffery 168.15 and pl. 27.15.For an inscribed votive Doric capital from Halae, the dedication of Vasion, see H. Goldman, "The Acropolis of Halae,"Hesperia9 (1940) 428-30, figs. 80-81. For a fragmentary Archaic Doric capital with a partially preserved votive inscription, Delphi 789, see P.de la Coste-Messeliere, "Chapiteaux doriques de Delphes," BCH 66-67 (1942-1943) 38, fig. 7.

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E.P. McGOWAN, TOMB MARKER AND TURNING POST top of the column. The funerary column at Troezen serves as a vessel support but also refers to the racetrack and a victory that was the pride of a young man's short life.97 Later literary sources suggest that great honor was associated with burial in, on, or near a racecourse. We learn from Pausanias that, by the second century after Christ, heroes' graves were to be found on several hippodromes and stadia throughout Greece. The tradition that individuals of great status are buried on the racecourse may, however, have been established by the sixth century B.C., if not as early as Homer's day. Nestor's speech to Antilochus in Iliad 23, in which tomb marker and turning post are one and the same, may have been a source of inspiration for the practice.
DEPARTMENT OF ART LAWRENCE HALL WILLIAMS COLLEGE MASSACHUSETTS 01267 ELIZABETH.P.MCGOWAN@WILLIAMS.EDU WILLIAMSTOWN,

associated with the age of the Homeric heroes. The survivors, by erecting the oxriT' ?Iti Ttjkpq, hoped to create a monument that would be "far-shining," in both spatial and temporal terms, so that the reputation of the deceased would be recognized by future generations. The shape of the column monument itself also sends a message about the status of the deceased. In sixth-century vase painting the freestanding column represents the turning or goalpost for horse and chariot races as well as for races on foot. The "turning post" shape of the Doric capital that marked the grave of Hyssematas and Kossina's choice of location for the tomb near the hippodrome inform passersby that Hyssematas belonged to a certain stratum of society: the deceased had the wealth and leisure time to raise and race horses. Races on foot might not have held the same prestige or reputation for wealth. Yet victory in any competition obviously graced the winner with honor. In her epitaph for Damotimus, Amphidama explains that she placed a tripod, a prize won by her son in a footrace, on

97In later literary accounts of graves marked by columns, the column often is said to have supported an object that recalled aspects of the life of the deceased. For example, the column that marked the tomb of the cynic philosopher Diogenes reputedly bore a statue of a dog (Diog. Laert. 6.78), while the tomb column of Boiidion, the mistressof the Athenian general Chares, is said to have supported an image of a cow, an obvious reference to the name of the deceased (Hesychius of Miletus,Fr.Hist. Graec. 4.151). The Theban general Epiminondas's grave was marked by a column that bore a shield with an emblem of the dragon of the Spartoi (Paus.8.11.7).The orator Isoc-

rates' tomb column, seen by Pausanias by the entrance to the Olympeion, bore a siren, a typical image of mourning, rather than an object associated with his deeds (Paus. 1.18.8). Heroes whose tombs were marked by columns include Orpheus (Paus. 9.30.6-8) and Aristomenes, the seventhcentury Messenian hero (Paus. 4.32.3-4). Pausanias tells us that Orpheus's column supported an urn containing the bones of the poet. A column topped by a shield marked the spot where the Theban princes Polyneices and Eteocles fell, a reference to the martial aspect of their deaths (Paus. 9.25.1).