TWO SPARTAN WOMEN AND THE ELEUSINION

SUSAN WALKER

The Discovery of the “Aberdeen reliefs”

On October 15th, 1803, the nineteen-year-old George Hamilton Gordon, Fourth Earl of Aberdeen, wrote in his diary:

In a ruined chapel at Slavo-chorio I found two bas-reliefs of the greatest curiosity, they represent different articles appertaining to the toilette of a woman. Combs, paint, pins and there is a vase in the centre of which is inscribed the names apparently of two priestesses.’

The young earl, who knew his Pausanias (and was indeed later to become President of the Society of Antiquaries of London),2 suggested that the reliefs he had discovered reused in a Byzantine cnapel in the village now renamed Amyklai most likely came from the Sanctuary of Dionysos at nearby Bryseai. According to Pausanias (3.20.4), only women entered the temenos to perform the rites. These comments were passed to the antiquary Robert Walpole, and engravings of the reliefs appeared as illustrations to a letter of Lord Aberdeen published by Walpole.3

In the fashion of the day the Earl had the reliefs shipped home to Britain.4 They remained in his possession until his death in 1860, following his political downfall after a vote of censure on the conduct of the Crimean War, for which he as Foreign Secretary bore responsibility, though his personal views were against intervention. His son, the Fifth Earl, presented the “Aberdeen Reliefs”, as they were known, to the Trustees of the British Museum.s

The texts on the vessels in the centres of both reliefs were published by Sir Charles Newton in 1883;h the reliefs themselves (Figs. 1-2) appeared as entries nos. 81 1 and 812 in the first volume of Arthur Smith’s Catalogue of Greek Sculptures, published in 1892. Both Newton and Smith, writing without the benefit of modern topographical research upon the ancient territory of Sparta, took up the conjectured association of the reliefs with the Sanctuary of Dionysos at Bryseai. Following a remark made by Abe~-deen,~ Smith noted (p.371) that the

I Unpaginated entry, Lord Aberdeen’s Mss. Diary for March-November 1803, now in the library of the Department

’ DNB, Index and Epitome, ed. Sydney Lee (London, 1903), 572-3, S . V . GORDON, GEORGE HAMILTON, fourth

of Greek and Roman Antiquities, The British Museum.

EARL of ABERDEEN (1 784- 1860).

R. Walpole, Memoirs relating fo Turkey (London, 1818), 452-7. The letter is dated May 26, 1817.

W. Leake, in a diary for March 20, 1805, recalls the special construction of a car “for the purpose of conveying this stone (sic) to the coast, for Lord A,” See Travels in the Morea I (1830), 134-5.

Registration numbers GR 1861 523.1-2. The reliefs were the subject of correspondence between Antonio Panizzi, then Principal Librarian (a post equivalent to Director) and Charles Newton, recently appointed the first Keeper of the newly formed Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities (8.7.1861).

GIBM cxli-ii = ClG 146716 = IG V. 1.248-9.

Walpole (n.3), 455.

130

S. WALKER 131

inclusion of ears of corn and pomegranates in the wreaths framing the reliefs might suggest that Demeter too was worshipped at Bryseai.

The Sanctuary of Eleusinian Demeter at Kalyvia

The iconographical association of the reliefs with the worship of Demeter may be set alongside the epigraphic evidence (some thirty texts) and archaeological finds recovered since Lord Aberdeen’s day, which point to the predominance in the area south of Sparta of the Sanctuary of Eleusinian Demeter at Kalyvia, located at the spring-line below the Taygetus mountains some 2 km west of Amyklai.* It is with this sanctuary rather than with the archaeologically unexplored site at Bryseai that we may associate the “Aberdeen reliefs”.

In 1947 a catastrophic flood destroyed part of the modern village of Kalyvia, exposing in the river bed a series of kerbstones, some inscribed, and various votive offerings and inscribed tiles dedicated to Demeter. British scholars, who had long held a concession to excavate at Sparta, were called in to explore the area. Sadly, the perils of the then raging Civil War did not permit any more than a brief campaign under military escort. The tantalising results were reported in the Annual of the British School at Athens for 1950.9

The finds, once housed in the village school, have since been moved to the storerooms of the Sparta Museum. The river at Kalyvia has now been diverted and the bed covered over with concrete. But, while a visit to present-day Kalyvia may hardly be described as archaeologically rewarding, it does offer a chance to understand the topography of the ancient site and its relationship to the Eurotas Va1ley.l”

Evidence of the fertility of the soil, now densely planted with olives and citrus fruits, may be seen in the panoramic views north to Sparta and east to Amyklai, which may be obtained from the terrace of the church of Zoodikos Pighi. A fine Hellenistic or Roman bridge built on a north-south line at Xerokambos, some 15 km to the south of Kalyvia, suggests some communication between these settlements on the western spring-line, now isolated from the main route from Sparta to Gytheion, which runs through the centre of the valley. I I

The finds from the brief campaign at Kalyvia do not of course offer the interpretative value of those recovered from a full excavation. In general terms, they represent an assemblage of votives typical of other Spartan sanctuaries (notably that of Artemis Orthia), with numerous lead wreaths, terracotta figurines and unattractive miniature ceramic vessels.12 The predominance of finds of the fourth century BC, a period of increasing display of private wealth at Sparta, may be more a reflection of the effects of the modern flood than of the history of the sanctuary. No evidence was found of substantial buildings. Nonetheless, the finds were recovered from a large area, suggesting that the sanctuary occupied a considerable tract of ground. Some provision was made for formal seating and apparently also for dining. Statues were erected in honour of some of the devotees. These and the surviving texts concern only women, an appropriate reflection of Aristotle’s observation (Pol. 70-2) of the dominance of women in Spartan public life at this period.

See G. Kolbe, IG V.i. (Berlin, 1913), nos. 81, 519, 567, 579, 581-4, 592,595, 596,604-8,617,623, 631, 1511, and J. M. Cook, “Lakonia. Kalyvia Sokhas”, BSA 45 (1950), 261-81, esp. p.263 and 275-81. Cook (n.8).

visit was made possible by a grant of Special Leave from the Trustees of the British Museum. In The author visited this and other Roman sites in the vicinity of Sparta with Antony Spawforth in June 1986. The

I I H. Waterhouse and R. Hope-Simpson, BSA 55 ( 1960), 7 1, fig. 1. l 2 Cook (n.8), 273-5.

I32 THE GREEK RENAISSANCE IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE

The prominence of women and of the rite of banqueting are the most striking features to emerge from the epigraphic evidence for a revival of this cult in the later second century AD. Our information is largely derived from the inscribed bases of statues honouring devotees and officials of the cult, mostly found in the ruined church of Aghia Sophia at Kalyvia.” Many of the named officials held the office of thoinarmostria, normally translated as “mistress of the banquets”; some were also honoured as hestian poleos. It was the duty of the thoinar-mostria, an official known only from inscriptions found in Lakonia and neighbouring Messenia, to organise the ritual banquets, ordering the correct quantities of oil, wine, cheese and other foods to be consumed, and ensuring that the rules of procedure were correctly observed.I4 Other statues were set up by the city of Sparta, or, more intimately, by their male kinsmen, to honour those women not holding office who displayed the typically feminine virtues of philandria, sophrosyne, mete and euseheia.”

The women named on the “Aberdeen reliefs”

It has been observed that the social milieu of the women honoured in the Spartan sanctuary of Eleusinian Demeter is almost invariably upper-class.Ih This may indeed be said of the women named in the “Aberdeen reliefs”. Anthousa, daughter of Damainetos, is peregrine and not further traceable in the rich records of Spartan prosopography. Claudia Ageta, on the other hand, is of senatorial family. It is she who offers some circumstantial evidence for the attribution of the “Aberdeen reliefs” to the Spartan Eleusinion. She is described in the text on the relief as hiereia. Her priesthood was probably hereditary; another text from the Eleusinion, most likely of Flavian date, describes a woman as hier-eia apo genous tan E1e~sinian.l~ More pertinently, Ageta was first cousin to a brother and sister who were hereditary priest and priestess of the cult of Kore at Helos, near the Laconian coast.I8 The two cults of Demeter and Kore are known to have been linked at the time the family held these priesthoods, for Pausanias notes (3.20.7) that “on fixed days they bring a cult-statue of Kore to the Eleusinion from Helos”.

Claudia Ageta has been identified as a grand-daughter of the Spartan senator Tiberius Claudius Brasidas, whose statue, now gracing the garden of Sparta Museum, was dedicated by his son Tiberius Claudius Pratolaus in a private setting, possibly that of a funerary garden.” The emperor Marcus Aurelius heard a lawsuit concerning Brasidas, the will of his divorced and deceased former wife and their two sons. Whether or not as a result of the outcome of this dispute, which found in favour of the sons, the descendants of Brasidas remained prominent in the Spartan elite.”’

The sons of Brasidas were adult at the time of the lawsuit. His grand-daughter Claudia Ageta, then, most likely held her priesthood at the end of the second century.” Her colleague

Ihid., 261-3. l 4 On thoinarnwstriai, ihid., 279, and A. J. Spawforth, “Families at Roman Sparta and Epidaurus: some

prosopographical notes”, BSA 80 (1983, 191-258, esp. 234-5 and Table 3, p.225.

For example, lC V. 1.579, 58 1, 582.

IG V. 1.607, cited by Spawforth (n. 14), 23 1. Hereditary priesthoods are apparently typical of other cults at Roman Sparta: cf. IG V. 1. 586,608.

l6 A. J. Spawforth, pers. comm., following extensive study of the inscriptions.

I* Spawforth (n.14). I Y On Brasidas, see now Spawforth (n. 14), 224-30.

lo Ihid., 230. h i d .

S . WALKER 133

Anthousa clearly must predate the Constitutio Antoniniana of 212. hypostatria, dresser of the cult statue.22

The iconography of the “Aberdeen reliefs” and the cult of Demeter at Kalyvia

The objects depicted on the reliefs are identified in the Appendix (p. 136). In general, it may be observed that no major item of dress is represented. Most of the objects refer to the grooming, decoration and covering of the hair, face and feet, and perhaps also to the cleansing of the body. Twelve objects appear on both reliefs. Apart from the staffs (812.1), and the inscribed bowl (812.24), Claudia Ageta’s relief contains no clear references to cult ritual. In contrast, eight objects which may be associated with religious rites are shown on Anthousa’s relief 8 1 1.1 and

The reliefs are cut from the same grey marble, most likely of Peloponnesian origin. However, Claudia Ageta’s relief is of higher quality than Anthousa’s. Indeed, the disparity in letter-forms suggested to Leake that the latter was of later date.23 This observation, supported by the different forms of the unguentaria (81 1.8 and 812.3 and 19), is, however, countered by prosopographical evidence, which suggests the reliefs are ~ontemporary.~~ The divergent quality and form of the two reliefs may alternatively be explained by the nature of Claudia Ageta’s relief, a more expensive commission and in some respects deliberately archaising. Given the hereditary nature of her office, some of the vessels may have been in her family for generations. The snood (812.23) is one of only two known examples of Roman sprang.25

The assemblage of objects on both reliefs reflects the mundus muliebris depicted on Attic vases of the classical period, and used by vase-painters to suggest that the scene in question related to women’s affairs, or took place in the gynaikonitis.26 We may also understand the objects on the “Aberdeen reliefs” as having both narrative and symbolic significance. Thus they may represent items used by the women during their terms of office, possibly for a specific festival which would thus have been commemorated on the reliefs, but they also tell the viewer that the cult of Demeter at Kalyvia was the concern of women, a characteristic reflected in the surviving inscriptions of classical, hellenistic and Roman date. With the exception of the kalathos 81 1.21, the objects do not recall any of the votives found in the post- war excavation of the classical sanctuary, nor is the assemblage strongly reminiscent of finds from other Roman sanctuaries of Demeter in the Greek It does, however, recall some of the votives given in the classical sanctuary of Brauronian Artemis.28 This too may be a reflection on the nature of the Spartan cult: apart from the staffs on Claudia Ageta’s relief

She is described as

15-21.

22 On hypostutriui, cf. remarks made by Newton in his commentary on GIBM cxli (n.6). 23 Leake (n.4). 24 C. Isings, Roman Glass from Dated Finds (Groningen, 1957), 40. For the prosopographical arguments favouring

a date of ca. AD 200 for both reliefs, see p.132 and n.21.

25 For another representation of Roman sprang, see P. E. Mottahadeh in Fest. Leo Mildenburg (Wetteren, 1984), 193-210. I owe this reference to Ian Jenkins, the author with D. J. R. Williams of “Sprang Hair Nets: their Manufacture and Use in Ancient Greece”, AJA 89 (1985), 41 1-18. A further paper by these authors is forthcoming in the Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University Vol. 47 (1988).

26E. Keuls, “Attic Vase-Painting and the Home Textile Industry” in W. G. Moon (ed.) Ancient Greek Art and Iconography (Madison, 1983), 209-30, esp. 221.

27 For example, Corinth: N. Bookidis, Hesperiu 41 (1972), 316, and pers. comm. 17.10.86. Cyrene: D. White, The Extramural Sanctuary of Demeter and Persephone at Cyrene, Libya. Final Reports. Vol. I (Philadelphia, 1984), 20-2. For the earlier finds from Kalyvia, see Cook (n.8).

’* J. Papadimitriou, Praktiku (1949), 85. L. Kahil, “Mythological repertoire of Brauron” in (ed. W. G. Moon), Ancient Greek Art and Iconography (Madison, 1983), 23 1-44. Note especially the objects depicted on a miniature lehes gamikos: 241, fig. 15.15. On the lists, see A. G. Woodward, Hesperia 32 (1963), 180-6.

134 THE GREEK RENAISSANCE IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE

(8 12.1 ), the identification of which is not certain, no evidence has yet been found for mysteries at Kalyvia. The dominance of women and apparent exclusion of men suggests that, like the cult of Artemis at Brauron, which was concerned with female fertility and childbirth,” the Spartan cult of Demeter was directed towards women’s needs. The depiction on Anthousa’s relief of a loincloth (8 1 1.5), a garment worn by women only during menstruation (and no doubt also after childbirth), would appear to support this view.

The context of the “Aberdeen reliefs”

1. Funerary sculptures? The identification of the reliefs as funerary sculptures, a matter raised in discussion following presentation of a shorter version of this paper at the colloquium, may be rejected. Though the iconography of the “Aberdeen reliefs” is markedly similar to that of Roman imperial tombstones in Asia Minor,?” to the decoration of some Etruscan chamber-tombs,” and, as noted above, to the decoration of some classical vases (both Attic and South Italian), most of which were found in tombs, no similar traditions are known in the funerary art of Roman Sparta. The texts do not address the viewer. The wreaths and staffs surrounding both reliefs explicitly refer to the cult of Demeter.

The similarity between the “Aberdeen reliefs” and funerary art of various cultures may be explained by shared purpose of iconography: as suggested above, the objects evoke a world of particular concern to women, whether an idealised view of women’s lives (as in funerary art), or (as in the “Aberdeen reliefs”), a religious cult in which women are known to have been dominant and men apparently excluded. This does not, of course, imply that objects decorated in similar fashion were intended to serve the same function.?’

2. A commemoration of priestly office? This would seem the likely purpose of the “Aberdeen reliefs”. Given the nature of Anthousa’s post as hypostatria, it is worth examining the possibility that the reliefs refer to the kosmesis of the cult statue.” Several hellenistic inscriptions from Delos are concerned with the accounts for this process, with reference to the cults of Artemis and Hera.14 The same items are listed on most of the texts: sponges; nitron (sodium carbonate); oil, sometimes specified as white (i.e. pure, uncoloured); thread or cord; wax; oil or perfume of roses.15 Only the identification of sponges is certain on the “Aberdeen reliefs”, though the glass unguentaria were evidently intended to hold perfume or oil, and it is possible that the mortars held nitron, which may have been mixed with oil to make soap. Needles are represented but not cord or wax. The vessels in the centre of each relief may be identified with some certainty as washing bowls.’h

’’) A. Kondis, ArchDelr 22 (1967) A, 156-206. L. Kahil (11.28).

”I M. Waelkens, Die kleinasiurischcn Turstcine (Mainz, 1986), passim. ” H. Blank and G. Proietti, La Tomha dei Rilievi a Cer.1,etei.i (Rome, 1986), 18-50: objects representing daily life at

x For a similar overlap between funerary and religious iconography, again concerning women, see G. Schneider-

33 See nn. 6 and 22.

3 4 / D 316,134; 354,1.67. 372A,1.79. 396A,1.72; /C x I , 2, 144,1.37; 161A,1.92. The texts are discussed by T. Homolle, BCH 14 (1890~ 497-503.

3s For a commentary on these requirements, Homolle (n.34). 498-9.

ZhM. J . Milne, “A Greek footbath in the Metropolitan Museum of Art”, AJA 48 (1944), does not include the “Aberdeen reliefs” in her extensive list of Roman representations of washing-bowls, pp.5 1-63. The use of such bowls is well illustrated in a red-figured oiitochoe from Ruvo: Schneider-Herrmann (n.33), p1.3, fig. 2 & 2a (= B5, p.20), and, possibly for washing a statue, on a Campana relief in the Louvre: S. Reinach, Rep. Re/. I1 (1912), 284. I . A satyr takes a sponge from the bowl, which is held by a woman.

home are contrasted with objects of military significance, shown in another part of the tomb.

Herrmann, Apuliun Red-Figured Pater-ae with Flat or Knobbed Handles, BlCS Suppl. 34 (1977), 35-7.

S. WALKER 135

Kosmesis has been understood as a technical process equivalent to ganosis as described by Vitruviu~.~~ Kosmesis was undertaken not only for reasons of conservation of sculptures, but also to clean and decorate statues for festivities - prior, say, to their being carried in procession.38 The reliefs might then commemorate the preparation of the cult statue of Demeter for a specific occasion.39

This interpretation, however, does not account for all of the objects shown on the reliefs. Moreover, other epigraphic evidence from Delos clearly states that the cleansing and oiling of statues was undertaken by professional male kosmetai, who were paid a salary greater than that offered to sculptors and Female kosmousai completed the preparation of statues by dressing them in woolen tunics and purple cloaks, by crowning them with golden crowns, and slipping rings on their fingers. One text specifies that these functions were performed by h iere iai .4 ’

Alternatively, then, and perhaps more satisfactorily, we may understand the “Aberdeen reliefs” as commemorating the grooming not of the cult statue but of the women themselves, again possibly for a specific festival. A third interpretation would have the objects recalling the ritual purification of these and other women participants in the cult before entering the temenos, or perhaps before eating the banquets recorded on so many of the inscriptions from K a l y ~ i a . ~ ~ It is even possible that the inscribed basins held water for such a purpose; their interiors are significantly more weathered than the surrounding decorated surfaces, suggesting that water may have been allowed to collect in them. At Eleusis, archaising statues of young women holding out water-basins were set beside the entrance to the sanctuary, for the use of visitors.43 The depiction on each relief of two pairs of sandals, each of different design, may be of significance here. Possibly one pair was worn before ablutions and the other afterwards. Similar sandals are shown on Roman tombstones from Nakoleia and Dorylaion (Phrygia); these are thought to recall visits to local mineral baths.44

The setting and later history of the reliefs

The weathered basins imply that the reliefs were set horizontally as panels in the floor, in which visitors may have stepped, or upon a raised platform. The bird’s-eye perspective employed for some of the objects, and the radial disposition of the objects on Anthousa’s relief also suggest that the reliefs were intended to be seen from above. At 26 cm, however, the stones are too thick for paving. They are roughly worked on all but the decorated surfaces.

Two channels 66 cm long and 2.5 cm deep, and 70 cm long and 3 cm deep, cut in the left side of Ageta’s relief and along the top of Anthousa’s relief, do not extend along the full length of the stones. They are unlikely to be of structural significance and may have helped drainage. Though the channels appear of ancient workmanship, they may not be contemporary with the

37 See Homolle (n.35), and P. Reutersward, Studien zur Polychromie der Plastik: Griechenland und Rom

38 On the annual preparation of a new statue of Dionysos for a festival, see Homolle (11.33, 499 and 502-3. On the

3 9 0 n the construction of the acrolithic statue of Athena made for her sanctuary at Priene, see J. C. Carter, The

40 Homolle (1~33,499. 41 Ihid., 500 n.6.

42Ginouvts (n.39), 311-18. On podanipteres and portable basins used in sanctuaries, ihid., 315-6, and on the

43 G. E. Mylonas, Eleusis and the Eleusinian Mysteries (Princeton, 1961), 202 and fig. 77.

(Stockholm, 1960), 70.

anthropomorphism of Kosmesis, see R. Ginouvks, Balanautike‘ (Paris, 1962), 283.

Sanctuary ofAthena Polias at Priene (London, 1983), 21 1-13; 220-3.

provision of water in sanctuaries of Demeter, 380-3.

Waelkens (n.30), 12.

I36 THE GREEK RENAISSANCE IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE

original use of the reliefs in the sanctuary. In late antiquity the reliefs were evidently set upright and back to back to support a millstone, traces of the action of which may still be seen on the upper surfaces of both reliefs.

Conclusion

The “Aberdeen reliefs” may with some confidence be associated with the cult of Eleusinian Demeter at Kalyvia. The priestess Claudia Ageta, a member of a senatorial family, typifies the interest in the cult shown by the Spartan elite. The decoration of the reliefs is concerned with cleansing and grooming, possibly of the cult statue but more likely of the officials named in the inscriptions or of other participants in the cult. The reliefs may commemorate a specific festival, but they also indicate that the cult was the concern of women, a feature confirmed by other evidence from Kalyvia.

The apparent revival of the cult in the later second century AD, and a certain archaism in the iconography of the reliefs, are features typical of public life in later second century A ~ h a i a . ~ ~

APPENDIX: CATALOGUE OF THE OBJECTS DEPICTED ON THE ” ABERDEEN RELIEFS”

GR 1861.5-23.1 Sc.811. GZBM cxli. Relief of Anthousa.

H. 89 cm W. 89 cm Th. 26 cm.

81 1.1. Circular wreath. The symmetrical wreath has two sets of poppies, vine, grapes, pine-cones, wheat and pomegranates, bound with a triple ribbon. (The objects within the wreath are described clockwise from the top.)

Box with a hinged lid containing three jars. The jars resemble four glass jars for cosmetics, set in a wooden box divided in four compartments, from Akhmim, Egypt, and now in the British Museum (EA 20774). J. D. Cooney, Catalogue of Egyptian Antiquities in the British Museum IV: Glass (London, 1976), 100-1, no. 1060, where the date is given as 2nd-3rd century AD.

Pair of thonged sandals with thin straps, decorated at the insteps with an ivy leaf. For similar sandals on Phrygian funerary reliefs, see Waelkens (n.30), 125, nos. 297-9 (from Nakoleia, undated); 133, nos. 327-8 (from Dorylaion; 1 st-2nd century AD).

Mortar and pestle with pumice. Both mortar and pestle are probably of marble. Unlike 8 12.9, this mortar has no pouring lug. The identification of the pumice is based on its resemblance to pumice preserved in “Tutu’s Box”, a cosmetic chest from Thebes, now in the British Museum (EA 24708). The box was made about 1300 BC for Tutu, wife of the scribe Ani.

8 I 1.2.

81 1.3.

81 1.4.

81 1.5. Loincloth. For similar loincloths worn by men see R. Hall, Egyptian Textiles (Aylesbury, 1986), 35, fig. 24. An unpublished stained loincloth evidently worn by a woman was found at Qasr Ibr’him (information by courtesy of Hero Granger-Taylor).

811.6. Spatula.

4s A. J . S. Spawforth and S. Walker, JRS 75 (1985), 78-104, and 76 (1986), 88-105.

S. WALKER 137

81 1.7

81 1.8.

811.9.

81 1.10.

811.11.

811.12.

811.13.

811.14.

811.15.

811.16.

811.17.

811.18.

Compare the shape of a fragmentary crude spatula found at Colchester: N. Crummy, Colchester Archaeological Report 2 (Colchester, 1983), 63, fig.68, no. 1949.

Strigil with rectangular looped handle. Compare three Roman strigils with similar handles but narrower blades from Cyprus, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York: G. M. A. Richter, Greek, Etruscan and Roman Bronzes (New York, 1915), 297-8, nos. 861-3.

Unguentarium. C. Isings, Roman Glass from Dated Finds (Groningen, 1957), 40, Form 26 (with base ring). The sharply sloping sides suggest a later date than the unguentaria 812.3 and 20.

A pin and a pick (?) The pin (r.) resembles common bone pins with rounded head and slightly swelling shaft, eg. Crummy 21-2, Type 3. The pick (? 1) has a small suspension loop, appearing here at the base. Compare Crummy 61-2, nos. 1940-1941.

Sponge in a case with a hinged lid. The lid would keep the sponge clean and moist. See p. 134-5 and n.37.

Thonged sandal with narrow straps, undecorated. See 8 1 1.3.

Snood. The decoration may have been painted. I. D. Jenkins, Greek and Roman Life (London, 1986), 26, fig.28d.

Mirror. Similar in form to 812.8, though from the surviving evidence the handle appears to be simpler.

Comb. The two rows of teeth, spaced at different intervals, are set in a narrow plate. Compare the inscribed ivory comb in the British Museum, GR 1904.2-14.1168: I. D. Jenkins (1986), 28, fig.32. Many combs are represented on Asiatic gravestones, often in the context of combing wool: Waelkens (n.30).

Torch. An attribute of Demeter used in the purificatory rites of Hercules illustrated on the “Lovatelli urn” from Rome: Mylonas, (n.44), 207 and fig.83. For two immense marble torches found at Eleusis, see Mylonas, 204.

Spindle wound with wool. For a wooden spindle of the first century AD, see I. D. Jenkins (1986), 20, fig. 19. Fig. 22, p.22. illustrates the well-known white ground oinochoe attributed to the Brygos Painter, showing a woman spinning.

Distaff. Compare the representation of the spindle and distaff on Phrygian tombstones: Waelkens (n.30).

Two-handled bowl, most likely used for washing (see p. 135 and n.36). Inscribed ANTHOUSE/DAMAINETOU/YPOSTATRIA.

I38 THE GREEK RENAISSANCE IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE

81 1.19. Situla A situla appears on two Campana reliefs with a scene of a youth washing a hem. One of two female attendants carries the situla in her right hand: S. Reinach, Rep. Rel. I1 (1912), 284.1 and 111, 267.2. For a situla on a tombstone from Dorylaion, see Waelkens 133, n.328.

Small chest, perhaps used to store or carry some of the objects shown on the relief. Compare the shape of an elaborately decorated chest from Pompeii: E. Pemice, Die hellenistische Kunst in Pompeji Band V (Berlin, 1932), 76-9, Taf. 46, and Waelkens 133, Nr. 327 (from Dorylaion).

8 1 1.20.

81 1.21. Kalathos Ceramic kalathoi were found in the classical Eleusinion at Kalyvia: Cook (n.9), 273-4; P1.27.14. They are very common on Phrygian tombstones: Waelkens (n. 30).

GR 1861.5-23.2. Sc.812. GZBM cxlii. Relief of Claudia Ageta.

H. 69 cm W. 107 cm Th. 26 cm

812.1. Staffs (?) Around the perimeter of the relief are laid eight staffs (?). On the left side (and most likely on the right side, now destroyed), are two bundles of laurel, the leaves meeting at the centre where they are tied with a plain fillet. Above are two bundles of laurel, wheat and pine-cones flanking four fruits (?) grouped around a pomegranate laid on vine-leaves. Below are two bundles of laurel, wheat, poppies and vines, tied at the base of each bundle in the centre of the relief with a knot of Hercules. The corners of the relief are masked by calyces of leaves. The eight bundles, set in opposed pairs, are each too short to form a wreath. Each bundle faces in a different direction to its neighbour on the adjacent side of the stone. The disposition of the bundles may have purely decorative significance. However, the bundles on the short sides of the relief may be compared with the bound garlands or wreaths decorating the cistae carried by the monumental caryatids from Eleusis, where the laurel leaves are decorated with miniature poppies: L. Budde and R. V. Nicholls, A Catalogue of Sculpture in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge (Cambridge, 1964), 48, no. 81 and pl. 24-5. Mylonas (n.43), 159, identifies the same feature as a representation of the bacchos, a staff or myrtle branches bound with wool carried by initiates into the Eleusinian mysteries. On the caryatids and the “Aberdeen reliefs” the branches are of laurel, not myrtle, but their form is akin to that of the staffs carried by Hercules and Eumolpus on a pelike of the Eleusinian painter now in Leningrad: K. Schefold, Die Gottersage in der klassischen und hellenistischen Kunst (Munich, 1981), 66-7, fig.80-81, and to the staffs represented on the “Regina vasorum” in the same collection: X. Gorbunova and I. Saverkina, Greek and Roman Antiquities in the Hermitage (Leningrad, 1973, p1.74-75.

The objects are described clockwise, starting in the centre of the top of the relief).

8 12.2. Mixing palette or small tray.

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812.3

8 12.4.

8 12.5.

8 12.6.

812.7.

8 12.8.

812.9.

8 12.10.

812.11.

812.12.

812.13.

8 12.14.

812.15.

8 12.16.

Many oval palettes have survived from antiquity. Most do not have such a prominent raised lip. For two rectangular cosmetic palettes with bevelled edges found at Colchester, see Crummy 57, nos. 1865, 1867 (of onyx and greenstone).

Unguentarium. Isings 40, Form 26. A smaller version of 812.20. A form typical of the early empire.

Toilet spoon. Compare Crummy 60, no. 1921 (with a v-sectioned scoop).

Pair of thonged sandals with wide straps. See 8 1 1.3.

Pair of thonged sandals with narrow straps. See 8 1 1.3.

Cakes of cosmetics (?) On the use of natron in purificatory rites, see Robert Robertson, Fuller’s Earth. A History (Hythe, 1986), 18; for the use of Chian earth as a cosmetic, idem, 60.

Spoon. The short handle and convex bowl are typical of ligulae of the first and early second centuries AD. See D. E. Strong, Greek and Roman Gold and Silver Plate (1966), 155, fig.32.

Mortar with pouring lug, pestle and pumice. For a Carrara marble mortar with pouring lug from Colchester, see Crummy 76-7, no. 2082. For a marble pestle, ibid. no. 2087. For the pumice, see 81 1.4.

Hinged box with six kohl pots (?) The circular objects standing proud of the container closely resemble the lids of circular kohl pots, which have stoppers on the underside.

Strigil with short handle. Compare the “Graeco-Roman” strigil from Bursa (Bithynia), now in Boston: M. Comstock and C. C. Vermeule, Greek, Etruscan and Roman Bronzes in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (Boston, 1971), 426, no. 616.

Comb. See 811.14.

Two needles. Probably metal. Compare the Type 2 needles from Colchester: Crummy 66 fig. 70, nos. 1976-7, 1982. In use from the first century onwards.

Sponge in a case with a hinged lid. See 811.10.

“Candlestick” unguentarium. Isings 97 Form 82, Type B1 (club-shaped). In use from the Neronian period to the 4th century AD. Mostly 2nd-3rd century.

Small comb. Of similar shape to the large combs 8 1 1.14 and 8 12.12. Compare a small comb from Oxyrhyncus, (EA 50143), now in the British Museum, dated to post-300

140

812.17.

8 12.18.

812.19.

8 12.20.

8 12.21.

8 12.22.

8 12.23.

8 12.24.

THE GREEK RENAISSANCE IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE

BC. W. F. Petrie, Objects of Everyday Use (Warminster and Encino, 1974), 26, no.21 (Pl. XX): Roman comb from Lahun.

Pin. Of narrow diameter, with a small conical head. Compare the silver hair-pin from Colchester illustrated by Crummy, 29, fig.28, no. 480.

Mirror with handle in the form of Hercules’ club. Most likely 1 st century AD. For examples from Pompeii and Boscoreale, see G. Lloyd-Morgan in (ed. H. McK. Blake, T.W. Potter, D. B. Whitehouse), Papers in Italian Archaeology I (BAR Suppl. Series I [ 19781, 23 1 and 233 n.23. For a silver mirror of this type in the British Museum (GR 1856.12-26.808) see P. Craddock, AntJ 63.1 (1 983), 13 1-2 & 134.

Unguentarium and stopper. Of similar form to 8 12.3, but larger.

Case for perfume pin (?) The division between case and lid is clearly marked. Long pins, often elaborately decorated, were dipped in phials of perfume and used to part the hair. See E. Macnamara, Everyday Life of the Etruscans (London, 1973), 115-6, fig.68A. For a small bronze pin in a bronze case in the British Museum, EA 29070 (case); 1885.1 1- 1.490 (pin).

Spoon or Flat Mirror. Compare a bronze spoon with almost flat bowl from the Ackworth Collection, now in the Department of Egyptian Antiquities, The British Museum (unregistered), and a spoon in the Muse6 du Louvre composed of a shell with a long handle riveted onto it: J. Vandier d’Abbadie, Cat. des objets de toilette Pgyptiens (Paris, 1972), 27 no. 2178, Cat. no. 52. Two classical flat mirrors from Greece are not dissimilar, though the long handles do not end with a point: P. Oberlander, Griechische Handspiegeln (Diss. Hamburg, 1967), 46 no. 59 and 48, no. 65.

Dish in the form of a shell. This may be a natural shell, or an imitation. For scallop-shell dishes in glass, silver and bronze, see F. Fremersdorf, Romisches geformtes Glas in Koln (1961), 73-4 and Taf. 154-7.

Sprang snood. One of early two known examples of Roman sprang. See p. 133 and n.25.

Two-handled bowl, most likely used for washing. Inscribed KLAUAGHTAANTIPATROU/IEREIA. See 8 1 1.18.

Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities The British Museum

Acknowledgements

Among the many friends and colleagues who have helped me with this paper I should like to thank Donald Bailey, Nancy Bookidis, Hero Granger-Taylor, Ian Jenkins, Glenys Lloyd-

S. WALKER 141

Morgan, Alexandros Mantis, Kenneth Painter, Tony Spawforth, Miriam Stead, Judith Swaddling and Dyfri Williams. The photographs are reproduced by courtesy of the Trustees of the British Museum. The keys to the photographs were drawn by Susan Bird. The text was prepared for publication by Miss Susan Burch.

Illustrations (Plates 51-52)

Fig. 1. Sc.8 1 1. Relief of Anthousa. Fig. 2. Sc.8 12. Relief of Claudia Ageta.