Greece.—In the prehistoric period known as Mycenaean, the inhabitants of Greek lands probably buried their dead and did not cremate them. It is possible, however, that a partial burning was in vogue in this and the succeeding periods in Greece. In the case of the more wealthy Mycenaean dead, the bodies were elaborately decked with gold ornaments. Oval plates of gold were tied over the forehead and mouth of the corpse, in the latter case (where the impression of the lips can be seen) perhaps with the idea of keeping out evil spirits. The window-cases in the Gold Ornament Room contain many examples of these funeral diadems and mouthpieces from Cyprus. In the Homeric poems we find the bodies of the dead burnt upon a pyre and the ashes buried beneath a mound.

Scenes representing the preparation of the body for cremation or burial are frequently depicted on Greek vases. They occur on the large "Dipylon" vases, made specially for standing outside the tomb (see examples in the First Vase Room), and on black-figure vases, where the body is seen lying on the bier surrounded by mourners. It is, however, upon the white lekythi of the fifth century (No. 668; fig. 257), one of which is here illustrated, that funeral scenes are most commonly found. We know from Greek literature that these vases were expressly made for putting in tombs. A speaker in the Ekklesiazusae of Aristophanes talks of "the man who paints the lekythi for the dead."¹⁰⁵ On the vase here figured a woman is making offerings at the tombstone. These offerings were made by the relatives from time to time, and consisted mainly of sashes, wreaths, and vases, as may be seen from the vases placed in the Case. The Greek funeral monuments of the best period are characterised by their restrained beauty. Examples of the different types will be found in the Phigaleian Room downstairs and in the Gallery of Casts. In the Cases 59-60, the only tombstones are the archaic one of Idagygos of Halikarnassos (No. 669; fig. 258) found in Cyprus, inscribed with an elegiac couplet in which he is called "the squire of Ares,"¹⁰⁶ and a round stone (No. 670) with a late inscription showing that the tomb was that of Menestratos, a Corinthian buried in Attic soil. The Greek tombs were generally ranged on either side of the main roads leading from the city gates.

A terracotta urn of about the third century B.C. (No. 671) in Case 60 serves as an example of the vases used to contain the calcined remains of the dead. It holds a number of burnt bones, among them part of a jaw-bone, with a silver obol adhering to it. The coin was placed in the mouth of the corpse as the fee of the ferryman Charon for piloting the dead across Acheron. The gilded figure of a Siren found in this vase is emblematic of the spirit world.

Two later monuments with Greek inscriptions are the marble chests in Cases 61-62. Each has a lock-plate (cf. those in Case G), carved in front in low relief. No. 672 is the cinerary chest of Metras Tryphon, who had been publicly crowned by the people of Ephesus, and has this crown represented on his urn. The second chest (No. 673), from the temple of Kybele at Sardes, is inscribed with the name of Metrodoros, who is called a "sprinkler" (περιράντης) no doubt with reference to an office held by him in the temple service. Below this chest is a marble cup from Rhodes (No. 674), bearing the inscription: "The burying-place of those who have lost their ancestral tomb." This cup, which is ornamented above with flying birds and has holes for a metal attachment, seems to have been set on a column as a boundary mark.

Italy.—In the earliest period inhumation was the custom in Italy, but cremation gradually became more and more common. The Twelve Tables (450 B.C.) show both practices prevailing side by side. The hut-urns (Nos. 675 and 676; fig. 259) found at Monte Albano, near Rome, are evidence of cremation having been practised at a very early date in Italy (eighth to seventh century B.C.). They served as receptacles for the ashes of the dead, and are an instance of the custom of making the last resting-place of the deceased as like as possible to his habitation during life. They represent rude wattled huts, in which the roof-beams of rough branches can be clearly distinguished. The Etruscan tomb-chambers, one of which is shown in a picture in Case 59, furnish a later instance (seventh to sixth century B.C.) of sepulchres built in imitation of living-rooms. A small model (in Case 59) of an Etruscan built tomb shows the skeleton in armour, with painted vases placed about it (No. 677). The Etruscan cinerary urns are distinguished by the frequent introduction of the portrait. The "Canopic" urns, which take the shape of jars roughly in the form of a human body and head, are especially noteworthy. The example illustrated (No. 678, fig. 260), probably of the seventh century B.C., has the face pierced with numerous holes, most likely for the attachment of a mask. Two Etruscan sepulchral masks (No. 679) in terracotta, of about the end of the sixth century B.C., are exhibited near the Canopic urn and are shown in fig. 261. These remarkable masks are covered with incised designs, most likely of magic significance, intended to avert evil from the dead. A separate half-mask (No. 680) of this type is exhibited here, and another will be found with the objects illustrating superstition in Case 106. In these masks we can see the innate Italian tendency to preserve the features of the dead, and we may perhaps recognise in them the origin of the waxen portrait masks of his ancestors which the Roman noble set up in his hall. The portrait is again found on the lid of the sixth-century Etruscan funeral urn (No. 681; fig. 262) in Case 59. Here a draped woman lies on a couch of elaborate form, decorated below with a relief of two lions devouring a bull. A kindred type of Etruscan funeral monument will be seen in the two large terracotta sarcophagi in the Terracotta Room.

With rare exceptions (conspicuously in the case of members of the noble families of the Cornelian house and all infants) the Romans, during the period of the Republic, burned their dead. This system continued under the early Empire, but gradually gave way to burial under the influence of Christianity. Several examples of Roman cinerary urns and sepulchral relief are here shown. These urns are of various shapes, but the altar-form (No. 682; fig. 263) was specially favoured. The inscription gives the names of L. Dexius Clymenus and C. Sergius Alcimus. The latter, a child of three and a quarter, is stated to have received his portion of corn on the tenth day at the office of distribution numbered XXXIX, a curious side-light on the practice of free distribution of corn under the Roman Empire, already noticed above (p. 11). Other Roman funeral urns which may be mentioned are the vase (No. 683) with the remains of L. Laelius Victor, a soldier of the fourteenth city cohort, and the alabaster caskets numbered 684 and 685. These urns of the wealthier classes were generally deposited in a vault underneath a monument placed at the side of one of the great roads leading from the city gates. Those, however, who could not afford such expensive monuments subscribed for a joint tomb (columbarium), a large chamber containing in its walls numerous niches for the urns. An interesting tablet (No. 686) in Case 62 throws light on the arrangements adopted in the case of these joint tombs. It is inscribed with the name of P. Sontius Philostorgus and marked the niche in which the urn containing his ashes was placed. The inscription reads: "Lot I in block III." From other inscriptions of the same character it appears that the niches were arranged in five horizontal rows of thirty-six, and that each of the members of the burial club was allotted one place in each of the five rows.

Another noteworthy monument is (No. 687) an inscribed relief of the first century B.C., belonging to Aurelius Hermia, a butcher from the Viminal hill, and his wife Aurelia Philematio(n), who are seen clasping hands (fig. 264). The husband praises the virtues of his wife, and the wife those of her husband, her fellow-freedman, who had been more than a father to her. Other interesting inscriptions from tombstones are No. 688, on a hunting dog named Margarita, a great favourite with her master and mistress, who died in giving birth to puppies, and No. 689, which sheds light on the memorial ceremonies after burial. A testator here leaves seven twenty-fourths of the rent accruing from a block of flats to his freedmen and freedwomen, on condition that they celebrate his memory four times in a year—on his birthday, the Day of Roses, the Day of Violets, and the feast of the Parentalia, the last the Roman All Souls' Day, held publicly in February, but privately on the anniversary of the day of death. A lighted lamp, with incense, was to be placed on the tomb on the Kalends, Nones, and Ides, the three dividing days of each month.

The funeral wreaths from Hawara (Cases 57, 58; No. 666, see p. 219) are an instance of offerings at tombs belonging to the Roman period. They have been so thoroughly preserved in the dry climate of Egypt that the different varieties of flowers can still be distinguished.

(668) Cf. Murray and Smith, White Athenian Vases in the B.M.; (669) B.M. Inscr. 971; (670) ibid., 102; (671) Cat. of Terracottas, C 12 and 13; (672) Cat. of Sculpt., II., 1277; (674) ibid., III., 2400; (675) Cf. Walters, Hist. of Anc. Pottery, II., p 288; (678) ibid. II., p. 304 ff; (679) Benndorf, Ant. Gesichtshelme, p. 42, pl. xi; (681) Cat. of Terracottas, B 629; (682) Cat. of Sculpt., III., 2359; (683) ibid., 2402; (684) and (685) ibid., 2420 and 2425; (686) Dessau, Inscr. Lat. Selectae, 7892 a; (687) Cat. of Sculpt., III., 2274; (688) C.I.L. VI., 29,896; (689) C.I.L. VI., 10,248.

On Greek tombstones, see Conze, Attische Grabreliefs; P. Gardner, Sculptured tombs of Hellas. On Roman monuments, Altmann, Röm. Grabaltäre.

105:  Aristoph., Ekkl. 996:

106: