Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-09-09
TANAGRA FIGURINES.
Reason Why These Delicate Objects
Were Entombed With the Greeks.

From Academy Notes.
Among the various objects placed in the
grave these statuettes of terra Gotta were
by far the most Interesting. They formed a
little world themselves of infinite variety.
in which were found every style, every
fashion and every period; figurines OF men
and women - statuettes of divinities and
spirits, jointed figures like puppets and hol-
low figures with stone inside like rattles:
animals of every kind; statuettes of every
degree Of merit-rudimentary or exquisite
all differing from another according to
circumstances and date.
The tiny statuettes vary considerably in
size The largest are as much as fifteen
inches in height while the smallest only
measure two or three inches. but the great
er number reach a height of about eight
inches when seated, from five to seven
inches when kneeling and eight to ten
inches standing.
One person endeavors to show, with an
astonishing degree Of argument. that these
figurines, so delicate and fanciful. have
religious and symbolic meaning. and that
under their mundane appearance are con-
cealed the great and mysterious divinities
of the lower world. On the other hand, an
other person. with a simpler and more or
binary explanation, seeks for representa-
tives of daily life in these graceful stat
uettes.
figurines were placed in the tombs, and in
order to reach solution in this respect
1t may be worth while to recall coneep-
lions which the Greeks held of the life be-
yond the grave. For them life did not como
to an abrupt close at death. but In the
tomb where the body was imprisoned an
obscure existence was maintained, with all
the needs and pleasures and desires Of hui
manity. Even in a later time. when the
Greeks pictured to themselves that the
souls Of the dead assembled in hades. their
only conception of the future life was as a
repetition of life on earth.
1t was, therefore. the duty of the living
to supply food to the dead. who continued
an existence In the tomb, and for this rea-
SON wine. cakes and milk were placed upon
the grave, and this is also why on occa-
sional anniversaries funeral banquets were
celebrated there. at which time the shade
of the dead man was thought to be pres
emit although invisible. 1t was the sacred
duty of the living to see that in the soli-
tude of the tomb the departed were sur
ronded by the objects they had cared for
on earth. and therefore these things were
all placed in the tomb
II was also thought that they must take
their friends and companions down with
them into the other world In order to re-
commence their pleasures tnere. For TINS
them, and in early times slaves and cap
tive women were often sacrificed that they
might go down to hades to wait upon the
departed or enliven his lonely existence. To
cheer the departed In the depths OF the
tomb and to protect him during the danger
Gus tourney was the twofold desire by
which the piety of the survivors was in
spired The Egyptians placed statuettes In
the tomb to answer to the summons OF the
departed and to aid him In the cultivation
of celestial fields and to form devoted es-
cort around him. and to secure him inn
mortality.
The Assyrians. from similar motive.
placed In their graves igurines designed
to avert the hostilities of the ethnoic pow
ara md this too Is the object OF the
pulchral idols found in the ancient burial
grounds at Rhodes. which represented the
guardian divinities OF the tomb and af-
forded escort and society," for the departed.