Harpy Tomb
36°21′24.5″N 29°19′4.7″E / 36.356806°N 29.317972°E
The Harpy Tomb is a marble chamber from a
.The marble chamber is carved in the Greek Archaic style. Along with much other material in Xanthos it is heavily influenced by Greek art, but there are also indications of non-Greek influence in the carvings. The reliefs are reminiscent of reliefs at Persepolis.[2][1] The monument takes its name from the four carved female winged figures, resembling Harpies. The identities of the carved figures and the meaning of the scenes depicted are uncertain, but it is generally now agreed that the winged creatures are not Harpies. The Lycians absorbed much of Greek mythology into their own culture and the scenes may represent Greek deities, but it is also possible they are unknown Lycian deities. An alternative interpretation is that they represent scenes of judgement in the afterlife and scenes of supplication to Lycian rulers.
The carvings were removed from the tomb in the 19th century by archaeologist Charles Fellows and taken to England. Fellows visited Lycia in 1838 and reported finding the remains of a culture that until then was virtually unknown to Europeans. After obtaining permission from the Turkish authorities to remove stone artefacts from the region, Fellows collected a large amount of material from Xanthos under commission from the British Museum in London, where the reliefs are now on display. According to Melanie Michailidis, though bearing a "Greek appearance", the Harpy Tomb, the Nereid Monument and the Tomb of Payava were built according main Zoroastrian criteria "by being composed of thick stone, raised on plinths off the ground, and having single windowless chambers".[3]
Lycian culture
Lycian culture was at one time viewed as a branch of Greek culture by scholars, especially from the
Lycia occupied a strategic position between Europe and the Near East. The Greek and Persian worlds met in Lycia, and the Lycians were heavily influenced by both. At one period Persian influence would dominate and at another, Greek, resulting in Lycian culture being an amalgam of both.[4][7]
Greek influence is found in Lycia from an early date. The Lycian alphabet is derived from
Mythology
Lycia features heavily in Greek mythology. The
These stories may well not have originally been part of Lycian mythology, but may have been borrowed from the Greek. The Greek goddess Leto, for example, may have been equated with the Lycian mother goddess. Having incorporated Leto into their pantheon, the rest of the Greek stories followed naturally.[15] Certainly, the temple to Leto was of some importance in Xanthos. It would appear that the Lycians actively encouraged this synthesis in order to promote themselves as part of the Greek family.[16]
Another story from Greek mythology concerns the origin of the name of the country. According to the myth, Lycia is named after Lycus, the son of Pandion, king of Athens. Prior to Lycus becoming their leader, the Lycians were known as Termilae. Lycus was later to help remove the usurper Metion from the throne of Athens.[17] The real origin of the name, however, would appear to be a derivation of Lukka, the name of the country found in Hittite records.[18]
Lycian sculpture
Lycian architecture and sculpture depicts skills similar to the Greeks, but to the Greeks, the Lycians, along with other non-Greek peoples of southwestern Anatolia, were often viewed as barbarians. From c. 550 BC,
Pillar tombs are the earliest form of tomb found in Lycia and go back to the sixth century BC, first appearing c. 540 BC. The pillar tombs appear to be reserved for leading dynasts. House tombs and
The Harpy Tomb belongs to the Late
Tomb
The tomb was built in Xanthos in the Persian Achaemenid Empire (present-day Antalya Province, Turkey), for an Iranian prince or governor of the city.[1][2] The Harpy Tomb is in the Acropolis of Xanthos to the north of where the Roman theatre now stands and on its west side. It would have originally stood on the edge of the marketplace. The original pillar is still in place; Fellows took only the sculptures, which have been replaced with cement casts of the originals.[23][24]
The tomb is the only
The space inside the tomb was later occupied by an early Christian hermit. Fellows noted that the backs of the reliefs still bore the remains of the hermit's religious paintings and monograms. Fellows speculates that this man was a disciple of
Construction
The tomb is a large square of carved marble panels. Each side is 7 feet (2.1 m) in length and 3 feet 3 inches (1.0 m) in height. It was originally set upon a large oblong stone pedestal, 17 feet (5.2 m) high, making it an example of a pillar tomb. The top of the pillar has a hollowed out chamber creating a space inside the tomb 7 feet 6 inches (2.3 m) tall from the bottom of the hollow to the top of the reliefs. All four sides are carved with similar relief panels in one of which (the south side[n 1]) is a small opening to allow a body to be placed in the tomb. This aperture may originally have been closed with a stele. The tomb is roofed with what appear to be three large slabs, one above the other. In fact, the capstone is one single piece, weighing 15 to 20 tons, carved to give the appearance of three layers. Each false slab overlaps the ones below to form an entablature. All the parts, except the sculptured reliefs, are made from local grey-blue limestone.[24][25][26][27][28][29]
Style
The tomb, along with many other artefacts from Lycia of the period, is in the Greek Archaic style. If the dating is accurate (480–470 BC)[n 2] the Archaic style continued in Lycia for some time after it had become unfashionable in Greece. The sculptures may have been carved by Ionian Greek craftsmen, if not they are heavily influenced by them. There are some features of the carvings that definitely suggest a non-Greek origin. The female faces have full lips and large eyes that are typically Lycian.[10][26][27][30]
Reliefs
The reliefs show seated figures receiving gifts from standing figures. At the left and right edges on the north and south sides[n 1] are winged female creatures with bird bodies (the "Harpies"). The winged creatures are carrying away small childlike figures.[27]
Between the winged creatures on the north side is a seated figure receiving a helmet from a standing warrior; under the chair is a bear. Under the winged creature on the right is a kneeling female supplicant. Between the winged creatures on the south side is a seated figure of uncertain sex receiving a dove from a standing female. The seated figure is holding a pomegranate in the left hand and an unidentified object (possibly fruit or an egg) in the right hand.[26]
On the west side are two females seated on thrones and facing each other. Their breasts are large and the nipples and areolae can be seen through their thin clothing. The one on the right holds in her right hand a flower and in her left a pomegranate. The one on the left holds in her right hand a
On the east side is a male figure seated on a throne, holding in his right hand a pomegranate flower and being offered a
It is thought the carvings on the monument were originally brightly painted. At the time of Fellows' discovery of the monument, the remains of blue paint were found in the backgrounds of the reliefs. Traces of red paint have also been found on other parts.[28]
From left to right: west side, south side, east side (left detail), east side (centre detail), north side |
Assessment
The reliefs on the tomb show "a Greek–Lycian version of the audiences depicted at Persepolis".[2]
Leo Raditsa, in the
Instead of a miniaturized official before the Great King as at Persepolis, a boy offers a cock and a
Persians, this ritual gesture of offering had a different significance for each. All saw the same thing and understood it differently – but not differently enough to be unaware that there were other ways of understanding what they saw. For a Greek the scene might depict the worship of a hero; for a Persian, an audience before the Persian governor of Xanthus, faintly reminiscent of the audiences before the Great King in Persepolis. These portrayals of Persia on a small scale reflect in their physical dispositions the spiritual idea of maintaining promises of obedience to superiors; everyone expected from those below him what the granted those above him. Greek craftsmen appear to have done all this work for Persian patrons – with the exception of objects found in graves and seal rings (impressions of many of which were found at Dascylion), which are of Persian manufacture.[2]
Interpretations
The seated figures are thought to be Lycian gods or deified ancestors. Among the possible identities for the seated figures on the north and south sides are Harpagus, the Median general who became the founder of the Lycian dynasty, and Kybernis, a later king of Lycia. Kybernis is proposed as a possible identity of the occupant of the tomb. Another view is that they are generalised scenes of judgement in Hades rather than earthly rulers. Consistent with this view is the interpretation of the south figure as Persephone, the Queen of the Underworld. The figures to the left and right of the opening may be the goddesses Demeter and Persephone respectively.[26][27][32][n 3]
The repeated use of the pomegranate in the symbolism is not accidental. Not just in Lycia, but throughout Asia Minor, the Greek world, and Palestine, the pomegranate was widely recognised as a symbol of fructification and procreation. Conversely, it is also a symbol of change and death. This symbolism can be helpful in identifying the deities in the reliefs. The pomegranate is a suitable gift for a goddess of sexuality such as Aphrodite who herself planted the original pomegranate on Cyprus. It is not a suitable gift for an intellectual goddess such as Athena. The pomegranate can have an overtly sexual meaning; Demeter complains that her daughter Persophone was "forced to eat the seed of a pomegranate" in the underworld, by which it is understood that she was raped.[33]
The winged creatures are likely not Harpies, but this misidentification has stuck in the name of the monument. A better match is to the
Removal of the sculptures
The sculpted reliefs were taken to England by Charles Fellows, who had been commissioned by the British Museum to bring back artefacts after they learned of his 1838 exploration of the region.[34] Until then, Lycian culture was virtually unknown in Western Europe. The tomb was (and still is, minus its reliefs) located in the Acropolis of Xanthos.[26][27]
Fellows received permission in October 1841 from the
A further delay was caused by a disagreement with Graves. It transpired that the ship had not brought suitable tackle for lifting the heavier pieces. Fellows wanted Graves to return to Malta immediately to fetch the necessary equipment, but Graves requested further orders from his superiors before doing so, which took some time to arrive. The Beacon did not finally return until March 1842.[25]
To remove the sculptures of the Harpy Tomb the capstone, which may have weighed as much as twenty tons and was resting on the sculptured sides, had to be lifted off, causing the sides of the tomb to fall in. Fellows, who had left the sailors to carry out this task in their own way, remarked "but the sculptured parts did not receive more injury than they probably would have done from a more scientific operation". The sculptures of another monument at Xanthos, the
Notes
- ^ a b The cardinal directions are given according to the orientation of the tomb in its original location, not as it is oriented now.
- ^ The dating is not very certain and had previously been put at as much as half a century earlier. This has continually been revised to later dates. Bond (p.12) writing shortly after the discovery puts the date at beyond 500BC, and is followed by Murray (p.121). Keen (1998, p.90) has 480–470 BC and Jenkins (2006, p.160) has 485–480 BC. The date in the article is taken from the British Museum web page on the object.
- ^ Draycott 2007, for references on many interpretations.
- ^ Keen (p.205) for instance, is unconvinced; Draycott 2008, argues that the abduction of the girls is an action more often associated with harpies than sirens.
- ^ Fellows in his original description of the expedition refers to this monument as the Horse Tomb and is followed by some contemporaneous authors. Later, however, he calls it the Winged Chariot Tomb (Fellows, 1852, p.498). It is now more usually known as the Tomb of Payava
References
- ^ a b c Weiskopf 1987, pp. 757–764.
- ^ a b c d e Raditsa 1983, p. 104.
- ^ Michailidis 2009, p. 253.
- ^ a b c d Keen, p.1.
- ^ Keen, p.26.
- ^ Jenkins, p.151.
- ^ Keen, p.vii.
- ^ Keen, p.67.
- ^ Keen, p.xi.
- ^ a b c Keen, p.66.
- ^ Fried, p.150.
- ^ a b Keen, pp.1–2.
- ^ Grant and Hazel, pp.296–297.
- ^ Grant and Hazel, pp.64, 83.
- ^ Gruen, p.126.
- ^ Gruen, p.127.
- ^ Grant and Hazel, pp.207, 256.
- ^ Jenkins p.151.
- ^ Keen pp.36, 58–59, 182.
- ^ Fried p.148.
- ^ Hauser and Harris, pp.60–63.
- ^ Jenkins, pp.160–161.
- ^ Ayliffe, p.485.
- ^ a b c Jenkins, p.163.
- ^ a b c d Fellows (1843), p.21.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Bond, p.12.
- ^ a b c d e f g "Relief panel", British Museum web page.
- ^ a b Murray, p.121.
- ^ Keen, p.59.
- ^ Murray, p.114.
- ^ Jenkins, p.164.
- ^ Murray, pp.119–120.
- ^ Hehn, pp.180-182
- ^ Fellows (1839).
- ^ Fellows (1843), p.5.
- ^ Fellows (1843), p.14.
- ^ Fellows (1843), p.42.
Bibliography
- "Marble reliefs from the Harpy Tomb", The British Museum, archived 26 June 2010.
- "Relief panel from the Harpy Tomb", The British Museum, archived 26 June 2010.
- Ayliffe, Rosie, The Rough Guide to Turkey, London: Rough Guides, 2003 ISBN 1-84353-071-6.
- Bond, Edward Augustus, A Guide to the Exhibition Galleries of the British Museum, Bloomsbury, BiblioBazaar, LLC, 2009 (facsimile from 1837, London) ISBN 1-103-31927-2.
- Draycott, C.M., 2007: “Dynastic Definitions. Differentiating status claims in the archaic pillar tomb reliefs of Lycia,” in Anatolian Iron Ages 6: the Proceedings of the Sixth Anatolian Iron Ages Symposium held at Eskishehir, Turkey 16 – 19 August 2004, ed. by A. Sagona and A. Çilingirloglu, Ancient Near Eastern Studies supp. 20, Louvain: Peeters Press, 103 – 134
- Draycott, C.M., 2008: “Bird-Women on the Harpy Monument from Xanthos, Lycia: Sirens or Harpies?” in Essays in Classical Archaeology for Eleni Hatzivassiliou 1977-2007, ed. by D. Kurtz, with C. Meyer, D. Saunders, A. Tsingarida and N. Harris, Beazley Archive and Archaeopress as Studies in Classical Archaeology vol. IV/ BAR International Series 1796. Oxford: Archaeopress, 145 – 153 [1]
- Fellows, Charles, A Journal Written During an Excursion in Asia Minor, London: John Murray, 1839 OCLC 3444145.
- Fellows, Charles, An Account of Discoveries in Lycia, a Journal Kept During a Second Excursion in Asia Minor, 1840, London: John Murray, 1841 OCLC 1956989.
- Fellows, Charles, The Xanthian Marbles; Their Acquisition and Transmission to England, London: John Murray, 1843 OCLC 9793226.
- Fellows, Charles, Travels and Researches in Asia Minor: More Particularly in the Province of Lycia, London: Murray, 1852 OCLC 457874299.
- Fried, Lisbeth S., The Priest and the Great King: Temple-palace Relations in the Persian Empire, Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns, 2004 ISBN 1-57506-090-6.
- Grant, Michael; Hazel, John, Who's Who in Classical Mythology, London: Routledge, 1994 ISBN 0-415-11937-5.
- Gruen, Erich S., Cultural Borrowings and Ethnic Appropriations in Antiquity, Franz Steiner Verlag, 2005 ISBN 3-515-08735-4.
- Hauser, Arnold; Harris, Jonathan, The Social History of Art, Volume 1, Hoboken: Routledge, 1999 ISBN 0-415-19945-X.
- Hehn, Victor Cultivated Plants and Domesticated Animals in their Migration from Asia to Europe, Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company, 1976 ISBN 90-272-0871-9.
- ISBN 0-674-02388-9.
- Keen, Antony G., Dynastic Lycia: a Political History of the Lycians and Their Relations with Foreign Powers, C. 545–362 B.C., Leiden, Boston: Brill, 1998 ISBN 90-04-10956-0.
- Michailidis, Melanie (2009). "Empty Graves: The Tomb Towers of Northern Iran". In Gacek, Tomasz; Pstrusińska, Jadwiga (eds.). Proceedings of the Ninth Conference of the European Society for Central Asian Studies. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. ISBN 978-1443815024.
- Murray, Alexander S., A History of Greek Sculpture, Whitefish, Mont.: Kessinger Publishing, 2004 ISBN 1-4179-1227-8.
- Raditsa, Leo (1983). "Iranians in Asia Minor". In Yarshater, Ehsan (ed.). The Cambridge History of Iran, Vol. 3 (1): The Seleucid, Parthian and Sasanian periods. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1139054942.
- Weiskopf, Michael (1987). "ASIA MINOR". Encyclopaedia Iranica, Vol. II, Fasc. 7. pp. 757–764.