Ἠλύσιον, A Consolatory Afterlife Vision - I
Front face: Fruit-picking scene.
Depictions of the afterlife rarely occur in Classical Athenian art. This base from Kallithea, which dates from the last decade of the fifth century BC., is an unusual paradise-like representation of the Underworld, Ἠλύσιον. It supported a marble funerary vase. The front of the base shows a young couple flanking a stocky, tall tree which commands the centre of the picture and is as high as the panel. The man picks an apple with his raised right hand, while the woman —probably his wife — holds several apples in her mantle. The left side of the base shows Hermes in his usual travel garments, and the right side is decorated with a bearded man, Athenian priest who wears a long unbelted chiton.
The young woman and the youth stand on either side of the large tree that occupies the center of the panel. The trees trunk and branches, which slightly overlap the top molding, are indicated plastically; the leaves and fruit would have been rendered in paint. At the left, the woman stands with her torso slightly turned to the right, her head in profile. Her gaze is directed toward the tree. She wears a thin chiton and, over it, a mantle draped over the shoulders, enveloping her bent arms, passing across the waist, and terminating over the left leg in a mass of vertical folds. The mantles hem is held in both her hands, forming at the lap a “pouch” filled with apples. Her hair is wrapped in a sakkos, with a few wavy strands escaping at the temples. Her eyes are wide and deeply set, her nose is unusually long and straight. On her ears prominent disc-shaped earrings.
On the other side of the tree, the youth stands in a three-quarter pose to left, with his right leg forward, the left leg bent and trailing. He wears a mantle that envelopes his lower body and creates a roll of flat folds at the waist, covers the left shoulder and arm, and falls over the left part of his chest. His left arm is bent, with the hand holding the garment; his right is raised, picking a round fruit from the tree. The anatomy of the bare torso is youthful and soft. The youth's head is raised, his gaze directed upward. His facial features are similar to those of the woman opposite him, except for the nose, which has a slightly concave outline. His short hair is rendered impressionistically. Like the young woman, he too wears soft shoes.
It is clear that paint played an important role in the decoration of the relief pedestal from Kallithea. Besides the customary coloring of certain details, the most extensive and striking use of paint, however, would have been reserved for the tree's branches and leaves; they would have filled a large portion of the overhead space, making the tree stand out from the background and emphasizing its importance.
The first scholars to deal with the tree relief on the Kallithea base came to the conclusion that these reliefs showed the garden of the Hesperides. Since the figure on the right could not be Herakles but must be the deceased, one has to accept the image as a sacral-symbolic representation: the owner of the grave partakes in immortality just as Herakles did. Hermes appears as “psychopomp”, guide of souls, but the main representation makes clear that the deceased will not enter the Underworld like the protagonists on the stelai-pediments or the scenes painted on lekythoi, but may expect a happy fate.
Source: Kosmopoulou A., A Funerary Base from Kallithea
Pentelic marble base
Height: 83 cm; width: 31 cm; Length: 50 cm.
410 – 400 BC
From Kallithea, Athens
Athens, National Museum Inv. No. 4502
Ἠλύσιον, A Consolatory Afterlife Vision - I
Front face: Fruit-picking scene.
Depictions of the afterlife rarely occur in Classical Athenian art. This base from Kallithea, which dates from the last decade of the fifth century BC., is an unusual paradise-like representation of the Underworld, Ἠλύσιον. It supported a marble funerary vase. The front of the base shows a young couple flanking a stocky, tall tree which commands the centre of the picture and is as high as the panel. The man picks an apple with his raised right hand, while the woman —probably his wife — holds several apples in her mantle. The left side of the base shows Hermes in his usual travel garments, and the right side is decorated with a bearded man, Athenian priest who wears a long unbelted chiton.
The young woman and the youth stand on either side of the large tree that occupies the center of the panel. The trees trunk and branches, which slightly overlap the top molding, are indicated plastically; the leaves and fruit would have been rendered in paint. At the left, the woman stands with her torso slightly turned to the right, her head in profile. Her gaze is directed toward the tree. She wears a thin chiton and, over it, a mantle draped over the shoulders, enveloping her bent arms, passing across the waist, and terminating over the left leg in a mass of vertical folds. The mantles hem is held in both her hands, forming at the lap a “pouch” filled with apples. Her hair is wrapped in a sakkos, with a few wavy strands escaping at the temples. Her eyes are wide and deeply set, her nose is unusually long and straight. On her ears prominent disc-shaped earrings.
On the other side of the tree, the youth stands in a three-quarter pose to left, with his right leg forward, the left leg bent and trailing. He wears a mantle that envelopes his lower body and creates a roll of flat folds at the waist, covers the left shoulder and arm, and falls over the left part of his chest. His left arm is bent, with the hand holding the garment; his right is raised, picking a round fruit from the tree. The anatomy of the bare torso is youthful and soft. The youth's head is raised, his gaze directed upward. His facial features are similar to those of the woman opposite him, except for the nose, which has a slightly concave outline. His short hair is rendered impressionistically. Like the young woman, he too wears soft shoes.
It is clear that paint played an important role in the decoration of the relief pedestal from Kallithea. Besides the customary coloring of certain details, the most extensive and striking use of paint, however, would have been reserved for the tree's branches and leaves; they would have filled a large portion of the overhead space, making the tree stand out from the background and emphasizing its importance.
The first scholars to deal with the tree relief on the Kallithea base came to the conclusion that these reliefs showed the garden of the Hesperides. Since the figure on the right could not be Herakles but must be the deceased, one has to accept the image as a sacral-symbolic representation: the owner of the grave partakes in immortality just as Herakles did. Hermes appears as “psychopomp”, guide of souls, but the main representation makes clear that the deceased will not enter the Underworld like the protagonists on the stelai-pediments or the scenes painted on lekythoi, but may expect a happy fate.
Source: Kosmopoulou A., A Funerary Base from Kallithea
Pentelic marble base
Height: 83 cm; width: 31 cm; Length: 50 cm.
410 – 400 BC
From Kallithea, Athens
Athens, National Museum Inv. No. 4502