Honouring the Dead in the Peloponnese - University of Nottingham

Archaic funerary and votive jewellery
PELOPONNESIAN JEWELLERY IN CONTEXT
By contrast to the Homeric world, which favoured adornment for goddesses
and mortal aristocrats, while leaving them considerable freedom to
participate in public life, Archaic society is more restrictive towards women,
who remain closed in their quarters. Cases of women poets or women
participating in the κοινάά are more of an exception than a rule. It appears that
women in the Archaic period wore their jewellery only on special occasions
(celebrations, religious festivals, weddings). They did not have many personal
belongings, only some clothing, utensils and these jewels, which were
independent of their dowry. In fact, later sources dating from the 5 th and 4 th
centuries BC mention that a woman could take back her jewellery in cases of
separation, widowhood or remarriage. 21 In Sparta, women participated from
the youngest age in festivals where civilians gathered to sing and dance,
while the city imposed upon young girls ‘nude’ athletic games which
traditionally aimed at preparing them for child-bearing. It seems however
that this sense of freedom, which older scholars even saw as permissive, did
not guarantee an equally dynamic presence during adult life. Moreover,
Aristotle’s view 22 that the Spartan woman disposed a fortune, namely 2/5 of
the city’s resources and that they controlled their assets should be interpreted
in relation to the cases of the absence of her kyrios (in case of widowhood or
an unmarried woman): it is otherwise hard for us to imagine the image of an
oikos with a man dominated by his wife.
The lack of jewellery of significant quality and quantity in Peloponnesian
burial groups is characteristic and consistent with the restriction attributed to
Lykourgos, according to which συνθάάπτειν οὐδὲν εἴασεν ἀλλάά ἐν φοινικίίδι
καὶ φύύλλοις ἐλαίίας θέέντες το σώμα περιέέστελλον, 23 meaning “it is not
habitual to bury, but to burn the body surrounded by palm and olive
branches”. This would be a purifying ritual, aimed at distancing the evil
spirits, and only kings were excluded from it. This prohibition of luxurious
burials is echoed in Aristotle: εὐτελείίς δὲ ταφαίί καὶ ἴσαι πάάσιν εἰσίί (“burials
were modest and equal for all”). 24 Still, the question remains whether this
restriction was limited to the interior of the graves or whether it also applied
to their exterior, similar to Solon’s restrictions in Athens. Moreover, an
important issue is the dating of these Spartan prohibitions, given that at the
period when the legislation of Lycurgos is traditionally placed, one notes
burials with voluminous and luxurious amphorae as ‘semata’ as well as
remains of bones from sacrifices having taken place at the grave – elements
21
Murray, 1983.
22
Arist. Pol. 2. 1269 b 12–1270 b 6.
23
Plut. Lyc. 27.
24
Cf. Arist. Lac. Pol. ; Heraclides Ex. 2, 8.
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