A catalogue of sculpture in the Department of ... - Warburg Institute

300 CATALOGUE OF SCULPTURE.for the pleasure and sustenance of the dead.Such offeringsof food and drink made hy the living at the tomb arecommon to all primitive peoples. The Egyptians, inparticular, made regular offeringsof actual food, and atthe same time surrounded the mummy with sculpturalrepresentations of offerings, which, it was thought, servedto satisfy the incorporeal double of the dead person. Theearly notion that the deceased was within the tomb, andenjoyed the food and drink offered to him in a materialmanner, became less distinct in later times. The periodicalofferings assumed a more ritualistic and symbolic character,and were celebrated by the Greeks under the name ofThe older archaeologists thought for the most part thatthe Banquet reliefs were representations commemorativeof life on earth, or descriptive of the pleasures enjoyed bythe dead in Hades. Dumont (Bev. Arch., N.s. xx, p. 247)and Hollaender (De Operihus Anaglyphis), interpret themas referring to the periodical offerings made at the tomb.It will be seen that this view is not very different fiomthat which has been adopted above, and which is theview of Gardner (Journ. of Hellenic Studies, v., p. 130), andFurtwaengler {Coll. Sahouroff, i., p. 28). The reliefs, however,have more force than mere pictorial groups, if weaccept the Egyptian analogy, and allow that the sculpturerepresents, by substitution, the offerings of material food.The snake is naturally associated with the grave, from itslapid mysterious movements, and from living in caves andholes. Compare the story of the snakes that were seen byPolyeidos in the tomb of Glaukos. (Apollodor. 3, 3, 1Roscher, Lexicon, p. 1687). The votive character of theBanquet reliefs is proved in some instances by inscriptions,{Journ. of Hellen. Studies, v., p. 116; Roscher, Lexicon,p. 2553). It is doubtful, however, whether the artistwas always conscious of the meaning of his work, and in