Anatolian Civilizations and Historical Sites - TEDA

ANATOLIAN CIVILIZATIONS:10x19 antik kentler 8/1/11 10:51 AM Sayfa
The Xanthos Theater dates back to the Roman Age.
up with wooden struts and a pile of stones. The tomb remained in this
mutilated condition until 1957, when Turkish authorities installed the
cement casts which have done much to restore the beauty of the
monument. The reliefs are interesting, but, as often, not easy to
understand. On all four sides are seated figures receiving gifts, on the
south and east sides a bird, on the north a helmet; on the west side are
two seated females, that on the right approached by three standing
figures, the other receiving an indistinct object. On the east side are three
other female figures, that on the right apparently accompanied by a dog.
The figures which have given the tomb its name are on the north and
south sides on either side of the seated figures; they represent
bird-women with female heads, wings and tails, carrying children in their
arms. When the tomb was first discovered, these were recognized as
Harpies carrying off the daughters of Pandareos, as described by Homer;
the children were left orphaned and were befriended by Hera, Athena,
Artemis, and Aphrodite; when Aphrodite went to Olympos to arrange a
suitable marriage for them, leaving them unprotected, the Harpies came
and snatched them away to be servants of the Furies. That Pandarus was
a Lycian hero seemed to give support to this interpretation. But there are
difficulties. Pandarus and Pandareos are two different heroes; the latter
had two daughters, not four; and the children on the relief are obviously
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