Themis, a study of the social origins of Greek ... - Warburg Institute

IX] Omphalos and Beehive-Tomb 401
But, though Varro is probably only thinking of money-boxes,
these money-boxes reflect the shape and to some extent the
function of other and earlier 'Treasuries,' the familiar beehive
tombs. Pausanias 1 thus describes the 'Treasury' of Minyas, to
him the great wonder of the world :
It is made of stone ; its shape is round, rising up to a rather blunt top,
and they say that the topmost stone is the keystone of the whole building.
We are reminded of the omphalos-form, and it seems others
saw the analogy too, for Aristotle 2 tells us that
What are called omphaloi are the midmost stones in vaulted buildings.
A beehive tomb must of necessity have a central keystone, but
the ' Treasuries ' which abound in Greece proper have no keystone
that is in any way like an omphalos. For a real and instantly con-
vincing analogy we must go to Asia Minor. In Fig. 112 we have
Fig. 112.
a view of the so-called ' Tomb of Tantalos ' on Mt. Sipylos, before
it was excavated 3 . The
dotted lines indicate of course a restoration
1
IX. 38. 3 ...uxVfJ- - ^ Trepttpepte etxriv avru, Kopu dvr)y/j.ewn...
tHov de avojT&TU) tu>v \idcov oiKodofirifiaTi.
2 De mund. VI. 28 oi dfx(pa\ol 5e \ey6fj.evoi oi iv reus i^aXtcrt \L8oi, ol fxiaot Kei/xevoi.
3 Texier, Description de VAsie Mineure, vol. n. pp.
Fig. 14. For evidence as to the restoration see the text.
253, 2-54, Plate exxx.
Numerous phalloi were
found round the tombs, of just
omphalos-shaped.
the right size to serve as keystones. They are
H. 26
,