Terracotta Funerary Plaque, Ancient Greece (520–510 B.C.)

I. IDENTIFIERS

Artist/Attribution: Unknown Greek (Attic)

Date: 520-510 B.C.

Medium: Terracotta

Location: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (Gallery 154)

Culture/Period: Greek, Attic / Archaic Period

II. HISTORICAL CONTEXT

This terracotta funerary plaque was created during the Late Archaic Period which was around the time that Athens was transitioning from a corrupt tyranny under Hippias, the son of Peisistratus (the commissioner of Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey). Due to Hippias’s dictatorship an Athenian exiled family and the Spartans allied which resulted in the invasion of Athens and a year later Athenian democracy was invented under Cleisthenes’s leadership.  

Around this time, the wealthy aristocratic families used funerals as a display of their wealth, power, and lineage. These families would hire professional mourners, and they commissioned massive theatrical monuments, statues and ceramics to adorn tombs. Due to the change in government, massive stone monuments started to become banned and restricted which led to aristocratic families having to commission smaller and higher-quality terracotta plaques due to the new laws.

III. SUBJECT MATTER

This terracotta funerary plaque is divided in two registers. The upper register has a scene of the prothesis (laying out of the body), which is a mandatory initial phase of a Greek funeral in which the deceased is washed, anointed, dressed, and then displayed inside the home for public viewing. A dead man lies flat on his back, his head rests on a thick pillow, and his body is wrapped tightly in a burial shawl. Next to him are seven mourners, most of them are female mourners tearing at their hair with their hands, which is an ancient gesture symbolizing profound grief. To the right of the dead man’s head is a woman who bends over him, supporting his chin with her hand. The intimacy of their act suggests she is either his mother or wife.

The lower register has a scene of a four-horse chariot race (tethrippon) which is an enthusiastic public show commissioned by the family of the deceased in their honor. In Greek culture, events like this one showcased their wealth, status and they served to honor the dead. Similarly, they were used to mirror the lavish funerals of Homeric heroes such as Patroclus.

IV. ABOUT THE CULTURE

The people who created this funerary plaque were Archaic Athenians. Their society was one of extreme competition in which citizens actively prized eternal glory and public honor. The rivalries were mostly shown in warfare, but also extended to athletic games, political debates, theatrical performances and who could create the most extravagant funerals. 

The Archaic Athenians worshipped the Olympic gods, and had a solid devotion to Athena who protected their city.  They also believed that almost everyone went to Hades after death which was an underground realm in which souls existed as echoes of their former selves. Due to the souls going to Hades, Athenians wanted to be remembered and did this by creating theatrical rituals, loud public mournings, and with massive monuments and terracotta plaques.

V. PERSONAL CONNECTION

The reason why I selected this funerary plaque to form a part of Iliostacio's catalogue is because the work’s theme is clearly the desire to be remembered. This piece was created roughly around 2,500 years ago and it shows a theme that connects humanity: the desire to be known. This funerary plaque shows that desire and does so in a theatrical way in which the body postures of the women (stretching their hands to the heavens above and tearing their hair with their hands to show grief) allow viewers to know that this is a funerary scene.