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open access: book review .jl.gAJA

AmericanJournalofArchaeology

July20

12(116

.3)

DOI:10.3

764/ajaonline1163.S

inos

copyrght2012arheologlinsttu

teofamer

Ancient texts are silent abot the pyres at Elesis,

which have been revealed by the excavations o theGreek Archaeological Society at Athens. Three pyres,

the oldest dating back to the eighth centry B.C.E.,

provide evidence o rital brning o pottery, fg-

rines, plaqes, and other oerings jst otside thewalls o the sacred center o this sanctary. In her

1999 pblication o the material associated with these

pyres (: [Athens]), Kokko-Vyridi reserved orwedding vases or separate stdy. These or ragmen-

tary black-fgre vases, one lotrophoros amphora and

three lebetes gamikoi, are her ocs in this stdy o the

black-fgre wedding pottery rom the sacrifcial pyresat Elesis. She begins by ftting together what can be

gleaned rom excavation records to demonstrate thatthe or vases belong to the material rom Pyre ,

located otside the peribolos wall north o the archaicTelesterion, with material dating rom 560480 B.C.E.

In the second chapter, she provides a ll description

o the ragments; in the third, she identifes the date

and maker o each vase. The fnal chapter discssesthe signifcance o the presence o wedding pottery

in the context o the Elesinian pyres. At the end is

an English smmary o the books contents and an

index. It wold have been helpl to have also a list

o the many illstrations ond throghot the book.O the lotrophoros amphora, we have three rag-

ments rom the neck, inscribed with the potters name,Kleimachos, the sole pieces known by this maker.

Beazley incldes it in his list o vases (ABV, 85) bthesitates as to its shape. Kokko-Vyridi compares

its arrangement o fgres in conversational grops

with those o other lotrophoroi and establishes

that these ragments mst belong to a lotrophorosamphora (478). This is o interest becase the pot-

ters inscription identifes the vase as belonging to

the potter himsel (I Y). Here we have,

as the athor points ot, more evidence associating

the amphora shape with the bridegrooms wedding

baths, what Kleimachos mst have intended or this

rital shape (51).The three lebetes gamikoi are here attribted to

the Swing Painter, the E Grop, and the Kleophrades

Painter (his workshop and probably the Kleophrades

Painter himsel [157]). The Swing Painter lebes ea-tres a wedding procession on one side (inclding

Dionysos, Hermes, and Apollo), a rontal chariot and

horses on the other. What remains o the base depicts

Artemis, Apollo, Leto, Hermes, and another emalefgre, with an animal rieze below. The E Grop vase

on one side depicts a wedding procession accompa-

nied by, on a piece now lost, a man haling on his

back a large krater; on the other side are standing maleand emale fgres, apparently in conversation. This

vase was repaired in antiqity. O the Kleophrades

Painters lebes gamikos, only two ragments remain,

rom the base. It eatres an abdction, here identifedas Peles abdction o Thetis, with an animal rieze

below. All three attribtions are based on scrplos

attention to the range o possible evidence, rom

details o fgral drawing to shape, ornament, and

sbject. Each vase is drawn as is and with spplementsto clariy the scene; there are ample photographs and

close-ps o these vases and those with which they are

compared to illstrate and jstiy the athors claims.

The fnal chapter grapples with the difclt topico the meaning o wedding pottery in the context o

the Elesinian pyres. The athor isolated these vases

rom the rest o the material rom the pyres in order

to take p this qestion, and althogh her conclsionson sch a sbject will be controversial, there is mch

to gain rom her discssion.

Here, the previosly pblished black-fgre wed-

ding pottery ond at Elesis, some indeed in theElesinian pyres, enters the pictre. Six lotrophoroi,

By Konstantina Kokko-Vyridi ( 267).Pp. 241, fgs. 68. The Archaeological Society at Athens, Athens 2010. Price not available.ISBN 978-690-8145-81-8 (paper).

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AmericanJournalofArchaeology

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R.H.

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BookReview

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another in red-fgre, and three lebetes gamikoi spple-

ment the vases pblished here to complete the pictre.

All are illstrated, bt withot a systematic list it takesdetermination on the part o the reader to assemble the

scenes. Discssion o their meaning begins with a srvey

o evidence or the se o these wedding shapes, the

range o shapes on which scenes sch as those shownon these vases occr, the contexts in which they occr,

and also, perhaps most interesting, the contexts in which

they do not occr. The Nymphe shrine soth o the Athe-

nian Acropolis is an important point o reerence. Welearn, or example, that the warriors departre appears

on lekythoi and other pots intended or the tomb; it does

not occr on the lotrophoroi at the Nymphe shrine,

indicating that it represents a sbject inappropriate orthe pottery at this shrine, the warriors death (18395).

Ths, when paired with a wedding procession, as on

or lebes, it indicates a yong man killed in battle beore

his wedding (17884).

Many scenes are appropriate both to weddings andto the dead. At Elesis, and particlarly on these pyres,

the connection to death comes to the ore (19697); n-

derlying the discssion is the assmption that the pyres

are essentially nerary. The scenes on these vases, theathors analysis sggests, spport that interpretation.

Since chthonic powers, linked to ertility, are powerl

orces here on earth, too, wedding pots may attain a

second meaning when sacrifced (217) in pyres as parto a ceremonial connection o mortals with death and

the nderworld. The athor envisions these oerings

accompanied by prayers seeking both protection or the

dead and to bring well-being and ertility to the living, acombination comparable to prayers in Greek Orthodox

chrches today or the living and the dead (21719).

At times, this seems a circlar argment. What i

we dont assme that the pyres have a nerary na-tre? And even in the case o vases ond in tombs, do

they necessarily convey the imagery o death? I ond

mysel wishing that the athor cold have considered

Pateras essay, probably too recent to be taken into ac-cont here (Vestiges sacrifciels et vestiges dorandes

dans lespurai dElesis, in V. Mehl and P. Brl, eds.,

Le sacrifce antique [Rennes 2008]), with the sggestion

that the pyres belong more directly to the ceremonieso initiation.

We have here a dense and richly imaginative discs-

sion with valable inormation throghot, inclding

precios comments on npblished material rom theNymphe shrine in Athens. Its discssion o iconography

will be o interest not only to specialists in the feld o

vase painting bt to the ever-growing nmber o schol-ars who make se o these images to gain insight into

ancient Greek lie and ideology. In the end, thogh, theseenigmatic oerings seem destined to remain among the

mysteries o Elesis.

Rebecca H. SinoS

DEPARTMENT O CLASSICS

AMHERST COLLEGE

AMHERST, MASSACHuSETTS 01002

RHSINOS@AMHERST.EDu