The beautiful monument: the aristocracy of images in Athenian funerary sculpture (c. 530–480 BCE)

The discoveries that have occurred over the last sixty years, together with chronological considerations and the appropriate evaluation of the epigraphic corpus, testify overall to the duration of the system of monumental funerary dedications well beyond the advent of democracy by Kleisthenes (508/7 BCE) and probably up to the end of the Persian Wars. This ‘longue durée’ will require the revision of the interpretation that mechanically links Archaic funerary monuments and the ruling “aristocracy” during pre-democratic political regimes in turn paving the way for a more detailed analysis of patronage. The monument is built according to precise rules of a visual rhetoric, aimed at enhancing its beauty, to match and reflect the excellence of the recipients – largely male and including impressive monuments for non-Athenians (xenoi) – and to define their social position through the joint devices of word and image. The evidence is discussed in detail, and the Author accepts the proposal that the grave statue of Aristodikos, one of the latest examples of the kouros type, wore a helmet. The head of a youth, found in the Kerameikos and likewise once equipped with a helmet, might attest to the next “step”: a grave statue in ponderation. The monuments recovered from Piraeus Gate are discussed, as well as Jeffery’s so-called Samian plot. A political interpreation of the bases with athletic scenes is proposed, connected with Sparta and the Athenian pro-Lacedemonian party (sphairomachia) or with Eretria and eastern Attica (the chariot scenes with hoplites), alluding to the Amarysia or to the Attic version of the event. Concluding, funerary monuments reflect the changes in Athenian society, which in turn are largely influenced by the international situation.