The Monuments That Stood before Marathon: Tomb Cult and Hero Cult in Archaic Attica

Abstract

This paper seeks to relate the form of the Marathon tumulus to both tomb and cult as practiced in Attica in the Archaic period. Distinctions are made among various archaeological manifestations of cult and between two senses of the term heros in Archaic Greece. named warrior heroes of the epic tradition are to be distinguished from the anonymous heroes whose cult was often located in or over Bronze Age tombs. popularity or prevalence of various kinds of and tomb cult can be shown to change considerably between the eighth and early fifth centuries B.C., partly in response to political change. genealogy of the Marathon tumulus can be traced back to the seventhand early sixth-century aristocratic funerary complexes with tumulus, central cremation, and offering trench. Such practices seem to be a deliberate evocation of those described in the Iliad. This fact considerably alters our interpretation of the Marathon tumulus, which can now be seen as an example of the appropriation of aristocratic values and symbols to serve the needs of the new democracy.* tumulus at Marathon is not one of the major architectural achievements of fifth-century Athens. To some, therefore, it may seem a perverse choice for an exercise in art-historical explanation.' But, though simple in form, this monument is not at all easy to explain. It is a monument that looks both forward to the full democracy of the late fifth century, and backward to the world of the Archaic aristocracy. It echoes in its design features of much earlier monuments, but, at the same time, anticipates forms of public commemoration that were to become current by the time of Pericles. Its role too is ambiguous, since it served to commemorate a battle, as a place of burial, and, in later times, as the locus of hero cult. cult is a complex issue, one too often treated simply as an aspect of Greek religion.2 This approach is clearly inappropriate in our case: the Marathon tumulus, no less than the Cenotaph in London, or the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, D.C., is primarily a political monument, one intimately connected with collective Athenian identity and self-esteem. As such, its genealogy, its relation to earlier and later forms of commemoration, burial, and tomb and cult, is a matter of some importance. Burials and cults have been popular topics in many recent discussions of early Greece. Many scholars have tried to link changes in mortuary practice * This is a revised version of a paper I gave at Corpus Christi College, Oxford in October 1991. I would like to thank everyone who contributed to the discussion that followed, in particular Christiane Sorvinou-Inwood and Robin Osborne. For permission to reproduce illustrations, I am grateful to the Deutsches Archaologisches Institut in Athens and the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, Agora Excavations. I would also like to thank Anthony Snodgrass, Nick Fisher, Hans Van Wees, Ian Morris, Sanne Houby-Nielsen, Francois de Polignac, Carla Antonaccio, and one anonymous referee of AJA for comments on earlier drafts of this paper, and Robin Osborne for encouraging me to publish it. They are, of course, not to be held accountable for any remaining mistakes, omissions, or errors of tact and judgment. following abbreviations are used: Antonaccio C.M. Antonaccio, Archaeology of Greek Hero (Diss. Princeton Univ. 1987). Clairmont C.W. Clairmont, Patrios Nomos: Public Burial in Athens during the Fifth and Fourth Centuries B.C. (BAR-IS 161, Oxford 1983). Coldstream J.N. Coldstream, Hero Cults in the Age of Homer,JHS 96 (1976) 8-17. Jeffery L.H. Jeffery, Local Scripts of Archaic Greece2 (Oxford 1990). Kearns E. Kearns, Heroes of Attica (BICS Suppl. 57, London 1989). Morris I. Morris, Burial and Ancient Society: Rise of the Greek City-State (New Studies in Archaeology, Cambridge 1987). Shapiro H.A. Shapiro, Art and Cult under the Tyrants in Athens (Mainz 1989). Stupperich R. Stupperich, Staatsbegrdbnis und Privatgrabmal im klassischen Athen (Diss. Westfailische Wilhelms-Universitit, Miinster 1977). Whitley A.J.M. Whitley, Early States and Cults: A Re-appraisal,JHS 108 (1988) 173-82. ' For explaining historical artifacts, see in particular M. Baxandall, Patterns and Intentions: On the Historical Explanation of Pictures (New Haven 1984); and most recently J. Whitley, The Explanation of Form: Towards a Reconciliation of Archaeological and Art-Historical Approaches, Hephaistos 11/12 (1992-1993) 7-33. 2 This is the approach adopted by, among others, A.D. Nock, The Cult of Heroes, HThR 37 (1944) 141-74; and L.R. Farnell, Greek Cults and Ideas of Immortality (Oxford 1921). 213 American Journal of Archaeology 98 (1994) 2 13-30 214 JAMES WHITLEY [AJA 98