Among other religious scenes we have the dedication of a tripod,[1549] religious festival dances,[1550] praying figures,[1551] men or women burning incense over an altar or incense-burner[1552]; or scenes of libation,[1553] a Metragyrtes or mendicant priest praying before devotees,[1554] and a priest examining the entrails of a ram.[1555] An ephebos is initiated and purified by the Διὸς κῴδιον[1556]; oaths are taken over a tomb,[1557] or omens from birds on a tumulus[1558]; and here perhaps may be mentioned a man making a gesture against the evil eye.[1559] There is also a scene illustrative of the Πιθοίγια, an Athenian feast[1560]; and a possible representation of the feast of Adonis, and the “gardens” or pots of flowers exhibited on that occasion.[1561] Lastly, there are scenes relating to votive offerings, such as a figure of a child on a column offered to Athena,[1562] a youth carrying a votive tablet,[1563] and others in which similar votive tablets occur.[1564] The number of scenes which can be shown to relate to Athenian festivals, or bear on Greek religious belief and ritual, might be greatly expanded and multiplied, but at present little has been done in this direction.[1565]
Closely connected with these religious subjects are those which played so large a part in the life of the Greeks, and found such a strong reflection in their decorative art—namely, those which relate to the burial and cult of the dead. The relation of Greek vases to the tomb has been discussed elsewhere (Vol. I. p. 141 ff.), and it is sufficient here to repeat that there are only three or four classes of vases which yield undoubted evidence that they were expressly made for funeral purposes, each belonging to a different period of the art.
In the earliest period we have the great Dipylon vases (Vol. I. p. 285), many of which represent funeral processions and rows of mourning women[1566]; these were made for standing outside the tomb. In the B.F. period there are the prothesis-amphorae, made likewise for placing first round the bier and then on the tomb, as plainly shown in one instance[1567]; and in the R.F. period the Athenian white lekythi are decorated almost exclusively with sepulchral scenes. Among the vases of the decadence a whole series of Lucanian and Campanian hydriae and Apulian kraters and amphorae, as well as some late Athenian vases, the Apulian examples being usually of enormous size, equally betray the special purpose for which they were made.