Precursors of the Danaids: Comments on a tomb in Ostia
By Edu J.M. van Berkel
Hermeneus 58,5 (1986), 300-308
Between the ports and the city area of Ostia is a city of the dead, the Isola Sacra. One of the graves found here is the tomb of P. Aelius Maximus, which consists of a number of rooms. This article is about the heavily damaged depictions in stucco relief (gypsum plaster) in room N of this tomb, which show an interesting thematic coherence. On the basis of the preserved remains of stucco decoration this burial chamber can be dated around 120-130 AD. Of the iconographic decoration in stucco relief only meager remains are left today. However, during the excavation the excavator, G. Calza, made drawings.
Fig. 1. Grave of P. Aelius Maximus: decoration scheme of the ceiling.
Fig. 1a. General view of the grave. Photo: ICCD E041042.Deucalion and Pyrrha
The ceiling of the burial chamber is decorated in the four corners with a depiction of a mythological scene. During the excavation only three of these had been preserved (Fig. 1, No. B has been lost).
Fig. 2. Stucco relief: the creation of man by Deucalion and Pyrrha.
Minerva on the left with in her hand the Chrysalis.The first scene (Fig. 1, No. A) represents the creation of man by Deucalion and Pyrrha (Fig. 2). We see how they - standing in front of a gate decorated with garlands, possibly the gate to life - throw stones over their shoulders. Behind them the people emerging from these, the homines nati, are visible, one still kneeling and the other already standing up. Apparently they are not yet animated, because this task is reserved for Minerva: sitting on a rock or chair she holds a butterfly soul, Chrysalis, against the heads of the homines nati to make them alive. This is undoubtedly a contamination of two myths, namely the creation of man by Prometheus, who is indeed assisted by Minerva - as can also be seen on many Prometheus representations - and on the other hand the creation of man by Deucalion and Pyrrha, in which Minerva actually plays no role: according to myth (Apollodorus, Bibliothèkè I.7.2) the stones, which the couple throws over the shoulders, come to life on their own.
Laodamia and the Danaids
In scene C (Fig. 1) we see how Laodamia is led into the Underworld by Hercules to her husband Protesilaus, who stands behind Pluto's seat (Fig. 3). Protesilaus, who was the first of the Greeks to die in the Battle of Troy, had been allowed to return to his wife Laodamia for one more day; he persuaded her to follow him in death and indeed she committed suicide at his insistence. Thus the reunification of the two lovers in the Underworld took place. This scene is depicted here. The gate through which Laodamia passes is probably the gateway to death. Although of course we encounter Mercury more often in the role of psychopompus (companion of souls), the appearance of Hercules in that role is not strange. We recognize him in the same function also on e.g. the Velletri-sarcophagus and the Alkestis-sarcophagus.
Fig. 3. Stucco relief: the arrival of Laodamia in the Underworld, on the right is Protesilaus.
Fig. 3a. The same scene. Photo: ICCD N005300.On panel D (Fig. 1) a scene from the Tartarus is depicted: on the left three Danaids carry water to a bottomless barrel, while on the right Ocnus is constantly twisting a rope made of flax, which is eaten behind his back by a donkey (Fig. 4). The Danaids undergo a punishment for a crime committed during their lifetime, namely the murder of their spouses on the first wedding night; Ocnus, on the other hand, is more of an allegorical figure, who is the personification of hopeless, vain and especially endless work.
Fig. 4. Stucco relief: the Danaids and Ocnus in the Underworld.The representation on the fourth panel (Fig. 1, no. B) has not been preserved. For the completion of this scene I will address the hypothesis of Andreae towards the end of this article.
Bacchus
Along the walls scenes from the life of Bacchus, the wine god, are depicted, whereby each scene portrays an ever higher degree of initiation (consecration) in his own mysteries (Figs. 4a, 4b, 4c). Of these too only three depictions have been preserved. We successively see a small thiasos with Bacchus as a little boy, here referred to as Liber Pater (= Bacchus) Consacratus (= 'consecrated', 'exalted to deity'); his initiation in his own mysteria and then his deification. On this last depiction Hercules is also among the followers of Bacchus.
Fig. 4a. Stucco relief: to the left is a Silenus with thyrsus, to the right
a satyr leads a panther carrying Liber Pater (who has disappeared), holding a thyrsus;
Liber Pater is called consacratus, which means he has become a true god.
Fig. 4b. Stucco relief: at the left end are a column supporting a vessel and an altar;
to the right is Liber Pater (a Roman form of Dionysus), depicted as a boy, holding a thyrsus
and with a wreath on his head; he is accompanied by a taller figure called Nysis Oros;
this is presumably the personification of Mount Nysius, where Liber Pater was born and raised;
the word mysteria was written above the cista mystica, a basket belonging to the cult of Dionysus;
at the right end are a dancing maenad with a double flute and a satyr; the maenad is called Antiope.
Fig. 4c. Stucco relief: at the left end is a panther; to the right is the name Hercules;
next are an animal, the name Silenus and the word sacra, pointing to something sacred;
to the final figure belong two hairy legs, an arm, and a curved stick (pedum): a Pan or faun;
the name above his head, Aegypas, has been explained as Aegyras, a nymph, or Aegipan, Goat-Pan.All these representations apparently stand on their own and hardly seem to be related to each other. However, since they are arranged in one burial chamber, there almost must be a thematic coherence. How then do we have to interpret the individual scenes to arrive at a coherent whole?
For this it is necessary first to elaborate on the Laodamia-scene. We know this representation of the happy reunification of Laodamia with her husband also from some Protesilaus-sarcophagi.
Protesilaus-sarcophagi
One of this small group of sarcophagi is the sarcophagus from the Santa Chiara (middle of the second century AD) (Fig. 5). On the front of the sarcophagus, which depicts the return of Protesilaus to the upper world, the scene is enclosed by Luna on the left and Sol on the right, indicating that one day, on which Protesilaus may visit his wife Laodamia. On the left Protesilaus storms from the Hades gate, where the ianitor Orci, the doorkeeper, shows him the way. Mercury takes him to his wife's house, who at that moment is busy with a sacrifice, which is brought to an image that is shrouded in a sheet at an altar (right). Now it is known from the myth that Laodamia after the death of Protesilaus had a statue made of him, where she daily mourned and brought sacrifices. But from this depiction can be deduced, that here it rather concerns a statue of Bacchus, where she sacrificed in memory of her husband (Andreae, 38). After all, one of the female servants, who when Protesilaus enters stiffens, frightened and horrified, carries a tympanon, a tambourine, which is a bacchic attribute!
Fig. 5. Protesilaus-sarcophagus (Santa Chiara): on the left Protesilaus; in the middle is Laodamia with on her left a female servant with a tambourine.We also know of such sacrifices at a statue of Bacchus from Greek vase paintings, e.g. the Athenian red-figured stamnos of the Dinos-painter (Naples 2419, 420-410 BC), showing female mysts, Maenads, dancing around a statue of Bacchus (Fig. 5a). Here the image is not concealed, but it is possible that the revelation had just preceded the moment depicted here. In any case, these women carry torches, thyrsos rods and also tambourines (!).
Fig. 5a. Stamnos (Naples 2419): Maenads dancing around a statue of Bacchus.The connection of Laodamia with the Bacchus mysteries is also found on another Protesilaus-sarcophagus (Vat. Mus. 2465, c. 170 AD) (Fig. 6); here we see, in addition to the scenes of the death of Protesilaus and his return to Laodamia, a domestic scene, in which both sit a bit sad on a reclining couch. What interests me are the clear bacchic attributes that are visible above and below this klinè: above the couple is a shrine with a theater mask placed inside. Below it, two thyrsos rods are suspended crosswise. Under the bed are rattles and a tambourine, that were carried along by the female supporters of Bacchus in the thiasos.
Fig. 6. Protesilaus-sarcophagus (Vat. Mus. 2465): death and return of Protesilaus; his meeting with Laodamia. On the right the bacchic attributes.These two sarcophagi clearly show that Laodamia dedicated herself during her lifetime to the mysteries of Bacchus. In the grave of P. Aelius Maximus this then connects the Laodamia-scene with the bacchic scenes along the walls.
On the side of the Protesilaus-sarcophagus from the Vatican Museum three more scenes from the Underworld are depicted: Sisyphus with his boulder, Ixion on the wheel and Tantalus, trying in vain to drink from the water. These persons, who in the Underworld are severely punished for crimes committed during life, are in stark contrast to the depiction on the front of the sarcophagus. The purpose of this combination is probably to put extra emphasis on the privileged position of the devout, god-fearing Laodamia over that of the wicked sinners deep in the Tartarus.
We find a similar opposition in the grave of P. Aelius Maximus, where the depiction of Laodamia is placed opposite the representation of the endlessly toiling Danaids.
The Danaids: initiation and purification
So far the agreement between the grave of P. Aelius Maximus and the Protesilaus-sarcophagi is the same. With regard to the Danaid-scene, the interpretation extends a step further. After all, the Danaid-scene is not just a random choice from a wide range of Underworld scenes. This will be explained below.
The generally accepted version of the myth is - concisely worded - that the marriages of these 50 daughters of Danaus were arranged by their father, to the 50 sons of Aegyptus, with the intention of killing these boys. This also happened: in the wedding night the sons of Aegyptus (except one) were murdered by the Danaids. As a punishment for this mass murder, the Danaids were forced after their death, in the Underworld, to carry water in (broken) vases and sieve it into a leaking, bottomless barrel.
However, it is only after the fourth century BC that the task of transferring water in the Underworld to a bottomless vessel was incorporated in the Danaid myth (first mention prob. Ps.-Plato, Axiochus 371 E, end of fourth century BC). Via Plato (Gorgias 493 b, Politeia II 363 d) we know that this task was originally the punishment for the amuètoi, the people who had not let themselves be initiated during their lifetime in the mysteries.
In the archaeological material too we see this idea illustrated. On an Attic black-figured amphora (Munich 1493, 530-520 BC) (Fig. 7) we see, alongside a scene of Sisyphus, who makes vain attempts to push a huge boulder up a mountain, winged men (!) busy filling a large barrel. The representation of men excludes identification with the Danaids. It must then indeed be the souls of the 'amuètoi', the uninitiated. On the other side of the vase is Heracles, of whom we know that he hád been initiated in the mysteries.
Fig. 7. Amphora (Munich 1493): 'amuètoi' carry water to a large vessel.
On the right Sisyphus with his boulder.Another vase, an Athenian black-figured lekythos (Palermo 2141 (996), ca. 500 BC) (Fig. 8) shows a parodying representation of the Underworld in which both men and women bring water to a barrel half sunk into the ground. These too cannot be Danaids, but may perhaps be 'amuètoi'. In the foreground is Ocnus, again as a symbol for futile, endless work.
Fig. 8. Lekythos (Palermo 2141): parodying representation of 'amuètoi'.The clearest example is the painting, known from Pausanias (2nd century AD), of the Underworld (Nekyia) by the painter Polygnotus, active ca. 475-450 BC. The painting is now lost, but we know it as Pausanias (X, 28-31) describes it for us, and the painting emerges from that description strongly orphically inclined. Orphism was a Greek mystery cult from the 6th - 5th century BC, that was closely connected with the cult of Dionysos (!), and also flourished again in later times, in the Roman Imperial period (already from the first century AD), and continued into the fourth century AD. The Underworld was seen in orphism as a place of penance and punishment; it emphasized the initiation in the mysteries as a guarantee of happiness and even immortality after death, stressing the need for purification of sins committed during life. In the Underworld of Polygnotus all kinds of croaking and suffering people must have been visible, including men and women who bring water to a (bottomless?) barrel. According to Pausanias, these were designated by a caption as 'amuètoi', as uninitiated!
So the iconography that we encounter later continuously in the representation of Danaids was initially linked to the depiction of 'amuètoi'.
After the fourth century BC the carrying of water to a leaking barrel started forming part of the Danaid myth. Of course something of the original background of this punishment lingered, which was reflected in the myth itself. Of course the Danaids received the penalty for their murderous act, so far only undergone by 'amuètoi', for a good reason. As matter of fact, their behavior gave every reason for it. First, the Danaids were averse to any marriage with whoever (Cf. Aesch. Supp. 158). Now marriage at that time was a mystery in which people had to be initiated. If the Danaids had not been forced to it by their father, then they would never have married, so never been initiated. Furthermore, by the murder of their spouses in the wedding night they had not completed the initiation, but aborted it prematurely. They could therefore not pass as initiated.
Now to those too who had missed the marriage initiation the task was assigned in the Underworld to carry water to a (leaking or bottomless) vessel. This finds its origin in a certain ritual during the wedding initiation, namely the bridal bath (cleansing of both partners, purification), for which water was supplied in large jars, loutrophoroi. Those who died prematurely or were never married at all had to repeat this ritual, which they had missed or neglected in life, after death endlessly for all eternity. 'He who did not purify himself on earth by initiation must forever purify himself in Hades' (Harrison, 614). This idea is reflected in the custom of the Greeks to place a loutrophoros on the graves of youngsters who had died prematurely.
It is therefore not surprising that in the Greek era the Danaid myth Is associated with the task of supplying water. Later, in Roman times, the iconography of the task of the Danaids was linked to the representation of 'amuètoi' in a more general sense.
It is the same in the grave of P. Aelius Maximus: through the choice of the Danaid-scene as counterpart of the Laodamia-scene, a contrast was created not just between happiness and unhappiness in the Underworld, but also between being initiated or not, with the associated implications for life after death. Compare with this the aforementioned amphora (Munich 1493, Fig. 7), where a similar contrast has been created between the 'amuètoi' and Hercules depicted on the other side, who, by the fact that he was initiated in the Eleusinian mysteries, was capable of leading the Hellhound Cerberus from the Underworld to the light of day: he was able to return from his journey to the Underworld, i.e. conquer death.
The same applies to Laodamia: in her life she had devoted herself to the mysteries, she was 'happily married' (and therefore initiated in that respect as well) and her love reaches out over death, even conquered it.
The choice of precisely Hercules as a psychopompus of Laodamia can only sharpen this interpretation; here I recall that on one of the scenes from the life of Bacchus along the walls of the grave of P. Aelius Maximus Hercules too formed part of the followers of Bacchus.
Prometheus
I have not yet addressed one issue, namely the completion of the not preserved representation on the ceiling of the grave (Fig. 1, no. B). Based on the appearance of Minerva and Chrysalis in the adjacent Deucalion and Pyrrha-scene Andreae (129, n. 164) suspects that in the lost depiction Prometheus must have been featured. After all, Minerva and Chrysalis form in the Deucalion and Pyrrha-scene an external element, originating from the Prometheus-iconography (Cf. the creation scenes on Prometheus-sarcophagi). I have pointed this out before. The completion with Prometheus would also result in the attractive situation that two creation scenes would be opposed to two Underworld scenes: together with the scenes from Bacchus' life, the representations in the grave of P. Aelius Maximus would thus visualize a life-cycle: the origin of life (Deucalion and Pyrrha, as well as Prometheus); the dedication during life to the mysteries (Bacchus-scenes); and the two options that can happen to man after death, happiness (Laodamia) or misfortune (Danaids), according to his status (whether or not initiated).
However, I am left with the following question: if Prometheus were also depicted, why then are Minerva and Chrysalis not depicted in that scene, where they would be much more in place? Andreae does not provide an answer for this. That they would both have been depicted in the Prometheus-scene as well seems unlikely to me.
Without taking anything away from Andreae's proposal, I want to address the problem through another approach. Life after death is represented by two scenes, placed side by side along the short side of the ceiling. Although they treat the same subject, they are opposed to each other in content (Laodamia: pious and initiated - Danaids: depraved, 'amuètai'). On the other side of the ceiling is the creation scene of Deucalion and Pyrrha, with next to it the lost representation. In connection with symmetry, here too a creation scene or a person who has to do with creation will have been shown. For the sake of the same symmetry, these scenes are probably within the same subject in opposition to each other (good - evil). Well, the only other creator who is known from mythology, is Prometheus. And a creation scene with Prometheus could very well be opposed to the Deucalion and Pyrrha-scene: Prometheus is, after all, their counterpart in piety and devotion. He is guilty of every form of hybris, he has no respect for the gods, he cheats and robs them. While Deucalion and Pyrrha are being rescued by the gods from doom (the flood) and rewarded for their dedication, Prometheus is severely punished. Especially in a scene in which the bad character of Prometheus is emphasized, every relation with the gods will be avoided. And these are missing in the Danaid-scene, while Laodamia, on the other hand, is received by Pluto himself in the Underworld. For that reason Minerva and Chrysalis, the 'permanent partners' of Prometheus as creator, were added to the Deucalion and Pyrrha-scene: although they are clearly a strange element in it, they are more appropriate there ethically than in the Prometheus-scene. And this addition of Minerva of course only has a contrasting, opposite effect, if in the other scene Prometheus is depicted.
I think that from this approach Andreae's hypothesis can take a somewhat more solid form.
Conclusion
The combination of the stucco reliefs of Laodamia and of the scenes from the life of Bacchus on the one hand, along with the representation of the Danaids on the other, makes it possible to interpret the latter as a symbol for 'amuètoi' in bacchic, and perhaps also - in the light of mystery religion becoming popular again at the time - orphic context (cf. Polygnotus' Nekyia). The underlying message is clear: one must devote oneself in life to the mysteries in order to gain happiness, yes, even immortality in the hereafter. Perhaps we may - in view of the opposition between Deucalion and Pyrrha and Prometheus - phrase this in a somewhat broader sense as the necessity of piety, of devotion.
In this way, in the stucco reliefs, the hope is expressed for the deceased for a new life after death.
Literature
Andreae, B., Studien zur römischen Grabkunst, Heidelberg 1963, 34-45; 129, n. 164; Abb. 1-6, 11.
Caiza, G., Ostia, Notizie degli Scavi, 1928, 150-164.
Frazer, J.G., Pausanias' description of Greece, translated with a commentary, London 1913, Vol. V, 388-391.
Graves, R., The Greek Myths, (Penguin) 1960, Vol. I, 200-205.
Guthrie, W.K.C., Orpheus and Greek Religion, London 1952.
Hamson, J.E., Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion, Cambridge 1908.
Heydemann, H., 'Vasensammlung des Museums zu Palermo', Archeologische Zeitung 1871, 42-43, Tafel 31.
Mielsch, H., Römische Stuckreliefs, Heidelberg 1975, 80-82; 104; 161-162.
Sichtermann, H. - Koch, G., Griechische Mythen auf römischen Sarkophagen, Tübingen 1975, 64-66; Tafel 168-171.
Van Straten, F.T., 'Heracles and the Uninitiated', Festoen, Groningen 1975, 563-572.
[Translated from the Dutch by Jan Theo Bakker - 7-Mar-2020]
