Phoenician mortuary practices of the Achaemenid Period

The Phoenicians as a politically, religiously, and perhaps even ethnically distinct entity on the Levantine coast emerged at the end of the Late Bronze Age about 1200 BCE, as one of the successor cultures to the Canaanites.  From their homeland on the coast of the Levant, the Phoenicians spread throughout the Mediterranean and its islands including Cyprus, Sicily and Malta. Some scholars have observed that Iron Age Phoenicia was not a nation, but rather a collection of cities built around natural harbors along the coast. While they shared a common culture, these small states remained independent, competing with each other in the international marketplace. 

"Depending on how evidence is weighed [based on Ugaritic texts and classical sources], Phoenician religion might be presented on the one hand as inclusive and diverse – a “conservatively” polytheistic society easily able to incorporate or syncretize new deities, customs and traditions or on the other hand as highly place-specific – a model in which Phoenicians were devoted to city-gods only, with little shared pantheon above the local or regional scale," Helen Dixon, University of Michigan, observes.

This variety in religious practices initially resulted in the use of both cremation and inhumation in mortuary practices and funerary art often expressed influences by non-Phoenician ruling administrations like New Kingdom Egyptians, Assyrians, and Achaemenid Persians.  By the Achaemenid period, however, adult cremation abruptly disappears from sites in the Phoenician cultural sphere.  This corresponds with the increasing importance of Zoroastrianism in the 5th century BCE. In Zoroastrianism, water (aban) and fire (atar) are agents of ritual purity, and the associated purification ceremonies are considered the basis of ritual life. A corpse is considered a host for decay. Consequently, scripture enjoins the safe disposal of the dead in a manner such that a corpse does not pollute the good creation.

For inhumation burials, the use of sarcophagi during the Achaemenid period along with epigraphic evidence points to a consistent and insistent emphasis on the integrity of the burial. Deities, including Astarate, are invoked to assist with the procurement of blessings and to enforce curses and righteousness is defined by political accomplishments or the building of religious shrines.  Although Egyptian iconography persisted, it was supplemented by Persian iconography. A paucity of grave goods was referenced in inscriptions as a deterrent to grave robbing and what few ceramic vessels have been found in Phoenician burials have been ceremonially broken. Wealthier burials, though, apparently included the use of expensive resins such as myrrh to anoint, perfume or preserve the body and the deceased were dressed in special garments with head ornaments, particularly royal women whose head ornament was described as a gold bridle. However, there apparently were no extensive preparations for a “next life,” no large quantities of food or drink on which to survive or any biographical depictions or texts to accompany the dead. With the exception of the occasional appearance of amulets or other possibly apotropaic items, there was no preparation for an encounter with an underworld deity or space or expectation of  a future meeting one's deceased ancestors.

Read more about it in Dixon's dissertation, "Phoenician Mortuary Practice in the Iron Age I – III (ca. 1200 – ca. 300 BCE) Levantine “Homeland”:

https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/handle/2027.42/99972

Sarcophagus made from Greek marble. burial grounds of Antarados, northern Lebanon. 480-450 BCE courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor McLeod

Anthropoid sarcophagi, from Sidon, 5th century BCE, National Museum of Beirut, Lebanon courtesy of Carole Raddato.

Phoenician sarcophagus of the fifth century BCE, from the Carthaginian colonization of Sicily. Discovered in Palermo. Regional Archaeological Museum of Palermo, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Giovanni Dall'Orto.

Sarcophagus of Eshmunazar II, king of Sidon, Phoenicia, ca first quarter of the 5th century BC.E. at The Louvre courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Fred Romero.

Marble anthropoid sarcophagus, last quarter of the 5th century B.C.E., Graeco-Phoenician found on Cyprus at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Phoenician sarcophagus of the fifth century BCE, from the Carthaginian colonization of Sicily. Discovered in Palermo. Regional Archaeological Museum of Palermo, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Giovanni Dall'Orto.

Marble anthropoid sarcophagus, last quarter of the 5th century B.C.E., Graeco-Phoenician found on Cyprus at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Phoenician marble sarcophagus found in Cádiz. Spain, 5th century BCE, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Professor Ángel M. Felicísimo, University of Mérida.

Phoenician marble sarcophagus found in Cádiz. Spain, 5th century BCE, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Professor Ángel M. Felicísimo, University of Mérida.

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The Zeugma Mosaic Museum

The Zeugma Mosaic Museum  in the town of Gaziantep, Turkey, the biggest mosaic museum in the world, containing 1700m2 of mosaics opened to the public on 9 September 2011,  Named for its pontoon bridge of boats that crossed the Euphrates River at that location, Zeugma was founded as Seleucia by Seleucus I Nicator, one of the general successors of Alexander the Great, in the early 3rd century BCE.  By 64 BCE, the Romans controlled the city and Zeugma became a military base and thriving commercial center with a population of about 70,000 people. In 253 CE, it was destroyed by the Sassanids, but was later rebuilt.  However, continuing raids by the Persians and Arabs led to its abandonment in the 7th century CE.

The mosaics, remained relatively unknown until 2000 when plans for new dams on the Euphrates meant that much of Zeugma would be flooded. Many of the mosaics remain covered and teams of researchers continue to work on the project to rescue them.

In addition to the mosaics featured here, more can be seen at:

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Ancient_Roman_mosaics_in_the_Zeugma_Mosaic_Museum_(Gaziantep)

This incredible mosaic known as the Eros and Psyche Mosaic from the 2nd-3rd century CE was found at the Poseidon Villa at Zeugma. Depicted in astonishing detail is Eros, preparing Telete for marriage. According to Apuleius, the jealous Venus commanded her son Cupid (the god of love) to inspire Psyche with love for the most despicable of men. Instead, Cupid placed Psyche in a remote palace where he could visit her secretly and, by his warning, only in total darkness. One night Psyche lit a lamp and found that the figure at her side was the god of love himself. When a drop of oil from the lamp awakened him, he reproached Psyche and fled. Wandering the earth in search of him, Psyche fell into the hands of Venus, who imposed upon her difficult tasks. Finally, touched by Psyche's repentance, Cupid rescued her, and, at his instigation, Jupiter made her immortal and gave her in marriage to Cupid. This is a floor mosaic from the presence chamber in the Poseidon villa, representing the moment Psyche and her lover rejoin.  Courtesy of Carole Raddato.

The Achilles Mosaic was at the bottom of a pool with a waterspout in the impluvium of the Poseidon Villa in Zeugma. Achilles has been sent by his parents to a friend-King's palace where he even dresses up as a woman. Odysseus wants to find him, an plays a trick to find him amongst the "women": he brings fine gifts of clothing, jewellery, but also fine weaponry. The one to grab that must be Achilles. Here he's found out.  Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor and friend, Dick Osseman.

The Andromeda Mosaic.  Perseus was the son of Zeus and Danaë, the daughter of Acrisius of Argos. As an infant he was cast into the sea in a chest with his mother by Acrisius, to whom it had been prophesied that he would be killed by his grandson. A [..] deed attributed to Perseus was his rescue of the Ethiopian princess Andromeda when he was on his way home with Medusa's head. Andromeda's mother, Cassiopeia, had claimed to be more beautiful than the sea nymphs, or Nereid ; so Poseidon had punished Ethiopia by flooding it and plaguing it with a sea monster. An oracle informed Andromeda's father, King Cepheus, that the ills would cease if he exposed Andromeda to the monster, which he did. Perseus, passing by, saw the princess and fell in love with her. He turned the sea monster to stone by showing it Medusa's head and afterward married Andromeda. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor and friend, Dick Osseman.

The Daedalus Mosaic.  The Daedalus and Icarus mosaic. From the Enc. Britt. about Daedalus: (Greek: “Skillfully Wrought”), mythical Greek architect and sculptor, who was said to have built, among other things, the paradigmatic Labyrinth forKing Minos of Crete. Daedalus fell out of favour with Minos and was imprisoned; he fashioned wings of wax and feathers for himself and for his son Icarus and escaped to Sicily. Icarus, however, flew too near the Sun, and his wings melted; he fell into the sea and drowned. The island on which his body was washed ashore was later named Icaria. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor and friend, Dick Osseman.

The Zeus and Europa Mosaic.  Europa [is] in Greek mythology, the daughter either of Phoenix or of Agenor, king of Phoenicia. The beauty of Europa inspired the love of Zeus, who approached her in the form of a white bull and carried her away from Phoenicia to Crete. There she bore Zeus three sons: King Minos of Crete, King Rhadamanthus of the Cyclades Islands, and, according to some legends, Prince Sarpedon of Lycia. She later married the king of Crete, who adopted her sons, and she was worshiped under the name of Hellotis in Crete, where the festival Hellotia was held in her honour.  Possibly Astypalaia (Europa's sister who was abducted by Poseidon) rides a sea-leopard (pardalokampos). . Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor and friend, Dick Osseman.

 

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Persian cavalry before the cataphractarii

The Persians did not use cavalry to a great extent until Cyrus the Great  gave the Persian nobility both horses and the wealth to maintain them from the proceeds of his western conquests. He encouraged them to ride and it became a source of disgrace for a Persian noble to be seen walking.  Cyrus then recruited his cavalry from the nobles, creating a regiment of 15,000 men drawn from the Huvaka or “kinsmen.” These kinsmen adopted brightly-colored trousers and shorter tunics that were more suitable for riding from the Medes.  Cyrus adopted cavalry tactics from the Khorassan horsemen of northeastern Iran, parts of modern Afghanistan and the southern parts of Central Asia. He initially armed his cavalry with the standard weapons of the Persian infantrymen: bows, battle-axes, and oval shields. Later, they were re-equipped with short stabbing swords and throwing javelins instead. Long lances and spears made of wood or entirely of metal were used too.

In the mid-5th century Persian cavalrymen adopted the use of wicker and leather shields.  They were designed after those carried by the Saka, a group of nomadic Iranian peoples who historically inhabited the northern and eastern Eurasian Steppe and the Tarim Basin.

According to Herodotus, at the time of the Persian invasion of Greece, Persian cavalry, assembled from a variety of contingents within the empire, were protected only by various kinds of soft headgear and wore no substantial body armor. This is reflected both in the 3rd century BCE Cypriot statuette as well as the famous Alexander mosaic from the House of the Faun in Pompeii.  Cavalry officers may have worn more protective armor, however, as indicated at the battle of Plataea where Masistius, a Persian cavalry commander, is reported to have worn gold scale armor under his scarlet surcoat. 

"When his horse was hit by an arrow, he defended himself vigorously on foot and could not be brought down by body blows. At last, the Athenians who surrounded him guessed the secret and struck at his face." - The Persian Achaemenid Army, weaponsandwarfare.com

Detail from the Alexander Mosaic from the House of the Faun in Pompeii depicting Achaemenid Persian cavalry at the Battle of Issus, 1st century BCE-1st century CE at the National Archaeological Museum in Naples courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Lucas.

Terracotta statuette of a horseman, 3rd century B.C.E. Cyprus, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

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Armor from the original Pyrrhic victory

Pyrrhus  was born to prince Aeacides of Epirus, and Phthia, a Thessalian noblewoman, the daughter of the Thessalian general Menon. Aeacides was a cousin of Olympias, making Pyrrhus a second-cousin-once-removed to Alexander the Great. When Aecides father died, he left Epirus to the joint rule of Aeacides and his younger half-brother Neoptolemus.

Aeacides supported Olympias in her fight against Cassander and marched on Macedon. When Cassander was ultimately victorious, Epirus became a puppet kingdom of Cassander. Pyrrhus' family fled north and took refuge with Glaukias of the Taulantians, one of the largest Illyrian tribes. Cassander marched against Glaukias, and with his army defeated, Glaukias promised not to act against Cassander, but refused to give up Pyrrhus and his family.

By 313 BCE, Cassander was distracted by his war against Antigonus Monophthalmus so Aeacides returned to Epirus and raised a large army. However, Cassander, not that distracted,  sent an army under his brother Philip, who defeated Aeacides in two battles. Aeacides was wounded in the last battle and died soon after. But young Pyrrhus survived.

In 307 BCE, Glaukias invaded Epirus and put Pyrrhus on the throne. When Pyrrhus was seventeen he travelled to the court of Glaukias in Illyria to attend the wedding of one of Glaukias' sons. While he was in Illyria the Molossians rose in rebellion, drove out Pyrrhus' supporters, and returned his half brother Neoptolemus to the throne. So, Pyrrhus travelled to the Peloponnese and served his brother-in-law Demetrius Poliorcetes who was campaigning against Cassander in southern Greece.  In 302 BCE, Demetrius took his army to Asia Minor to support his father Antigonus Monophthalmus. Although Demetrius and young Pyrrhus fought on the losing side at the Battle of Ipsus, the largest and most important battle of the Wars of the Successors, Demetrius escaped along with Pyrrhus and 9,000 men. 

However, in 298 BCE his brother-in-law gave him over as a hostage to Ptolemy I Soter in Alexandria. He eventually married Ptolemy's stepdaughter, though, and Ptolemy helped restore Pyrrhus to his throne. In the years that followed Pyrrhus struggled against Demetrius and Lysimachus, who had survived the wars of the Diadochi to rule Macedon.

In 280 BCE, the citizens of the Greek city of Tarentum in southern Italy asked Phyrrhus to lead their war against the Romans.  Due to his superior cavalry, his elephants and his deadly palanx infantry he defeated the Romans at the Battle of Heraclea and, in 279 BCE, the Battle of Asculum. It was at the Battle of Asculum that the consul Publius Decius Mus almost managed to break the back of Pyrrhus' Epirot army. In the end, the Romans lost 6,000 men and Pyrrhus 3,500 including many officers. Pyrrhus later famously commented on his victory at Asculum, stating, "If we are victorious in one more battle with the Romans, we shall be utterly ruined".  It is from reports of this semi-legendary event that the term Pyrrhic victory originates.

Images: Bronze muscle cuirass and silvered helmet of King Pyrrhus I of Epirus at the Archaeological Museum of Igoumenitsa in northwest Greece courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Harrygouvas.

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Lebes gamikos: ceremonial wedding jars

The lebes gamikos, or "nuptial lebes," (plural - lebetes gamikoi) is a form of ancient Greek pottery used in marriage ceremonies (literally, it means marriage vase). It was probably used in the ritual sprinkling of the bride with water before the wedding. In form, it has a large bowl-like body and a stand that can be long or short. A typical lebes gamikos shows wedding scenes (including mythic weddings such as the wedding of Peleus and Thetis, but the iconography can also be related to scenes such as mimes.

One of the earliest lebetes gamikoi was painted by, apparently, a follower of Sophilos (c. 580 - 570 BCE). The lebes gamikos had the typical wedding procession, accompanied by the unique addition of chariots bearing Helen and Menelaos and the bride's brothers.

Sophilos (active about 590 – 570 BCE) was an Attic potter and vase painter in the black-figure style. Sophilos is the oldest Attic vase painter so far to be known by his true name. Fragments of two wine basins ('’dinoi’’) in Athens are signed by him, indicating that he both potted and painted them. Apart from his work for the domestic market, he was also one of the masters of major significance in the process of supplanting the dominance of Corinthian vase painting in the markets of Etruria, and Southern Italy, the most important export area for Greek vases. His works were exported as far as the Black Sea region, Syria and Egypt (Naukratis). He was one of the first painters to use additional colors at a grand scale, thus increasing the optical and artistic distinction between Corinthian and Attic vase painting. While he was conservative and traditionalist in terms of the ornamentation and animal figures he used, his intervening figural scenes, mostly of mythological motifs, were entirely innovative. He broke up established standard scenes, had figures act individually, and found clever and unconventional new ways of structuring the narrative. As his artistic style progressed, he increasingly pushed ornamental designs into the margin, as his figural scenes became more and more important.

Woman and youth. Side B from a Apulian red-figure lebes gamikos, 360–350 BCE at The Louvre by Wikimedia Commons contributor Marie-Lan Nguyen

Lebes gamikos with eros seated in front of a woman, from Apulia, 350-300 BCE at the Cincinnati Museum of Art courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Sailko

Lebes Gamikos with lid in the form of a lekanis, attributed to Asteas or his workshop, Paestum, 350-340 BCE at the Martin von Wagner Museum in Würzburg, Germany courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Daderot.

Gynaeceum scene. Side A of an Attic red-figure lebes gamikos, 420–410 BCE at The Louvre courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Marie-Lan Nguyen.

Lebes Gamikos, ascribed to the Sabouroff painter, depicting the adornment of a bride, around 450 BCE, with another piece from a grave in Athens, Antikensammlung Berlin / Altes Museum courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Marcus Cyron

Lebes gamikos with judgment of paris and marriage scene, from Attica, 520-510 BCE courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Sailko

Nuptial lebes with representation of female worshippers, deposited as a grave good. Thebes, 4th century BCE at the Archaeological Museum of Thebes courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Zde.

Lebes Gamikos marriage jar, Asteas-Python Workshop, Paestan red figure, 325-320 BCE, terracotta - Spurlock Museum courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Daderot

Lebes gamikos with lid. Second half of fourth century B.C.E. in the Mediterranean Museum in Sweden courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Lokal Profil

Terracotta lebes gamikos (jar associated with weddings) with lid, Greek from Centuripe, Sicily, 3rd century B.C.E. at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Two women at a bathtub on which Eros is standing. Paestum red-figure lebes gamikos, ca. 340 BCE at the National Archaeological Museum in Madrid courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Marie-Lan Nguyen

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