On the white-groundle ̄kythoithe vast majority of the scenes show mourners
visiting the tomb or at home preparing for such a visit.Prothesisappears on a few,
and on a few a new mythology of death is developed. The boatman, Charon, who
ferries souls across a river (Acheron) or a lake (Acherousia) into the realm of Hades,
first appears on two black-figure vases of about 500 BC, but it is only after the middle
of the fifth century that images of him become at all common. Images of Charon in
Greek art are limited almost entirely to white-groundle ̄kythoi.Onale ̄kythosfrom
Athens (Figure 26.13), ca. 430 BC, Hermes, as guide to the souls (psychopompos)
leads a veiled woman to a boat in which Charon, dressed as a laborer, stands with his
ferryman’s pole. Around them five tiny winged figures flutter; these are souls of the
dead (eido ̄la). There is nothing frightening or disturbing about the scene; it is little
more than a gentle metaphor for death.
Another scene that appears less often shows Sleep (Hypnos) and Death (Thanatos)
lifting a body off the ground. The earliest depiction of this on Attic vases, from before
the end of the sixth century, show the two as twins, as described by Homer (Iliad
16.667–83) with the body of Sarpedon. On white-ground vases the scene has
become generic, the body can be male or female, and Hypnos as been changed into
a beautiful youth while Thanatos become a disheveled older man, itself a statement of
sorts. Here too we have a comforting metaphor for death rather than a statement of
belief (Figure 26.14).
Clearly the modern term ‘‘religious art’’ with its connotations that an image
expresses or encourages piety or spirituality would have made little sense to fifth-
century Athenians. That being said, it is probably true that artisans in fifth-century
Athens – vase-painters, sculptors, builders, goldsmiths, carpenters, and the like –
spent their careers creating objects that had religious functions as cult statues and
temples, sacrificial vessels, and, above all, votive offerings. Virtually every building
Figure 26.13 Hermes leading a woman to Charon on a white-groundle ̄kythosfrom Athens,
ca. 450 BC. Athens, NM 1926. After Riezler 1914: fig. 44a
418 T.H. Carpenter