Greek and Roman

A freestanding, deftly chiselled group, composed of the heroes Pirithous and Theseus out hunting, both are shown in heroic nudity with short, curly hair and strong musculature, advancing away from one another. Their quarry, a rabbit, is hanging from a bunch of spears held over the shoulder of the left hand figure, whose right hand grasps a lagobolon, a type of knobbly hunting stick, which he rests on his left thigh; acanthus leaves arch upward between his legs, his left leg overlapping that of the figure beside him, and his head twisted to the left and gazing straight ahead. The lower body of the second figure, whose strong diagonals mirror his companion’s stance, is framed by the folds of his cloak which falls toward his calf. He also grasps a bunch of hunting spears held vertically in his left hand, and behind him is the base of a tree trunk. Recomposed from several large fragments, some scratches to the surface toned down.

In other examples of this scene the figure holding the lagabolon has been identified as Pirithous, and the other as Theseus.

This fragmentary, freestanding group was attached to the top of a funerary shrine, or ‘naiskos’. From 325-250 BC naiskoi tombs were commonplace in Tarentum, a Greek colony in South Italy. They were decorated with pedimental relief figures, acroteria, metopes and sculpted friezes. Their existence is best attested to in local red-figured vases of the period. These naiskoi were carved from an indigenous limestone and were mainly reserved for the tombs of the wealthy.

The story of Pirithous and Theseus makes for an appropriate theme for a funerary monument. According to Greek mythology, Pirithous and Theseus were great friends, having bonded after Pirithous heard of the great deeds of Theseus, picked a fight with him and when neither was able to overcome the other they swore an oath of friendship to one another. The friends had many adventures together, including the hunt for the Calydonian boar and the centauromachy at the wedding of Pirithous to his wife Hippodamia. After each had been widowed, Theseus and Pirithous declared that only a daughter of Zeus would be an appropriate match, so after the former had abducted Helen of Sparta (later to be known as Helen of Tory), they descended into the underworld to abduct Persephone, the wife of Hades, so that she might become become the consort of Pirithous and adopt the role as Queen of the Lapiths. Hades caught them, held them captive and set the Furies to torture them. Years later, Heracles was performing the last of his labours, to capture Cerberus, and on his way back from the afterlife saw his cousin Theseus tied to a rock with Pirithous and rescued him. Tragically for Pirithous, Hades deemed his actions too unforgivable in comparison to those of Theseus, and never allowed him to returned back to the land of the living. This myth creates a link between the worlds of the living and the dead, and would act as a reminder of the heroic actions of the young, the sacrifices one makes for brotherly friendship and for the pursuit of a woman's love, and the mix of eternity and transience of the underworld.

The symmetry in the contrasting movements seen here is accentuated by the overlapping legs and the vegetal supports, creating a series of intersecting diagonals. Jucker (op. cit., p.21) notes that the group tilts forward, indicating that it must have been attached to the upper part of the naiskos. As there are no visible traces on the back to suggest that the figures were fixed to a background, the group would have most likely been free standing.