Vassiliki Patsiada

Funerary cult and rites in the necropolis of Rhodes Based upon excavation data this article will examine funerary monuments and epigraphic evidence of elements of the funerary cult and its evolution on Rhodes during the Hellenistic period. Between the foundation of the city in 408 bc and the mid-3rd century bc, the funerary cult involved members of the immediate family, following rites that were common across the Greek world with, in particular, libations and food offerings on the sema of the tomb. Noticeable changes can be observed from the mid-3rd century and thereafter during the period of Rhodes’ great prosperity. Many tombs take on a monumental architectural form, new types of monument appear, such as cylindrical altars with bucrania, while funerary honours are no longer performed solely by the family but also by numerous Rhodian associations that included both Rhodian and foreign members. Rites took place in cult and banquet chambers located in the funerary complexes and involved libations, a meal shared amongst the members of the association, the attribution of honours and the crowning of the funerary monuments of the association’s benefactors.

Abstract: The city of Rhodos, capital of the unified Rhodian state, was founded in 408 BC on the northernmost tip of the island, at a site virtually uninhabited until that time and thus suitable for putting into practice the most modern town planning system at the time, created by Hippodamus of Miletus. At the same time the landscape itself, rising gently  from the coves of the east coast towards the west, dictated the combination of the strictly linear hippodamian division system with the arrangement of the streets,  sanctuaries, public buildings and houses in successive terraces. The city was planned from the start as a monumental entity. It was delimited by natural defensive boundaries and the layout of the major roadways followed the natural terracing of the sloping landscape. In this way the city presented the image of an entity, where no building obstructed the free view towards the harbours and the open sea, creating impressive visual effects for the inhabitants and for the visitors arriving to its harbours. This scenic effect culminated on the acropolis hill, with buildings of religious and public function, which were arranged in successive steep terraces and were combined with underground grottoes and planned interventions on the natural landscape. The sanctuary of Asklepios, also known from literary sources for its terraced layout, was recently located at the foothill of the acropolis, and its description was confirmed. The same impressive arrangement was already known to scholars from the great Rhodian sanctuaries at  Lindos and Kamiros. The paper presents excavation finds of the last 60 years, which verify the testimonies of ancient writers about the “theatroid” layout of the city of Rhodos. Significant evidence of similar theatroid space arrangement has come to light in the excavation of the extended Rhodian necropolis, where the natural terracing and the landscape formations had also been exploited in antiquity.

LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE IN THE CITY OF RHODES
An attempt is made, on the basis of excavation data, to note in the city of Rhodes arrangements that are related to Rhodian landscape architecture. The theatrical (terraced) arrangement of the ancient city of Rhodes, known from Diodorus, has been confirmed by the uncovering boundaries of ancient streets, which were at the same time
retaining walls, such as the boundaries of streets Ρ 27, Ρ 17 and Ρ 18 in the sloping west and northwest part of the city (fi g. 1).
The Asklepieion of Rhodes, identified in recent years in the southwest part of the city (fi g. 1), also had a terraced arrangement, as did the temples, the sacred precincts (temene) and the other public buildings on the acropolis (fi g. 2-4). The scenographic arrangement of the buildings of the Rhodian acropolis, corresponding to a degree to the acropolis of Pergamon, was combined with formations of idyllic character, such as the well-known underground grotto-like nymphaia (fi g. 5) or the less well-known open-air sanctuary south of the sacred precinct of Apollo Pythios. This was in the form of an open-air temenos with a rock face on its north side, in which were opened chambers and grotto-like alcoves with niches in their walls for placing statuettes (fi g. 6-9).
The Pantheon too was in the form of open-air temenos, without temple but with altar, trophy and grove in its interior, as shown by extensive free space covered by a layer of red earth and clay water-pipes (fi g. 10-12). The sanctuary was founded in 304 BC, aft er the Rhodians’ victory in the siege of their city by Demetrios Poliorketes.
On a rocky hillock, which still survives in the southwest part of the city (fi g. 12-13), one more open-air sanctuary of the city existed, dedicated perhaps to Kybele. Revealed remnants of the sanctuary (fi g. 14) include water-supply tunnels, rock-cut small altars (fi g. 15) and
small alcoves (fi g. 16) on the east foot of the hill, as well as staircases (fi g. 17) on the north and east foot leading up to the top of the hill. The rocky hillock with the sanctuary on top, the vegetation and the underground water sources created an extensive grove for leisure and recreation, between the Asklepieion to the west of it and the Gymnasium of the Paides to the east.
Elements of Rhodian landscape architecture have been observed also in private luxurious residences of Late Hellenistic times in the west part of the city. Features of these houses, as a rule uncovered to the west of the peristyle courts (fi g. 19-31), include gardens with large curvilinear pools (fi g. 19-22, 24-25) or even underground grotto-like nymphaia (fi g. 30-31), similar to the nymphaia on the acropolis. Small and medium-size sculptures brought to light in the excavation of the houses
must have been intended for the decoration of the gardens.
Because of the fragmentary excavation, it is not clear whether one other nymphaion uncovered in the northwest part of the city on the neighbouring Vrouchos and Kostaridis plots (fi g. 32-36) belongs to a private house or is part of a public open space or a grove, as the spaces free of buildings in the neighbouring plots suggest. Moreover, the discovery in the area of a considerable number of sculptures, among them the well-known Eros now in New York (fi g. 36), attests the existence of sculpted decoration.
The above indications from excavations confirm the testimonies of textual sources on the existence of groves in the city of Rhodes and in a way vindicate the importance of Rhodian landscape art, which had been disputed by recent research.
Dr. Vassiliki Patsiada
Ephorate of Prehistorie and Classical Antiquities

Summαry
An Assemblage of Gold Jewellery and Silver Vases
from the Necropolis of Rhodes
Vasiliki Patsiada

B. Πατσιαδά, Σύνολο χρυσών κοσμημάτων και αργυρών αγγείων στη νεκρόπολη της Ρόδου, .... Α.  Γιαννικουρή (Επιμ.),  Κοροπλαστική και μικροτεχνία στον αιγαιακό χώρο από τους γεωμετρικούς χρόνους έως και τη ρωμαϊκή περίοδο, Διεθνές Συνέδριο στη μνήμη της Ηούς Ζερβουδάκη, Ρόδος, 26-29 Νοεμβρίου 2009, Τομός ΙΙ, Αθήνα 2014, 219-236.

Presented is the assemblage of gold jewellery and silver vases found in the intact grave of a young girl, of the later fourth/early third century BC.
The three pairs of earrings with lion-head finials and the fourth pair of plain hoops, the snake ring and the finger ring with inset amber bezel are familiar types of early hellenistic goldwork. Rare is the type of the diadem or braided fillet worn on the deceased’s head. Although it is classed in the category of diadems with Herakles knot, it is differentiated from the known variations and more closely resembles a group of necklaces consisting of a band or chain and solid gold Herakles knot.
Particularly interesting are the silver vases, because very few domestic silver vases of hellenistic times are known. The miniature kyathos or ladle in the funerary group is a rare grave good in rhodes but common – of normal size – in contemporary burials in Macedonia. The kalyx with the elegant decoration, elements of which are embellished with gilding, is of a high-bodied type of the late fourth/early third century BC. The closest parallels are the kalykes from Varbitsa in Bulgaria and from Thessaly. Its decoration echoes influence from egyptian workshops. The small bowl (phialiske) displays similarities with a type of early hellenistic bowl of Achaemenid provenance, with very shallow body and decorated with large lance-shaped leaf motifs. The known examples are few and come from Macedonia, Thrace and Akarnania. By contrast, in Rhodes the type seems to have been particularly popular, though not in silver but in glass. Numerous too are the miniature imitations of it in silver, made exclusively for mortuary use.
It seems that during the early hellenistic period miniature silver bowls, as well as miniature silver alabastra, were used as substitutes for corresponding precious vases, which in the same period accompanied burials of eminent persons in Macedonia and other regions. Perhaps this was a way of economizing on the precious metal, which is probably also the reason for the rarity of silver domestic vases in Rhodes.
ISBN: 978-