The role of Gestures in Greek Funerary Iconography from the Mycenaean to Late Classical Periods

Abstract

Since the dawn of early man, gesture has served as an important means of communication. As such, the use of gesture was essential in ancient Greek art as a way of communicating meaning to the viewer. However, the scholarly study of gesture has long been limited to determining the gesture's meaning, with little attempt made to also analyse gesture as an indicator of the gender, socio-economic status and familial relationships of the figures depicted. This thesis seeks to explore the role of gesture in Greek funerary art. It focuses on Attic and Boeotian funerary iconography since this provides both diachronic evidence and may be supported by a wealth of relevant textual sources. It is underpinned by a study of 1213 Attic and Boeotian funerary objects dating from the Mycenaean to the Late Classical period, including coffins, funerary plaques, figured decorated pots and tombstones. A study of this material reveals that throughout all periods under discussion, both the placement of the figures and gestures they performed were deliberately employed by Greek artists as a tool for identifying the gender, social status, lifestage and familial relationships of figures in funerary scenes. Moreover, analysis reveals that while on one hand a strong degree of continuity within these funerary gestures can be discerned on the other hand a number of distinct developments in the iconography suggest the impact of socio-political and historical change.