the attic stelai - The American School of Classical Studies at Athens

222 W. KENDRICK PRITCHETT
They would be large and low, for the sails could be folded one directly on top of
another, and shelves, which would be necessary for a high cupboard with front
openings, would only be a useless expense. If the tops of these chests were open their
contents would be visible for a passing inspection, as the inscription provides.72 It may
be noted that Marstrand 7 has reconstructed the kibotoi of the armory with open
grillwork panels set in their sides; there is no evidence for such a detail in the words of
the inscription, but openings of some sort would be effective in discouraging mildew in
the sails, and Marstrand's notion is interesting in connection with the chest of our
list which is called thyridotos, 'having apertures.'
At any rate, Budde does not cite the chests of Philo as examples of his Greek
armaric. He admits that representations of cupboards are extremely rare in Greek
art but he believes that he has found some in the fifth-century reliefs from Lokroi
Epizephyrioi.74 In these scenes there is frequently shown what seems to be a chest
placed on rather long legs so that it attains the height of a table. These are highly
decorated pieces, and on the vertical face which is shown in full there are usually two
panels set off in the carving; these Budde supposes to be the doors of the cabinet. It
is easy to appreciate -his interpretation of the function of the panels, and yet no one
of the many reliefs offers clinching evidence. The panels are never shown ajar or
being opened; never can we see anything which might have been meant to suggest
hinge, knob or fastening, although this is the sort of detail which Greek artists were
usually careful to reproduce. Sometimes the raised outline of the panel is so continued
by the decorative scheme that a break in it would be necessary if the panel were to
open as a door, and yet the border is shown as perfectly continuous.75 And we know
that some of the panels certainly did not open, for they are shown on a table with a
very deep facing around the top,76 and again, and this is a strong point against Budde,
the same sort of panel is shown on the side of a chest, the top of which a woman is in
the act of raising.77 One fact which Budde might note but does not is that the tops of
these small chests or tables are often laden with objects; however, the presence of these
objects discourages the idea of a top opening only if we must believe that the chests
were frequently opened; and since these particular reliefs show cult scenes, it may be
supposed that the chests contained sacred objects which were not often brought out.
Two of the Locrian chests had on their paired front panels representations of a pair
of tiny, double-leaved doors, complete with lintels and consoles.8 These were thought
72
I.G., II2, 1668, lines 85 ff.
73 Arsenalet i Piraeus og Oldtidens byggeregler, Kopenhagen, 1922, pp. 116 ff.
74 Ausonia, III, 1908, pp. 136 ff.
75 Ibid., fig. 47.
76 Ibid., fig. 48; an -altar, according to Quagliati.
77 Ibid., fig. 63. See also Clairmont, op. cit., pl. 51, fig. 11.
78 Ibid., figs. 77 and 78; cf. Studniczka, Abh. der konigl. sdchs. Gesellschaft der Wissensch.,
Phil.-hist. Ki., XXX, Leipzig, 1913, p. 165, figs. 48, 49. The fact that a pot might be placed on