Iberian art with Greek influence

[Ferran]

Iberian art with Greek influence:
The Funerary Monument of Jumilla (Murcia, Spain)

JOSÉ MARÍA BLÁZQUEZ

Abstract

A rectangular funerary monument of the fourth-third century B.C. from the necrópolis of Coimbra del Barranco Ancho de Jumilla (province of Murcia) is presented. The monument has figures in relief on all four sides- three horsemen, a youth, and a seated woman-and rep-resents a scene of farewell comparable to those on late Classical Greek grave stelae. Alíhough the Jumilla monument is of local manufacture and may be compared to many other works of Iberian art, ¡t also is a testimony to the influence of Greek art in the Iberian península.


A rectangular funerary monument with figures in relief on four sides (figs. 1-4) was found recently in a necropolis of the fourth-third century B.C. in the area of Jumilla, province of Murcia. The monument is of great interest and is without parallel among surviving examples of Iberian art, but is almost unknown to scholars. Only two brief notices of it have previously been published. 1 The monument was associated with a limestone tomb of the necropolis of Coimbra del Barranco Ancho de Jumilla and the reliefs are of special importance for our understanding of the artistic currents of southeastern Iberia during the fourth and third centuries B.C. The southeast had been an important center of Iberian culture, as demonstrated by the necrópolis of Cabecico del Tesoro 2 and El Cigarralejo, 3 both also in the modern province of Murcia.

The Jumilla monument is made of chalky limestone and measures 0.47 x 0.56 x 0.90 m. There is a 12-cm hole on the bottom to fasten the block to a base. There is another hole on the top for the fastening of an object, perhaps a statue. One of the sides (fig. 3) is very poorly preserved because it was near the surface of the ground and was damaged by plowing. This face of the monument has a rectangular hole beneath the horse, undoubtedly to house the ashes of the deceased, making the block a kind of cinerary urn for a single person as well as a decorative element in the tomb. A similar cavity may be found on the Dama de Baza (Granada), dated to the fourth century B.C., where the ashes were deposited under the Dama's chair, 4 and the opening in the back of the Dama de Elche (Alicante), the finest example of Iberian art of the first half of the fifth century B.C., was surely also used as a depository of the deceased's ashes. 5

The four sides of the funerary monument of Jumilla depict three horsemen (figs. 1-3) and a seated woman and a youth (fig. 4); together they could constitute a narrative, a farewell scene, and represent the family of the deceased in general terms. The best-preserved rider (fig. 1) is dressed in a long tunic which reaches the feet. In his left hand the horseman holds the reins and in his right a baton. He wears a tunic with a triangular neckline and short sleeves. There are arm bands just above the elbow on each arm and a bracelet on each wrist. Over the tunic there is a mantle that is fastened over the right shoulder and passes beneath the left arm. Like the tunic, it reaches the feet, forming pleats. The man's hair is combed to the sides in waves and he has a wide earring with a central circular hole, similar to those found at the necropolis of La Bobadilla (Jaén). 6
The hairstyle is the same as that of a relief head of a man found at La Albufereta (Alicante), datable to the third century B.C. 7

The horse's saddle consists of a single blanket. It is similar to that of the horse of Casas de Juan Núñez (Albacete) 8 and those of the votive horses, principally in stone, some in bronze, of the Iberian sanctuary at El Cigarralejo of the fourth century B.C. 9 The mane of the horse of the first Jumilla rider falls to one side of the neck, as on one of the horses from El Cigarralejo.
Such a long mane is not typical of Iberian horses; it is not seen, e.g., on the Juan Núñez horse or the horse's head found in a tomb at Cástulo (Jaén) of the fifth century B.C. 10 It is, however, characteristic of some of the horses found at El Cigarralejo. A leather strap across the horse's chest secures the saddle. There are two other straps across the neck. The lower one is decorated with a disk toward the front, possibly having to do with the phalera. The upper strap is decorated with a row of circles in relief which are probably metallic. All of these details and the form of the head relate this horse and the other two Jumilla horses to the head of one of the El Cigarralejo horses and set them apart from the horses' heads from Obulco, of the middle of the fifth century B.C. 11 The Jumilla examples also differ from the horse from Fuente de la Higuera (Valencia) of the fourth century B.C., which has large bronze circular or oval plaques over the head. 12

The Jumilla horse is depicted as walking. The right hind hoof rests on a bird; the right front hoof rests on a human head. The motif of a human head beneath the foot of an animal, either a lion or bear, is a familiar one in Iberian funerary sculpture of the fourth century and the Hellenistic period. Parallels may be found in the sculptures of lions at Bienservida (Albacete) 13 and Cástulo, 14 the bear from Porcuna, 15 and the lions of Ubeda la Vieja 16 and elsewhere in the province of Jaén. 17

The second Jumilla horseman (fig. 2) differs from the first in the absence of a baton; the man's clenched fist rests instead on the head of the horse. The right front hoof is broken off and the left side of the relief is generally poorly preserved. The right hind hoof rests on a rabbit, an animal common in the Iberian peninsula in antiquity (Strab. 3.2.6; 3.5.2).

The third horseman (fig. 3) is ¡n poor condition, but it is similar to the other two in most respects. In this case, however, the rider wields a falcata, the typical sword of the Iberians, 18 in his raised right hand. The warrior also carries a small circular shield on his back, 19 the Iberian caetra, which may also be seen on the warriors of Obulco of the mid-fifth century, 20 those from Urso (Osuna) of the third century, 21 and in the bronze figures of warriors from Iberian sanctuaríes.
22 The presence of these horsemen on the Jumilla funerary monument indícales that the deceased is considered a hero. The motif was also used, with a similar meaning, for the warrior of Pozo Moro (Albacete) of the beginning of the fifth century B.C.23 and on the slate plaque found in a tomb at Cástulo of the fourth century B.C.24 Outside the Iberian península such heroic riders are well known, e.g., in a tomb of 340-320 B.C. at Paestum in Italy 25 and, in Greece, on the base of a horseman's stele of ca. 560 B.C.26 and on an Archaic Attic gravestone, 27 as well as in paintings in the tombs of the Hellenistic age at Alexandria 28 and elsewhere. The motif of the heroic horseman on Iberian funerary monuments is probably of Greek origin, but the Jumilla reliefs are undoubtedly the work of an Iberian sculptor. This is indicated not only by a certain baroque element in the composition, but also by such details as the animals beneath the horses' hooves and the elaborate decoration of the horses' necks.
The fourth relief (fig. 4) represents a youth and a woman seated on a folding chair of the type depicted on the Iberian urn from Galera (Granada) of the fourth century B.C. 29 and in a relief of despothes hippon from Villaricos (Almería). 30 The youth stands in front of the woman and she touches his head with her right hand. The youth is dressed in a short tunic with half sleeves and is wearing arm bands similar to those of the horseman from Obulco. 31 Arm bands also are worn by Iberian men 32 and soldiers 33 represented on ceramics from Liria (Valencia) of the same date and are commonly found in the Iberian peninsula from the end of the Bronze Age on. 34 They also appear in sculptures outside Spain, e.g., the warrior of Capistrano of the sixth century B.C. 35 and frequently in statues from Cyprus. 36 The youth also wears a wide belt of linked plates which Iberian men frequently wore, e.g., the man from Obulco who fights with a griffin. 37 These wide belts may have had a magical significance 38 and were usually quite elaborate; the best ex-ample is the belt from Cortijo de Máquiz (Jaén). 39

The Jumilla scene of a woman bidding farewell to a youth reminds one of similar leave-taking scenes on fourth-century Attic grave stelae 40 as well as those from Alexandria 41 and there can be no doubt about the Greek influence on the Iberian monument. One proof of this is the fact that the Jumilla woman does not wear typical Iberian earrings, diadem, or neck-lace, as do the Damas de Elche and Baza, díscussed above, the woman in a relief from Albufereta, the fourth-century stone statues of women from Cerro de los Santos (Albacete), 42 and the bronze figurine of a woman from Castellar de Santisteban (Jaén). 43 E.
Langlotz, 44 A. Blanco, 45 W. Trillmich, 46 and I 47 have for some time stressed the influence of Greek art on Iberian sculpture. The new funerary monument from Jumilla, which was probably crowned by a sea creature or a sphinx, adds to the growing body of evidence in favor of this thesis. Indeed, the Greek tomb type consisting of a series of steps surmounted by a stele crowned by an Ionian capital is also frequently found in southeastern Iberia. 48 In the domain of sculpture, Greek influence, or, more specifically, Phokaian influence, has been amply documented from the latter part of the sixth century B.C. on by finds from the area around Jumilla. Langlotz and Blanco have compared the Dama de Elche with sculptures of women from Selinus and Syracuse. A second head from Elche, in a poor state of preservation, resembles a female head of excellent quality in the Berlin Museum that is generally regarded as Phokaian. A female bust from the Iberian sanctuary at Cerro de los Santos may be compared with a Demeter from Klazomenai. The Classical Greek style of the sculptures from Aegina and Olympia may be seen in a head datable ca. 450 B.C. from Verdolay (Murcia), 49 not far from Jumilla. The head of the Kore of Alicante 50 is comparable to the late Archaic Ionic style of the korai of Athens. The sphinx from Agost (Alicante) 51 documents the early influence of Greek art upon the sculptures of Alicante {a region bordering Murcia) and may be compared to the Archaic Greek sphinx from Spata. The Agost sphinx and the sphinx-headed water spout from Redován 52 frorn the same region represent the adaptation of Greek models to local needs using local stone.

The Jumilla reliefs are more recent than these examples and testify to a far more developed phase of Iberian taste. Unlike the reliefs from Pozo Moro (Albacete) of the seventh or sixth century B.C. and the fifth-century sculptures from Obulco, which belong to the Phokaian-influenced current of Iberian art, the reliefs on the Jumilla funerary monument, while sharing in the same general Greek koine, are more closely related to Attic monuments of the late sixth, fifth, and fourth centuries B.C. This is the time when Attic vases were brought to eastern Iberia in great numbers, even if they were brought to the peninsula by the Carthaginians, as appears certain.

The influence of Attic grave stelae upon Iberian sculptures may also be seen in a relief of a woman bidding farewell to a man from Albuferata (Alicante), datable to the third century B.C., which is similar in style to other stone sculptures-votives of both men and women-from the Iberian sanctuaries of Cerro de los Santos and Llano de la Consolación (Albacete), a region bordering Murcia. 53

DEPARTAMENTO DE HISTORIA ANTIGUA
UNIVERSIDAD COMPLUTENSE DE MADRID
28040 MADRID
SPAIN


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29 J.M. Blázquez, "La urna de Galera", Caesaraugusia 7-8 (1956) 99-107, fig. 1. For this type of chair in the Greek world, see G.M.A. Richter, Ancient Furniture. A History of Greek, Etruscan and Roman Furniture (Oxford 1926) 39-43, figs. 108-27; 106-107, figs. 255, 260.
30 Blázquez 1977 (supra n. 24) 293, fig. 99.
31 Blázquez and González Navarrete (supra n. 8) 63, no. 2, fig. 2.
32 Nicolini (supra n. 22) 40-41, no. 2; 164-65, no. 63.
33 G. Nicolini, Les Iberes. Art et civilisation (Paris 1973) 114, pl. 102, fig. 102. García y Bellido 1980 (supra n. 5) 80, figs. 99, 103, 107.
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35 R. Bianchi Bandinelli and A. Giuliano, Los etruscos y la Italia anterior a Roma (Madrid 1973) 104, figs. 117-18.
36 T. Spiteris, The Art of Cyprus (London 1970) 130, 158-59.
37 Blázquez and González Navarrete (supra n. 8) 63, no. 3, fig. 3. J. Cabré, "Decoraciones hispánicas", ArchEsp 11 (1928) 97-110. J. Cabré, "Decoraciones hispánicas II.
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38 J-M. Blázquez, "Cinturones sagrados en la Península Ibérica," Homenaje a Martín Almagro Basch 2 (Madrid 1983) 411-20. J.M. Blázquez, Religiones primitivas ibéricas 2 (Madrid 1983) 109-10. J.M. Blázquez, "Cinturones sagrados en la Grecia antigua", Estudios clásicos 88 (1984)
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39 M. Almagro, "Los orígenes de la toréutica ibérica", Trabajos de prehistoria 36 (1979) 178, pl. 6a, fig. 3.
40 A. Conze, Die attischen Grabreliefs I (Berlin 1890) 60-61, pls. 26-27.
41 Brown (supra n. 28) 25, no. 18, pl. 12.2; 25, no. 19, pl. 8.2; 27-28, no. 25, pl. 17; 28-29, no. 28, pl. 21.2.
42 García y Bellido 1954 (supra n. 5) 37-43. García y Bellido 1980 (supra n. 5) figs. 35-41, 43, 46, 48, 51.
43 Nicolini (supra n. 22) 140-41, no. 51; 154-55, no. 73; 206-207, no. 79.
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47 Blázquez and González Navarrete (supra n. 8) 61-69, pls. 9-20. See also, in general, T. Chapa, Influjos griegos en la escultura zoomorfa ibérica (Madrid 1986). A. Blanco, "Las esculturas de Porcuna I. Estatuas de guerreros," Boletín de la Real Academia de la Historia 184 (1987) 405-45. A. Blanco, "La escultura ibérica. Una interpretación," Escultura ibérica (Madrid 1988) 32-47.
48 M. Almagro, "Pilares-estela ibéricos," Homenaje a Martin Almagro Basch 3 (Madrid 1983) 7-20.
49 García y Bellido 1954 (supra n. 5} 503, fig. 3.99. García y Bellido 1980 (supra n. 5) 56, fig. 60.
50 García y Bellido 1954 (supra n. 5) 538, figs. 469-70. García y Bellido 1980 (supra n. 5) 57, fig. 19.
51 García y Bellido 1954 (supra n. 5) 575, fig. 498. García y Bellido 1980 (supra n. 5) 67, fig. 78.
52 García y Bellido 1954 {supra n. 5) 574-75, figs. 495-97. García y Bellido 1980 (supra n. 5) 66-67, fig. 75.
53 García y Bellido 1954 (supra n. 5) 483-541, figs. 378-466. García y Bellido 1980 (supra n. 5) 34-43, figs. 24-51.



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