(piano music) Man: At the end of the fifth century BC, the end of the very
brief period that we call the high classical moment, there was a resurgence of
funerary sculpture in Athens. Woman: In fact, we're standing in a room in the National Archaeological
Museum in Athens that's filled with grave markers, most of them in the form of what our historians called stele
or upright slabs decorated with relief sculptures. Man: Not so different
from what we in the modern world would recognize as a grave stone. Woman: Exactly. Interestingly, there was a disappearance of this type of monument during that high classical moment and
then we see it reappear. Man: What we do have in the high classical moment is most of the great sculptors working on the sculptural program of the Parthenon and the other
buildings of the Acropolis. But we see private sculpture
begin to re-emerge. That is, sculpture that is not
part of a program of the state. Woman: Exactly. Before
the classical period in the archaic period, there were kore and kouros, the male and female
figures that were set up by the elite Greek families
as funerary markers, but during the period
of democracy in Athens, the state was primary
and not wealthy families. Man: You see this resurgence especially in the cemeteries just outside
of the city gates of Athens. Woman: That's where this
particular sculpture was found, which is called
the grave stele of Hegeso. Hegeso is the woman who is shown seated opening a box of jewelry presented to her by her servant and examining a necklace, which is no longer there, but which was once represented in paint. Man: There is such a precise rendering of the chair that she sits on. Woman: Don't forget
women's fear was the home. Women were not allowed
to be citizens of Athens. Hegeso is shown in a domestic setting. We see plasters on either
side and a pediment above, on which we see an inscription, that says, "Hegeso, daughter of Proxenos." Women in ancient Greece
led very circumcribed lives that were defined by their relationships with men. First their fathers and
then their husbands. Man: But I think that what I find most compelling is it's quiet reverence. This is so much in
keeping with the tradition of the high classical that we
see in Parthenon sculpture. Woman: So this is a style that resembles very closely the kind
of carving that we see on the figures on the Parthenon Frieze. Drapery that very closely follows the form of the body that creates elaborate folds and swirls that have a visual interest in their own right. The drapery that bunches
up between her two arms and around her belly
and between her breasts are beautiful passages of sculpting. Man: Her foot is resting on a foot rest so that there is no part of her
is actually touching the ground. We see beautiful
representation of her foot foreshortened and wearing a sandal. Look at the very delicate veil that falls to the right of the shoulder or the way in which the drapes around her legs fall on the far side of the chair. And yet the drape by her waist falls on this side of the chair. So although we have
this very shallow space, we have the full width of the body. Therefore all of this
really vivid carving. This is a quiet image that is absolutely appropriate to the solemn
mood of a grave stele. (piano music)