The Significance of the Handshake Motif in Classical Funerary Art Author(s): Glenys Davies Reviewed work(s): Source: American

Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 89, No. 4 (Oct., 1985), pp. 627-640 Published by: Archaeological Institute of America Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/504204 . Accessed: 26/01/2012 10:21
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The Significanceof the Handshake Motif in Classical Funerary Art

GLENYS DAVIES (Pls. 68-70)
Abstract The handshake motif was widely used by Greek, Etruscan and Roman artists in both funerary and nonfunerarycontexts. This article aims to give a general survey of the motif from Archaic Greece to the late Roman Empire, looking especially at the continuity of its use. The principal aim is to elucidate its meaning in funerary contexts, but to do so its appearancein non-funerarycontexts is also considered. Throughout the period considered the handshake had a multiplicity of associations which were exploited by the artists to create an ambiguous meaning. The themes of meeting and parting were persistently associated with the handshake (especially parting from relatives at death, and reunion with ancestors in the Underworld), but various other themes were also related to it, especially marriage,an associationthat was first made in Greek art but which only becamedominant in the later Empire. The handshake motif often appears today in press photographs and commercial logos as a symbolic gesture. Since we may in fact shake hands on a number of rather different occasions-when meeting or welcoming someone, parting from them and making our farewells, or when we have come to an agreement and wish to express mutual trust-the exact connotations of the handshake in a particular picture are not immediately obvious. Despite this inherent ambiguity the handshake remains a potent symbol. The same ambiguity would seem to have existed in the classical world, although there, in addition to parting, meeting and agreement, the motif also seems to have had an association with marriage. The present study examines the use of the handshake gesture in a wide range of classical art, Greek, Etruscan and RoSThe fullest treatment of the motif appears in K. Friis Johansen, The Attic Grave-Reliefsof the Classical Period (Copenhagen 1951); L. Reekmans, "La 'dextrarumiunctio' dans l'iconographie romaine et palkochr~tienne," Bulletin de l'Institut historiquebelge de Rome 31 (1958) 23-95 (also in EAA 3 [Rome 1960] 82-85 s.v. dextrarum iunctio); G. Rodenwaldt, "Uber den Stilwandel in der Antoninischen Kunst," AbhPreussAkadWiss3 (1935) 1-27, esp. 13-17. 2 For a more detailed discussion see G. Neumann, Gesten und Gebiirdenin der griechischenKunst (Berlin 1965) 49-58. 3BF amphora, Boston Museum of Fine Arts, inv. 97.205, near 627 American Journal of Archaeology 89 (1985)

man, concentrating on funerary art but with some considerationof the appearanceof the motif in nonfunerary contexts. Previous scholars have looked at the meaning of the motif in individual categories of funerarymonuments,but have not attemptedto trace the history of the handshake motif throughout the classical period. As a result they have arrived at different interpretationsof the motif at different periods.' The handshakemotif was, however,used with a degree of continuity which suggests that, despite changes in emphasis, there was a general meaning which underliesall variationsand which continuedto be understood.My aim is to re-examine the various contexts in which the motif was used, and to elucidate the associationsand meanings it may have had.
DEXIOSIS IN GREEK ART

The best-known and most common use of the handshake motif (dexiosis) in Greek art is on the Athenian grave stelai of the Classical period. However, sporadic scenes with a pair of figures shaking hands had occurred earlier in other, non-funerary, contexts. The handshakeappearsin mythologicalsceneson a numberof vases of the Archaicand Classical periods.2 Many such scenes of the late archaic period involve Herakles: he is shown shaking hands with Athena on both black- and red-figure vases (pl. 68, fig. 1),3 where the scene representsthe acceptanceof Herakles as an equal by the gods, and, in particular, his comradeshipwith Athena. Slightly later, as one might expect, the focus switches fromHerakles to Theseus. On
the Antimenes Painter (pl. 68, fig. 1): CVA USA 14, 30, pl. 41.2. BF amphora, Munich, Antiken Sammlung, inv. 1556, Lysippides Painter: CVA Germany 37, 47-48, pl. 393; RF amphora, Parma, Museo Nazionale di Antichita, inv. C3, (?)Tyszkiewicz Painter: CVA Italy 45, 3, pl. 1.2. RF amphora in Vatican, Kleophrades Painter: ARV2 182.3; Neumann (supra n. 2) fig. 25. Herakles is also represented shaking hands with the centaur Pholos on two neck amphorae by the Antimenes Painter in the British Museum (B226) and Villa Giulia, Castellani Collection:J.D. Beazley,JHS 47 (1927) 69-70, fig. 5 and pl. 12.

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Early Classical red-figure vases Theseus is represented linking right hands with his father, Poseidon,4 again presumablyto indicate Theseus' exalted status. The first use of the motif in an Underworld setting is on a lekythos by the Alkimachos Painter in Berlin5 which depicts Herakles' attempt to rescue Peirithoos from the Underworld. Peirithoos is linked with his would-be rescuerby a right handclasp.Although Herakles may be attempting to haul Peirithoos to his feet, the taking of right hands seems to me to be given an emphasis that is not required by the narrative. Around 450 B.C. it seems the motif began to be used in a variety of contexts and could now be applied to ordinary mortals. An importantinstance occurs on a large krater in New York decoratedwith a scene set in Hades (pl. 68, fig. 2).6 Among the various traditional inhabitantsare an unnamedcouple-a woman, still wearing her grave clothes, shaking hands with a young man. The scene is best interpreted as one of greeting7:one of the woman's deceasedrelatives,or at least one of the inhabitants of Hades, is greeting her as a new arrival. This scene seems to be unique. A comparatively large group of red-figure vases dating from ca. 450-420 B.C. shows the handshakein a different context, the departure of a warrior.8The young warrior, often in armor and carrying his military equipment, shakes hands with a young woman or an elderly man, usually with a third figure in attendance. The solemn faces of all concernedsuggest that the young man is about to go off to war, possiblynever to return (pl. 68, fig. 3). These paintings, taken with the Underworld scene on the New York krater, suggest that the handshakecould be used in scenesof both parting and greeting in the third quarter of the fifth century B.C.
4 RF column krater, Robinson Collection, (?)Painter of the Harrow Oinochoe:JHS 36 (1916) 132; CVA USA 6, 25-27, pl. 31. RF oinochoe, Yale 143, Painter of the Yale Oinochoe: ARV2 503.25; J.D. Beazley, Attic Red-Figured Vasesin AmericanMuseums (Cambridge 1918) 61, fig. 39. 5RF lekythos, Berlin 30038: ARV 2 532.57; Beazley (supra n. 4) 136, fig. 85; Neumann (supra n. 2) 55, fig. 26 a, b; J.P. Barron, JHS 92 (1972) 43, pl. 7e. 6 Krater, New York, Metropolitan Museum, inv. 08.258.21, Nekyia Painter: ARV2 1086.1; G.M.A. Richter and L.F. Hall, Red-FzguredAthenian Vases in the Metropolitan Museum (New Haven 1936) I.168-71, no. 135; II. pls. 135-37. 7Friis Johansen (supra n. 1) 158-59, fig. 81. 8 Stamnos, British Museum E448 (pl. 68, fig. 3), Achilles Painter: ARV2 992.65, CVA Great Britain 4, 9, pl. 22.3;JHS34 (1914) pls. 15-16. Bell krater,Vienna, inv. 172: CVA Austria 3, 17-18, pl. 114.4, 5. Amphora, Warsaw, Nat. Mus. inv. 147367, attrib. to Painter of the Louvre Centauromachy:CVA Poland 6, 11-12, pls. 14-17. Lekythos, Oxford, Ashmolean Museum, lent by Dr. F.C. Conybeare, Achilles Painter: ARV2 993.93; JHS 34 (1914) 181, fig. 2; CVA Great Britain 3, 27, pl. 36.1-2. Cup, Berlin, inv. F 2536, Painter of Berlin 2536: CVA Germany 22, 17, pls. 133.4 and 117.2. Amphora, New York, Metropolitan Museum, inv.

The gesture was also sometimes used in fifth century vase painting in the context of marriage. A redfigure loutrophorosof ca. 440-420 B.C. in the British Museum,9 for example, has a representation of a handshakebetween a man and a woman in the presence of two more women, one with a torch, the other adjusting the woman's hair, surely a referenceto the marriage ceremony. It has also been suggested that the scene on a volute krater in Boston,1owhich appears to show the departureof a warrior, may in fact show Achilles with Deidameia and is a scene with a deliberatedouble meaning:departureand wedding. The handshake could also appear in scenes of a more political nature to signify agreement,unity and concord.A well known example of this meaning appears on a stele recordinga decree dealing with relations between Athens and Samos." The relief scene above the text shows Attic Athena shakinghands with Samian Hera. It was on Attic grave stelai and stone vases of the Classical period (late fifth century-317/6 B.C.) that The motif had not the handclaspwas most popular.12 been used on Archaic stelai, but was standardin the late fifth and fourth centuries. The more common form of the motif shows one figure sitting and the other standing, but there are also many examples of the handclaspbetween two standingfigures.The gesture was used to link two men, two women, or a man and a woman. Often the two persons involved in the handclasp appear alone, but they can also be accompanied by other figures, presumablyrelativesand servants, especially in the fourth century. The interpretationof the handshakein such scenes has long been recognizedas an iconographicproblem. The scenesthemselvesgive us few hints. The dead are
06.1021.116: Richter and Hall (supra n. 6) 1.163-64; II. pl. 128. (By the Lykaon Painter. The warrior is Neoptolemos, bidding farewell to father Antiochos and mother Kalliope.) Pelike, Bonn, Akademisches Kunstmuseum, inv. 76a, school of the Kleophon Painter or manner of the Dinos Painter: CVA Germany 1, 15-16, pl. 14.1 Pelike, Musie de Laon, inv. 371025, (?)KleophonPainter: CVA France20, 24, pl. 31.5. See also Neumann (supra n. 2) 56-57. SBritishMuseum GR 1923.1-18.1, by Painter of London 1923: ARV2 1103.1. The image of taking by the hand as a symbol of marriage is also implied by Pindar, Pyth. 9.122. Some vases show not a true handshakebut the groom leading the bride by the wrist, e.g., WG pyxis of ca. 470-460 B.C. in the British Museum (GR 1894.7-19.1) and a RF miniatureloutrophorosof ca. 425 B.C., also in the British Museum (GR 1910.7-11.1). Neumann (supra n. 2) fig. 28 (lekythos in Berlin), fig. 29 (loutrophorosin Athens, Nat.

Mus.).

'o Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, inv. 33.56, Niobid Painter: E. Simon, AJA 67 (1963) 57-59, pl. 11, figs. 7, 8. " Friis Johansen (supra n. 1) 150-51, fig. 76. Date of decree,405 B.C.; of stele 403/2 B.C. 12H. Diepolder, Die attischen Grabreliefs 5. und 4. Jahrhundes derts v. Chr. (Berlin 1931, Darmstadt 1965) passim; Friis Johansen (supra n. 1) passim.

1985]

THE HANDSHAKE MOTIF IN CLASSICAL FUNERARY ART

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not easily distinguishable from the living, and although it seems that in the majorityof cases the gesture united someonewho was alive at the time of commission with someone who was dead, this was not necessarily the case. Moreover, the figures are not placed in a setting that would assign the scene to a specific location, as for example at the tomb or in the Underworld. The various explanations put forward in the older literature,that they show the dead departing from relatives at death, or being reunitedwith ancestors in the Underworld, or in communion with
members of the family at the tomb, have been rejected because they do not adequately explain all occurrences of dexiosis on the grave stelai. On the other

hand, more generalized interpretationsseem unsatisfactorily vague for such a specific motif. The writer who has addressedhimself to this problem at greatest length is K. Friis Johansen,13 who proposedthat the motif representsthe bond that links the living with the dead. He sees this as a hypothetical union taking place in the imagination,not in any particular location. He is less positive about the nature of the union, but he does suggest that the motif evolved from earlier votive reliefs in which the handshake united a larger-than-life hero and his diminutive living worshipper.14 This implies that he thinks that the bond represented by the handshake continued to be in essence the act of worship, even though, as Friis Johansen says, the scenes do not show the specific act of giving offerings at the tomb. There are, however, problems in accepting this suggested link between dexiosis and the worship of the dead. The first is that, although in most cases the handshake linked a living

and a dead figure, in a few instances both figures appear to have been dead at the time the stele was set up.'5 Second, if the handshake is simply a visual expression of the cult of the dead, it is surely surprising that it does not occur on white ground lekythoi,'6 where scenes of the living mourning and worshipping the dead are very common.

The interpretation of the scenes on the lekythoi

presents its own problems, but the question does seem to have a bearing on our understanding of the dexiosis motif on the stelai. A popular type of scene on white ground lekythoi shows mourners visiting the tomb
"13 Friis Johansen, (supra n. 1) passim, summarizes previous interpretationsas well as giving his own analysis of the motif. 14Friis Johansen (supra n. 1) 137-39, figs. 70-71. It is possible, however, that a distinction should be made between the gesture of handing over an offering (as in the votive relief, fig. 71) and the genuine handshake (as in the funerary relief, fig. 70).
15

with offerings. It is again not clear whether all the figures represented are living, or whether in some cases the dead also appear. If all are living, there is no reason to expect the handshake.But if, as seems likely,"7in some cases we are shown both living and dead, then the scenes would seem to present a parallel to those on the grave stelai, and the absenceof dexiosis is significant.Instead of being linked by the handshake, living and dead on the lekythoi are separatedby the tomb monument,hardly aware of each other. Another differenceis in the setting:on the lekythoi a particularplace, the tomb, is suggested,and this also implies a particular occasion, whereas on the stelai there is no indicationof time or place. The difference is partly a result of the different traditions of vase painting and relief sculpture, but it also means that the lekythoi represent recognizable events, whereas the stelai express general concepts. The tomb scenes on lekythoi may seem rather unspecific,but they are not meant to be ambiguous. Dexiosis scenes, on the other hand, can be interpreted by the viewer in a number of equally valid ways: as parting, reunion or communion, or perhaps in several different ways at once. The motif is ambiguousand flexible. Lekythoi were used in the cult of the dead as offerings made at the tomb, and it is hardly surprisingthat they show the living and the dead widely separated from one another, existing in differentstates and unable to make contact except through the grave offerings. The stelai had a different purpose. They were intended to be permanent memorials, not just to the individual, but to the whole family. As a result, the distinctionbetween living and dead was minimized,to such an extent that they could be linked as nearequals by the handshake.The handshakemay be, as Friis Johansen concludes, a symbol of family unity, but this unity is not achieved through the practiceof the funerary cult so much as by the inevitability of each generation following the last into Hades. According to such a view, parting from loved ones at death is only temporary, since living and dead will, ultimately, all be reunited in death. Unlike Friis Johansen, I would not rejectthe possibilitythat the motif might be interpretedas the dead departingfromhis living family, or the reunion of the deceasedwith his
few rare instances the figures do make contact with one another: e.g., WG lekythos, Paris, Petit Palais inv. 338: CVA France 15, 33, pl. 34.1-3, where the gesture is more naturally interpretedas that of handing over an offering rather than a true handshake. 17 Kurtz and Boardman,(supra n. 15) 104-105, express caution in identifying both dead and living together in scenes on the lekythoi; M. Robertson, Greek Painting (Geneva 1978) 146 and 149, however, argues that in many cases we can identify living and dead in the same scenes. He cites British Museum D54 and Munich 2798 as examples.

D.C. Kurtz and

J. Boardman,

Greek Burial Customs (London

and Southampton 1971) 140. E.g., grave stele of Hippomachosand Kallias, Piraeus: Diepolder (supra n. 12) pl. 23.
16 D.C. Kurtz, Athenian White Lekythoi (Oxford 1975) 225. In a

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[AJA 89

ancestors in the Underworld. I prefer to see it as a flexible motif, not one with a generalizedmeaning. If a single meaning is to be sought, then I would suggest that it combinedboth these ideas-which have precedents in vase painting-in a concept of family unity somewhat different from that proposed by Friis Johansen. Parting, reunion and communion between living and dead are all aspects of the same concept of family unity. The handshake was an extremely convenientway of linking the figures representedon a grave stele in a pleasing composition, and for this reason alone it is hardly surprisingthat it continuedto be used on grave monuments of various kinds in the Hellenistic and later periods. It appears on painted loculus slabs at Alexandria, occasionallyin South Italian tomb paintings, and on many grave stelai from all over the Hellenistic world.'s The gesture was also used to link figures on gravestonesfrom the region of Capua in late Republican and Augustan times, and in early Imperial Gaul.'" The handshake was increasinglyused to link a male and a female figure, but this was not universal, and the two people concernedwere not necessarily man and wife.20 Many of these representations are standardizedand give little furtherevidenceabout what, if anything, the makers and patrons who commissioned them thought the gesture implied. Occasionally there is an indication that more specific meanings of the motif were remembered:the handshake was used in a scene showing the departureof a warrior in a tomb painting at Paestum,2' and it could be employed in conjunctionwith an inscription that alludes to greeting or parting.22A more unusual version occurson a Campanianhydria which has a scene of a young man parting (with a handshake) from a woman. He is about to embark on a ship called the and thus the scene seems to be one of "Ze(v)s Eowr?)p," a group in which the handshakeis used in representa18 B.R. Brown, Ptolemaic Paintings and Mosaics and the Alexandrian Style (Cambridge, Mass. 1957) nos. 1, 6, 12, 15. Paestan tomb paintings: DialAr n.s. 1 (1979) 46 fig. 27. Grave stele in Ancona: P. Zanker ed., Hellenismus in Mittelitalien (G6ttingen 1976) 169, 210, fig. 74. 19 Campania: L. Forti, "Un Gruppo di Stele del Museo Campano," Memorie dell'Accademia di Archeologia, Lettere e Belle Arti di Napoli n.s. 6 (1941) 45-76, nos. 2, 11, 19,21 (between a woman and a boy), 26. Forti, "Stele Capuane," MemAccNapoli n.s. 7 (1942) 301-30, nos. 7, 8, 10, 13 (between two brothers), 16 (between two sisters?), 17, 18, 19, 29. Gaul: E. Esp~randieu, Recueil genderal des bas-reliefs de la Gaule romaine 6.1 (Paris 1907) nos. 31, 195, 196, 656. 20 Busts of two women linked by the handshake on a stele in

tions of rescue, a theme I shall consider more fully later.23 The handshake was also used in reliefs at Nemrud Dagh to link Herakles with late Hellenistic Commagene kings,24an indication that the sense of the motif used on late Archaicvases had not been forgotten; here, however, it is the monarchwhose status is being enhanced by means of the handclasp with Herakles.
THE HANDSHAKE IN LATE ETRUSCAN B.C.) FUNERARY

ART (FOURTH

TO FIRST CENTURIES

The handshake motif occurs on a large number of late Etruscan funerary monuments, particularly ash chests of alabaster, tufa or terracotta,many of them made for the mass market. The motif also occurs on stone sarcophagi of southern Etruria (Tarquinia, Tuscania and Vulci) and occasionallyin tomb paintings. Etruscan artists adapted the motif to express a characteristicallyEtruscanview of the afterlife. The handshakegesture was often used to link two standing figures, in many cases identifiableas a man and a woman.25In the simplest form the scene consists of these two figures in the company of one or more others. These may be human, presumablyrelatives, and often diminutive figures, children or servants, are included.26In one example at Volterra, someonewho had held magthought to commemorate isterial office, the deceased is shown shaking hands with the leader of a procession of officials accompanied by lictorsand musicianswho, it seems, have all turned out to give him a good send-off.27In other cases the surroundingfiguresmay be Underworlddemons, the awesome Charun and a winged female28 (pl. 68, fig. 4; ill. 1). Quite often the couple shaking hands are in the presence of both Underworld and human figures29:the demons may simply stand patiently beside the couple, but sometimes one of them appearsto indicatewith an impatientgesturethat one
22 The grave stele in Ancona (supra n. 18) and a painted loculus slab from Alexandria in the Louvre (RA 1969.2, 276-77, no. 2) have inscriptions ending "Xarpe/Xarpere." Gravestones in Malta and Narbonne are also reported to have had inscriptions that imply parting and reunion, but the inscriptions are now illegible or missing. 23 Hydria from S. Maria Capua Vetere, Karlsruhe Badisches Landesmuseum B2400: CVA Germany 8, 38, pl. 75.1. 24 M.A.R. Colledge, Parthian Art (London 1977) pl. 32.a, b. 25 The handshake is also used to link a standing figure with a seated one: G. Karte, I rilievi delle urne etrusche 3 (Berlin 1916) pls. 38.3a; 53.17, 18; 55.3; 62.7; 68.9; or a standing figure with another on horseback: 73.9; 87.2. 26 K6rte (supra n. 25) pls. 45.2; 46.4; 58.1. 27 K6rte (supra n. 25) pl. 92.5. R. Brilliant, Gesture and Rank in Roman Art (New Haven 1963) fig. 1.58. 28 K6rte (supra n. 25) pls. 47.6; 57.7. F. de Ruyt, Charun. Demon itrusque de la mort (Brussels 1934) no. 27. 29 K6rte (supra n. 25) pls. 46.3; 47.5; 48.8; 50.12.

Arles, Musie Lapidaire: Espirandieu (supra n. 19) no. 195. Man and girl, man and boy on Alexandrian loculus slabs: Brown (supra n. 18) nos. 6, 15. Woman and boy, two men, two women on Capuan stelai: Forti (supra n. 19) 1941 no. 21; 1942 nos. 13, 16.
21 C. Nicolet, MelRome 74 (1962) 474-77,

figs. 1, 5.

1985]

ART FUNERARY THE HANDSHAKEMOTIF IN CLASSICAL

631

,~A~VI/X

~\* L~

.7)

r;, "

C;i

i ;
7

Ill. 1. Etruscanterracottaash chest, Museo Nazionale Chiusi.(AfterKortepl. 57.7) Etrusco,

of the couple is to be taken away.30 In many cases there is no indication of setting, but often the couple shake hands in front of a closed double doorway 31(as in fig. 4), or across a monument in the shape of a pillar,32 or one of the two figures may stand inside an arch,33and a horse may also be incorporatedinto the scene.34 The obvious interpretation of such scenes is that they represent the parting of the deceased from his surviving family, and in many instances it would appear to be husband and wife who are taking leave of one another. The demons, if present, are therefore about to escort the dead to the Underworld, and the presence of a servant or demon holding a horse in readiness also alludes to this journey. However, there is also evidenceto suggest that the handshakecan take place at the other end of the journey, and represents 7 i the dead being greeted in the Underworld. This is the ~ iimplicationof the scenes on a series of ash chests (e.g., pl. 68, fig. 5; ill. 2)35 in which a figure accompanied by Cerberus stands outside a door holding out his ???~i? ;ts, r? right hand toward a figure being led up to him by a winged demon. As the stationary figure is accom>)n panied by Cerberus, he must be at the entranceto the Underworld, and the obvious interpretation of the scene is that the demon is bringinga new arrivalto the realm of the dead, where he is greeted by one of the Ill. 2. Etruscanterracotta chest, Museo Nazionale ash Chiusi.(AfterKortepl. 57.8) residents, possibly one of his own ancestors.Although Etrusco,
~ ~

their hands do not touch, the handshakeis surely implied. It is possible thereforethat the more ambiguous scenes (e.g., pl. 68, fig. 4; ill. 1), especially those in which the handshake takes place in front of a door and in the presenceof demons, representthe reunion of the dead, and not their leave-taking. Another representationwhich would seem to me to bear this interpretation,but whose meaning has been much disputed, is a painting from the Tomba Querciola at Tarquinia. The painting is now, unfortunately, lost, but was recordedin a drawing (pl. 69, fig. 6).36 It showed a handshake between two standing men. The one on the left is beardedand appearsstatic, while the one on the right is younger and strides forward as if to meet the other man, although his face is turned into frontal view. An Etruscan inscriptionbetween their heads says "AnesArunte, son of Velthur, died aged . . ."" It is likely that we have here father and son. A Charun stands behind each figure, but whereas that behind the left-hand figure is at rest, leaning on his mallet as if patiently waiting, the one on the right is advancing,his mallet carried over his shoulder and a curious implement raised in his right hand as if to strike the younger man on the shoulder. Beyondthe left-hand Charun was a painteddoorway, the entranceto the tomb or to the Underworld.38 Opinions have differed about the significance of this scene. Dennis and de Ruyt39saw it as a scene of

e?

30 Korte (supra n. 25) pls. 47.6; 48.8; 50.12.

31Karte (supra n. 25) pl. 57.6, 7. 32 Korte (supra n. 25) pls. 45.2; 46.3; 52.15 (with tomb monument). 33 Korte (supra n. 25) pl. 56.4, 5. 34K6rte (supra n. 25) pls. 59.1-62.7. For ship, see pl. 68.1. 35Korte (supra n. 25) pl. 57.8 and p. 69 fig. 13. 36The drawing by Carlo Ruspi, now in the German Archaeological Institute, Rome, was first reproduced in AdI 1866, end paper W. See F. Messerschmidt,"Ein hellenistischesGrabgemilde in Tarquinia,"StEtr 3 (1929) 161-70, pl. 28; de Ruyt (supra n. 28) 39-40, no. 32, fig. 14; A. Pfiffig, Religio Etrusca (Graz 1975) 208, fig. 97.

38A similar scene has recently been found in tomb no. 5636 at Tarquinia. There the two main figures extend right hands to one another but their fingers do not touch. They, too, are attended by demons,the one on the left seated in front of a closed door, the one on the right walking with her (?) hand on the man's shoulder as if conductinghim. There are two smaller figures in the background. Another painting with a handshake that may represent reunion was also recordedin the Tomba Tartuglia: de Ruyt (supra n. 28) no. 33, fig. 15. 3" G. Dennis, Cities and Cemeteries of Etruria 1 (London 1878) 385. De Ruyt (supra n. 28) 40.

37 CIE 5493.

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[AJA89

parting, the young son taking leave of his father before he is led away by the demons, the shoulder-tapping gesture being an indication that his time is up. Messerschmidt,on the other hand, saw it as a scene of reunion40: the deceased father has come to the entrance of Hades to greet his son, and the demons are watching the reunion. This would explain the patient attitude of the left-hand demon and the more energetic "justarrived"postures of the right-hand figures. The door, too, is placed behind the older man, surely an indicationthat he is waiting at the gates of the Underworld, even though we do not see Cerberus. Obviously the scene does not make itself perfectly clear, but consideringthe parallels between this picture and the relief on the ash chest illustratedin fig. 5, I would agree with Messerschmidtthat the scene representsa reunion in the Underworld. If this interpretationof the Tomba Querciola painting is correct, then it is possible that some of the less specificscenes on the ash chests could also be allusions to reunion rather than parting. Not all the demons tear couples apart-some may be bringing them together again. The decoration of two sarcophagi may point to a third association for the motif, with marriage. The first, from Vulci, now in Boston, is very well known.41 The couple shaking hands stand in the center of the front, with a procession of male and female figures bearing various objectsconvergingon them. The second, in Volterra,42I would suggest uses the handshake as one incident in the woman's life, among other scenes showing her growing older and her children growing up. Its position in the sequencesuggests that the handshakemay representthe actual marriage ceremony, and it is also likely that marriage was the major concept which the handshake was meant to suggest on the Boston sarcophagus.43It is possible that the same meaning was attached to some of the scenes on the ash chests, particularly those which
40 Messerschmidt (supra n. 36) 163. 41 R. Herbig, Die jiingeretruskischen Steinsarkophage (Berlin 1952) 13-14, no. 5, pl. 40.a-d. O. Brendel, Etruscan Art (Harmondsworth 1978) 381-82, fig. 293. 42 Volterra, Museo Guarnacci 123; Karte (supra n. 25) pl. 54.19. Herbig (supra n. 41) 86, no. 260, pl. 85. K6rte assumes that the female figures are not meant to be the same woman, but surely this is the most likely explanation of these scenes. 43 Brendel (supra n. 41) suggests that the scene may have had a double meaning, alluding to both parting and marriage, since the man seems elderly and carries a stick-associated with travelling-and the gifts could be either tomb gifts or wedding presents. L. Bonfante, "Etruscan Couples and their Aristocratic Society," Women's Studies 8 (1981) 160-61, discusses the interpretation of this sarcophagus, but does not attempt to resolve its ambiguities. 44 P. Zanker, "Grabreliefs rdmischer Freigelassener," Jdl 90

included human figures only. Even when demons are present, the gesture may have had the secondaryconnotation that the couple were married. There would seem to be, therefore,reasonableevidence for all three interpretationsof the handshake motif in Etruscan funerary art: as a gesture of parting, reunion and marriage. No one of these interpretations is a sufficient explanation by itself of all the various instancesof the motif. Again it seems that the gesture had a multiplicity of associations which are not mutually exclusive but complementone another. Parting in this world implies reunion with ancestors in the next, and it is the strengthof family ties (especially the bond of marriage?) that helps to close the gulf between the living and the dead. Despite the presenceof the Etruscan demons, the meaning of the motif is not radically different from that proposedfor the Greek grave stelai.
ON ROMAN DEXTRARMI ILJNCTIO RELIEFS OF THE EARLY EMPIRE FUNERARY

The handshake motif (now dextrarum iunctio)

continued to be popular in funerary contexts in Roman art of the early Empire, but whereas on Greek and Etruscan monuments the gesture was often used to link two figuresof the same sex, on Roman reliefs it was normal for the motif to link a man and a woman. have interpreted Consequently,several commentators the gesture as signifying that the couple concerned were married to one another, or even, in some cases, that it alluded to the marriage ceremony itself.44As we have seen, the gesture could be used in this way in both Greek and Etruscanart, but such a meaningwas comparativelyrare. Others, however, have suggested that although such figures may be marriagepartners, the scene could also be seen as a representationof the momentof parting on the death of one partner,and an allusion to the continued fidelity of the couple to one another after death.45This interpretationwould sug(1975) 267-315, esp. 288, n. 83. D.E.E. Kleiner, Roman Group Portraiture: the Funerary Reliefs of the Late Republic and Early Empire (New York and London 1977) ch. 2, esp. 23-25. B. Haarlov, The Half-Open Door. A Common Symbolic Motif Within Roman Sepulchral Sculpture (Odense 1977), esp. 46. This interpretation was recently re-asserted by R. Stupperich, "Zur dextrarum iunctio auf fruihen r6mischen Grabreliefs," Boreas 6 (1983) 143-50. The idea that the motif might be a representation of the marriage ceremony itself is found in the older literature, e.g., W. Altmann, Die rimischen Grabaltiire der Kaiserzeit (Berlin 1905) 233-34. 45 This view is taken especially by Reekmans (supra n. 1) 27-30, and also by P. Romanelli, Le Arti 20 (1942) 165, and T. Campanile, BullComm 50 (1922) 60, in their publications of specific monuments. Kleiner, (supra n. 44) 23, explicitly denies that the gesture denotes leave-taking on the portrait reliefs, although elsewhere (D.

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FUNERARYART THE HANDSHAKEMOTIF IN CLASSICAL

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gest there was some continuityof meaning with Greek and Etruscan funerary art, although such scholars have placed rather less emphasis on the conceptof reunion in the afterlife.46
The dextrarum iunctio was used on two types of

without any setting, the figures standingon a groundline or ledge against a plain background(pl. 69, fig. or 8),s5o the couple can stand inside an aedicula,a pediment raised on columns or other decorativesupports
(pl. 69, fig. 9),51 or inside a doorway, between the

sculpturedfunerarymonumentsmade in Rome in the early Empire. The first is a series of reliefs of the Augustan period, recently published by D. Kleiner,47 which were designedto be set into the facadeof a family tomb. Occasionally they show full-length figures, but the more usual form consists of a row of portrait busts representedfrom the mid-chest upward. These portraits are in frontal view, and so the handshake gesture tends to look stiff and unnatural. The two portraitslinked by the handshakemay be alone or accompaniedby the portraitsof other adults or children. In all the cases detailed by Kleiner the two figures linked in this way are a man and a woman, but on a relief in the British Museum48 the handshake links the portrait busts of two women (pl. 69, fig. 7). The second group of monuments consists of ash chests and grave altars of the first and early second centuriesA.C. These are elaboratelydecoratedmonuments designedto commemorateone or more persons, and, in the case of the ash chests, to contain their crematedremains. Usually the dextrarum iunctio is used as a central motif49: salient features of such scenes the are that the two figures stand close together, turned slightly toward one another, and clasp right hands as in a modernhandshake.In all but one of these monuments the figures appear to be a man and a woman. Either or both may hold an objectin the left hand, the man a scroll, and the woman a fruit (apple or pomegranate); one of them may rest his/her free hand on the other's shoulder. The scene may be presented
Kleiner, "A Portrait Relief of D. Apuleius Carpus and Apuleia Rufina in the Villa Wolkonsky," ArchCl 30 [1978] 246-51) she interprets the motif on a specific relief as alluding to the belief that marital bonds were not dissolved by death, and on the death of the surviving spouse the pair would be reunited for eternity. See also D.E.E. Kleiner and F.S. Kleiner, "The Apotheosis of Antoninus and Faustina," RendPontAcc 51-52 (1978-1980) 389-400. 46 A. Bruhl, Liber Pater (Paris 1953) 322, considers reunion as well as parting a possible explanation of the motif. 47 Kleiner (supra n. 44) nos. 13, 18, 28, 31,34, 60 ,65, 68, 80, 85, 87, 90, 92 and fig. 93. 48 S. Walker and A. Burnett, "A Relief with Portraits of Two Freedwomen," Augustus. Handlist of the Exhibition and Supplementary Studies (British Museum Occasional Paper 16, London 1981) 43-47. 49 TWO pieces use the motif in a minor role: it appears on the lid of the ash chest of Varia Amoeba linking two small portrait busts, and on the altar of P. Vitellius Successus as part of a "banquet" scene. Altmann (supra n. 44) 156, no. 189; 192, no. 259. so Grave altar of Ti. Claudius Dionysius, Vatican Museums (pl. 69, fig. 8): Altmann (supra n. 44) 193, no. 261; 234, fig. 188. See also: Altmann 107, no. 97; 108, no. 100; 144, no. 158, fig. 118; 171,

leaves of an open doubledoor (pl. 70, fig. 10).52Other monuments show the couple joining hands over a small altar,53or, in one case, with the attributes of Dionysus and Ariadne.54 In both types of monument the gesture usually links a man and a woman. For this reason it would seem reasonableto infer that the Roman stonemason used it as a symbol for marriage,a convenientway of indicating the relationship between the two figures. This would be an especially useful device where the portraits of a number of people were representedtogether.55A closer look at the reliefs and the accompanying inscriptions, however, shows that although the handshake sometimes links marriage partners, it did not always do so. The most striking anomalies are two pieces which show not a man and a woman linking hands, but two people of the same sex. The first is the relief in the British Museum with the portraitsof two women (pl. 69, fig. 7). The inscription56 placed below the figures identifies them as Fonteia Eleusis and Fonteia Helena, both freedwomen.The relief was subsequentlyrecut to represent the more normal form of the motif, that is between a man and a woman,57but the handshake itself appears to be an original feature of the relief. Fonteia Eleusis may have been the mother of Helena, but we are told no more about them than that they were given their freedom by a (presumablythe same) woman.58The other monumentis an ash chest in the Vatican, with a relief that clearly shows two
no. 224; 233-34. RendLincei 10 (1955) 273-75, fig. 18. 51 Ash chest of Vernasia Cyclas, British Museum (pl. 69, fig. 9): Altmann (supra n. 44) 113-14, no. 106. See also: Altmann 153-54, no. 184, fig. 126; Reekmans (supra n. 1) 30 n. 1; G. Koch and H. Sichtermann, Romische Sarkophage (Munich 1982) fig. 41; AA 1941, 551-54, figs. 86-89. 52 Ash chest of Vestricius Hyginus and Vestricia Hetera, Galleria delle Statue, Vatican Museums, (pl. 70, fig. 10): Altmann (supra n. 44) 162, no. 204, fig. 132. See also: Altmann 57, no. 14; 145, no. 159; 153, no. 183; 171, no. 224; 133-34. Koch and Sichtermann (supra n. 51) fig. 48. 53 Altmann (supra n. 44) 171, no. 224; 194-95, no. 34, pl. 22;

233-34.
54

Altmann (supra n. 44) 267, figs. 203, 203a. ss Kleiner (supra n. 44) nos. 87 and 92 both present portraits of five persons, two of whom are linked by the handshake.
56

CIL VI.18524.

57 The recutting is thought to be antique (Constantinian) by Susan Walker (supra n. 48) 44. For a different view of this relief, see Stupperich (supra n. 44) 145-49. 58 Walker (supra n. 48) suggests they may be mother and daughter.

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GLENYSDAVIES

[AJA89

men (pl. 70, fig. their arms are dam11).I5 Although aged, it seems certainthat they were originally linking right hands. The inscription60 states that Iunia Procula set up the monument to her husband,Q. Flavius Crito, and to her son, Q. Flavius Proculus,who was a soldier. The relief would appear to show these two men, since one of them, the younger of the two, is shown to be a soldier by his dress and equipment. The dextrarum iunctio gesture cannot be a symbol of marriage in either of these reliefs, and indeed an examination of the inscriptionsappearing with other handshake reliefs provides little positive support for the view that the marriagebond was the main subject of such scenes. Of the fourteen dextrarum iunctio reliefs cited by Kleiner, seven have no remaining inscription,and an inscriptionon an eighth is now illegible. None of the other six inscriptionsstates unequivocally that the two figures linked by the dextrarum iunctio were married to each other. In all cases the handshake pair share the same nomen, but this suggests only that they were conliberti,a freedmanand a freedwomanof the same household:in fact this is explicitly stated in two cases. It is only an assumption that they were marriedto one another.6' Of the ash chests and grave altars decoratedwith the dextrarum iunctio some do not have inscriptions, or the inscription gives very little information apart from the name of the deceased.Of the remaining fifteen known to me, four were dedicatedby a wife to her husband62 and two by a husband to his wife.63In one instance64the monument was commissionedby a man to commemorateboth himself and his wife, and another ash chest was dedicatedby a son to his parents.65 Sex. Allidius Symphorus had his monument

dedicated in some way to a married couple, and on these it is possible that the scene alludes to marriage. For the remaining six pieces the informationgiven in the inscription either points away from the marriage interpretation,or at best is ambiguous. In two cases, parents dedicated the monument to their children: Aponius Hippias dedicatedan ash chest to his daughter who died aged sixteen,'67 the confusedinscripand tions on an altar in the Vatican Museums also suggest it was dedicatedby parents to their son.68In the remaining group of four inscriptions,freedmenprovide a monumentfor a fellow freedman69 patron.70 or Thus not all the inscriptions mention marriage, and some specifically state a different relationship (parents and children, freedmen and patrons). In some cases there is no mention of a woman in the inscription:the ash chest of Sex. Caesonius Apollonius was dedicated to him by four of his freedmen and heirs, that of C. Iulius Hermes by a conlibertus,and of Cornelius Philo by his patron. We have to assume therefore either that the person concerned is representedwith a woman not mentionedin the inscription (a predeceasedwife, for example) or that the scene had a more general symbolic meaning and was not intended to represent the deceasedat all (e.g., that it was a symbolic expression of a belief in a life after death), or perhaps that those who bought the monument chose it from stockwithout consideringthe relevance of the decoration.The motif may well have been interpreted in different ways by the various people who made, commissionedor bought monumentswith
a dextrarum iunctio scene.

The motif had been inherited from Hellenistic Greek and/or Etruscan traditions, and it could be made for himself, his son, his sister, and only finally, that Roman sculptors were simply repeating a motif his wife.66 Altogether,therefore,there are nine pieces that was by then meaningless. Two factors weigh
9 In the Museo Gregoriano Profano, Vatican Museums. O. Benndorf and R. Schoene, Die antiken Bildwerke des Lateranensischen Museums (Leipzig 1867) 92-93, no. 151, pl. 17.3.
60 65 Ash chest of Q. Fabius Echus and Fabia Restituta, Naples Archaeological Museum: Altmann (supra n. 44) 144, no. 157; CIL VI.17522. Dedicated by Ti. Claudius Fabianus. 66 Ash chest of Sex. Allidius Symphorus, Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen: Altmann (supra n. 44) 153, no. 183; CIL VI.6828. 67 Ash chest of Apona Felicitas, Pavlovsk: Altmann (supra n. 44)

CIL VI.2911.

6' For freedmen, marriage and the dextrarum iunctio, see Zanker (supra n. 44) 288 and n. 83; Kleiner (supra n. 44) 24-29. 62 Ash chest of Helius, Berlin: Altmann (supra n. 44) 233-34,

CIL VI.2317. Grave altar of C. Domitius Verus, Villa Albani, Rome:Altmann 171, no. 224, CIL VI.16979. Ash chest ofT. Aquilius Pelorus, Broadlands, Hampshire: Altmann 57, no. 14; CIL VI.9973. Ash chest of T. Aelius Felix, Pavlovsk:Koch and Sichtermann (supra n. 51) fig. 48; CIL VI.10709.
63 Ash chest of Vernasia Cyclas, British Museum (pl. 69, fig. 9):

145, no. 159; CIL VI.12163.

68 Grave altar of Ti. Claudius V(italis?), also known as the altar

of Ti. Claudius Philetus, Sala delle Muse, Vatican Museums: Altmann (supra n. 44) 267, figs. 203, 203a; CIL VI.15314.
69 Ash chest of C. Iulius Hermes, Museo Nazionale delle Terme, Rome: Altmann (supra n. 44) 153-54, no. 184, fig. 126; CIL VI.5326. 70 Grave altar of Ti. Claudius Dionysius, Museo Gregoriano Profano, Vatican Museums (pl. 69, fig. 8): Altmann (supra n. 44) 193, no. 261, fig. 188; CIL VI.15003. Ash chest of Sex. Caesonius Apollonius, Galleria Lapidaria, Vatican Museums: Altmann 144, no. 158, fig. 118; CIL VI.7525. Ash chest of Cornelius Philo, Cathedral of Mazara del Vallo, Sicily: Reekmans (supra n. 1) 30 n. 1; Koch and Sichtermann (supra n. 51) fig. 41.

Altmann (supra n. 44) 113-14, no. 106; CIL VI.8769. Ash chest, Galleria delle Statue, Vatican Museums (pl. 70, fig. 10): Altmann 162, no. 204, fig. 132. CIL VI.28639 records an inscription for this monument, now erased, which says it was put up by the freedman Rhamnus to Vestricius Hyginus and Vestricia Hetera. Vestricia Hetera was married to one of the two men, probably to Rhamnus, but the phrasing of the inscription is ambiguous on this point. 64 Grave altar of M. Antonius Asclepiades, Castello Sforzesco, Milan: Altmann (supra n. 44) 159, no. 196; CIL VI.11965.

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against this assumption. First is the prominent position in which such scenes are placed on the monuments, and second is the fact that the motif was adapted from the earlier models with the addition of new features. Most significantis the placing of the figures inside an aedicula or open doorway with a pediment above. On Etruscan ash chests the handshake might take place outside or near a door, but placing the couple on the threshold is a specifically Roman adaptation. Whether the doorway represents the entrance to the tomb or Hades, it surely indicates that the couple are on the threshold between this world and the next,"71 the aedicula, which seems to isoand late them as if in a shrine, possibly performsa similar function. It is impossibleto say whether they are parting at death,72being reunited in the afterlife, or expressing the idea that the strength of their feeling for one another can cross the barrier of death itself. All three interpretationswould seem to be equally valid and are foreshadowedin the earlier traditions of the motif. No doubt different observerssaw different aspects in the scene. The presence of the altar in three instances is less easy to explain, but I see no reason to suppose, as some have done, that it refers to the marriage ritual rather than the funerary rites, nor indeed that the scroll often held by the man is to be seen specificallyas the tabulaenuptiales:rather it is the usual attributeof a togate figure. In some cases the motif may have been interpretedas alluding above all to the married state, but that was not its only connotation. From the sculptor's point of view the handshake must have been a useful motif because of its built-in ambiguities. How many connotationsthe motif may have had in Imperial Rome becomesclearerif we look at its use in other contexts in Roman art.
THE HANDSHAKE IN ROMAN ART MOTIF IN MYTHOLOGICAL SCENES

Figures linking right hands appear sporadicallyin non-funerarycontexts in Roman art, includingrepresentations of mythological episodes. As such scenes
71 Haarlov (supra n. 44); G. Davies, "The Door Motif in Roman Funerary Sculpture," in H.McK. Blake, T.W. Potter and D.B. Whitehouse eds., British Archaeological Reports 1977: The Lancaster Seminar (BAR Supplementary Series 41 [i] 1978) 203-20. 72 This interpretation has been associated by Reekmans, (supra n. 1) 28, with the secondary gesture of one of the figures placing his or her left hand on the partner's shoulder. There seems to be little justification for this view. 73 House of Loreius Tiburtinus (also known as the house of D. Octavius Quartio): M. Borda, La pittura romana (Milan 1958) 248; S. Wood, "Alcestis on Roman Sarcophagi," AJA 82 (1978) 499-510, fig. 6. 74 I.S. Ryberg, Rites of the State Religion in Roman Art (MAAR 22, 1955) 169, fig. 99.

are designed to illustrate stories, it might be hoped that the significanceof the handshake would be reasonably clear, and that some commonly accepted meaning of the gesture would emerge from them. In fact, however, the motif does not seem to have been used with a consistent meaning in such scenes, although it is possible to detect recurring themes and concepts. The handshakewas sometimesused to link pairs of lovers, and in certain cases would seem to allude to their marriage.Thus in a painting in the house of Loreius Tiburtinus at Pompeii73two rather child-like figuresshake hands, the woman veiled as a bride,with a larger male figure in the background.This scene has been variously identified as the marriage of Hesione and Telamon, or (more plausibly?)of Priam and Hecuba. Anotherpainting, also from Pompeii,74 presents Hercules shaking hands with a woman surroundedby figureswho may constitutea weddingprocession.The handshakealso appearstwice in the stuccodecoration of the "UndergroundBasilica"in Rome.75In one instancethe figures seem to be generic,illustratingmarriage as one of the significanteventsin the typical human life, but in the other the figuresare more likely to belong to the realm of mythology;since the male figure wears a Phrygian cap and carries a pedum, Orpheus with Eurydiceand Paris with Helen have been There is nothing in this scene to suggest suggested.76 that it alludes specificallyto marriage:the handshake could as easily be a gestureof parting or simply imply a bond of affection. The handshake could also be used as a gesture of greeting: thus Io and Isis link right hands in two paintings of Io's arrival in Egypt.77The handshake also appears in the backgroundof two paintingsof the rescue of Andromeda, between Perseus and Andromeda's father Cepheus.78There it is perhaps a gesture of thanks and reward. A mosaic in the Villa Albani collectionrepresentsthe similar scene of Hesione being rescued from the sea monster:the handshakeis used to link Telamon and Hesione as he hands her down from the rock.79In two paintings of Jason be75 G. Bendinelli, "I1 Monumento Sotterraneodi Porta Maggiore in Roma," MonAnt 31 (1926) 672-74, pl. 17.1 and 688-89, pl. 23.2.
76

Paris and Helen have also been identified in a painting from

the Domus Aurea: F. Weege, Jdl 28 (1913) 223-25, figs. 68, 69. The arrangement of the figures is similar to that in many handshake scenes, but the two main figures do not appear to link hands. 77 G.M.A. Richter, Ancient Italy (Ann Arbor 1955) figs. 237,

238.

78 Richter (supra n. 77) figs. 241, 242. The handshake is also used on an Etruscan ash chest to express forgiveness (of Daedalus by Minos): Brilliant (supra n. 27) fig. 1.52. " EAA 3.443, fig. 538.

636

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fore Pelias80we see Pelias taking the right hand of a woman. The gesture is ratherawkward and seems deliberate, but it is hard to see the significance.It is perhaps meant to be ironic, indicatinga close relationship between Pelias and one of his daughterswho will, ultimately, out of affection for him, cause his death.81 No single meaning of the gesture emerges from these representations.The handshake could be used to link those who are to be married,but this is not true of all the examples cited. A more general theme that may be significant is one of rescue or deliverance.Andromedaand Hesione are rescued from sea monsters, Orpheus tries to rescue Eurydice from Hades, Io finally finds rest in Egypt. This theme may seem a tenuous link, but these are not the only examples of the handshake being used in the context of rescue. Mention has already been made of the red-figure vase painting of Herakles attempting to rescue Peirithoos from Hades, and of the Campanian hydria with a man about to embark on a ship called the "Ze(v)s' lis?)82the handshake links figures with the attributes of Dionysus and Ariadne. Dionysus was Ariadne's rescuer as well as her lover. There are several instances of the handshake or scenes with gestures similar to a handshakeon mythological sarcophagiof the Antonine period. In the context of the stories of Medea, the rape of the Leucippids and the meeting of Mars and Rhea Silvia83the handshakewould appear to denotemarriageor a similar bond between the figures concerned:in the case of the Leucippids and Rhea Silvia this union, like Ariadne's, also confers heroic status. A more curious occurrence is on a sarcophagus in Wilton House which illustrates events from the myths of the Eleusinian deities. In the center of the front side, seated Ceres and standing Proserpinalink right hands. This scene appears chronologically after Proserpina's return from Hades, and the handshake is a gesture of greeting on the reunion of mother and daughter.84 In the case of two other mythological sarcophagi
80so Richter (supra n. 77) figs. 231, 232.

the position is rather more complex. Both are decorated with myths that tell of the return (however briefly) from the realm of Hades. On the sarcophagus of C. Iunius Euhodus and Metilia Acte in the Vatican,85 the handshake is used in the context of the Al-

EoTrrp."

On the grave altar of Ti. Claudius V(ita-

cestis myth to link Admetus and Hercules when he returns Alcestis from Hades. The second sarcophagus, also in the Vatican collection,uses the handshake twice (possibly three times) in the series of episodes that make up the story of Protesilaus and Laodameia.86On the left-hand short side Protesilausshakes hands with his wife as he leaves her to go to the war from which he will not return. The conventionis that of the "departureof the warrior"which we have already seen in Greek vase painting. The scenes on the left-hand section of the front show his shade being conductedby Mercury from Hades for a brief visit to his mourningwife. In the center of the front, the couple stand before an elaborate doorway, and although their hands are now missing, the position of their arms shows that they must have been holding right hands, a scheme similar to that used on some of the earlier Roman ash chests, except that here the door is closed. To the right of this scene the shade of Protesilaus appears to a reclining Laodameia,and finally returns to Hades.87The right-hand short side presents some of the traditionalsufferers in the Underworld. The handshakeappears to be an importantgesture on both sarcophagi,but its exact meaning is hard to define. There does not seem to be a single explanation which would fit its appearancein all instances.On the Protesilaussarcophagusthe handshakeis used first in a scene of parting, but the meaning of the second handshake is not so obvious. It is difficult to see how the centralscene of the dextrarum iunctio in front of a doorwayfits into the narrative,since the chronological sequenceof eventswould proceedmore smoothlyfrom left to right without it. Rather it would appearto be an independentepisode, possibly intendedas a summary of the whole, illustrating the strengthof the marriage bond, the poignancyof parting when one of the couple
but instead Ceres seems to be handing an ear of wheat to Proserpina. The use of the handshake is all the more interesting in that one of the women on the relief in the British Museum (pl. 69, fig. 7) is named Fonteia Eleusis, and was presumably an initiate of the Eleusinian cult. "5 Museo Chiaramonti. ASR III.1, 31-33, no. 26. Wood (supra n. 73) passim. 86 Galleria dei Candelabri, Vatican Museums. ASR III.3, 498 no. 423, pl. 132; B. Andreae, Studien zur ramischen Grabkunst (Heidelberg 1963) pl. 30. 87 Protesilaus and Charon may also have been linking right hands in this scene, but their arms are missing and an exact reconstruction is not possible.

81It is perhaps significant that one of these daughters was Al-

who is associated with the dextrarum iunctio motif in other testis, scenes (see below). 82 See supra n. 68. The figures are rather dumpy and child-like, so there may be some attempt at identifying the figures with the dead child. 83 Medea: C. Robert, Die antiken Sarkophag-Reliefs (Berlin 1890-1919 [hereafter ASR]) II, no. 194. Leucippids: ASR III.2, no. 181. Mars and Rhea Silvia: ASR III.2, no. 193a. 84 F. Baratte, "Le sarcophage de Triptoleme au Mushe du Louvre," RA 1974.2, 271-90, fig.2. On a similar sarcophagus in the Louvre, however, these figures are not linked by a handshake,

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637

dies, and the hope for reunion. In the case of the Euhodus sarcophagus,the similarityof the handshake scene with marriagescenes on contemporaryand later sarcophagihas alreadybeen pointedout by S. Wood.88 The elements of similarity she points to do exist, but there is one major puzzle-why Admetus shakes hands not with Alcestis but with Hercules. This iunctio recalls the handshake between Perseus and Cepheus on the Andromedapaintings, and may also be a simple gesture of thanks, or, as Wood suggests, But farewell."89 in view of the fact that Admetusis representedwith the featuresof Euhodus, this handshake may have had yet another connotation,as an indication that Admetus/Euhodus has been elevated to a heroic status equal to that of Hercules. The handshakewas not always seen as an essential iconographicelement in either the Alcestis or Protesilaus myths. Both stories occurin parallel sceneson the anomalous Velletri sarcophagus,90 the handshake but is not used in either. Similarly, in a much later painting in the Via Latina catacomb,91Alcestis accompanies Hercules through an archway without taking his hand, even though in a nearby chamber Hercules is shown linking right hands with Minerva92-an interesting revival of an early form of the motif. There are also sporadicexamples of the dextrarum iunctio used to link the deceasedwith his/her psychopompos,93as on a wall painting from Isernia94where the deceased is shown shaking hands with Mercury. The idea that the psychopomposleads the dead to a betterlife with the dextrarum iunctiois moreexplicitly stated in a painting in the tomb of Vibia on the Via there, a "goodangel"leads Vibia by the right Latina95: hand throughan archwayto the banquetof the blessed. The handshakemay have continuedto have a similar connotationin early Christian art: it occurs in a scene of baptism in a painting in the crypt of Lucina,96and later still a gesture similar to the classical handshake was often used in mediaevalscenesof the harrowingof Hell,97a deliverancethemepar excellence. The evidence of the mythological scenes therefore
88 Wood (supra n. 73) 504-10. 89 Wood n. 503.

suggests that there was not a single commonly accepted significanceof the handshake,but, rather like our modernhandshake,the gesture could be used in a number of situations with a variety of meanings. It is not always possible to tell whether the artist was using the handshake as a significant, meaningful gesture, or simply as a convenient compositionaldevice (as in the scene where Telamon helps Hesione down from the rock); nor is it always easy to distinguish what should be classedas a "handshake scene"(Io and Isis clasp right hands, but they do not stand side by side or opposite one another as in the usual funerary dextrarum iunctio scene). Sometimes the handshake becomes confused with the gesture of leading, which can be very similar to the dextrarum iunctio. But despite these reservations,the gesture in many of the instancescited aboveappearsto be a genuine handshake and the figures are posed in a way that suggests that the handshakewas meant to be significant.According to context it could suggest parting, marriageor a similar union, greeting,reunionor gratitude.It could also be used in scenes of liberationfrom danger,and seems to have been associatedwith the general theme of rescue and salvation, a theme that underlies some of the non-funeraryrepresentationsas well as those used to decoratetombs. When used in a funerary context the handshake seems to have been associated especially with Hercules as a rescuing hero, and, to a lesser extent, with Mercury as psychopompos.
THE HANDSHAKE MOTIF IN MILITARY AND POLITICAL CONTEXTS IN ROMAN ART

The handshake motif was widely used in official The contexts, especially on coins."98 motif emerged as an image of military and political agreementon coins of the Social War and the later Republic,99 and in the early Empire, accordingto Tacitus,1oo clasped hands were seen as an emblem of friendship and loyalty. The handshakemotif was used particularlyfrequently on coins of the period of upheaval after Nero's death, with legends that refer to Fides or similar con" An early example (8th c.) is in the churchbelow S. Clementein Rome. In later examples, generally in mosaic, Christ does not necessarily use his right hand to haul the chosenfrom Hell; cf. J. Beck-

(supra 73) 9o Andreae (supra n. 86) 34-44.

91 P. du Bourget, Early Christian Painting

(London 1965) fig.

with, Early Christian and Byzantine Art (Harmondsworth

1970)

111; J. Stevenson, The Catacombs(London 1978) 125, fig. 100. 92 Du Bourget (supra n. 91) fig. 105; Stevenson(supra n. 91) 127, fig. 102. 93This motif also occurs in Etruscan art: on a stele in Bologna a man shakes hands with a winged figure, and human figures also shake hands with demonson late Etruscanash chests:K6rte (supra n. 25) pl. 44.1; 49.10. 94 Naples ArchaeologicalMuseum inv. 9350. " Stevenson (supra n. 91) 120, fig. 96.
96

figs. 199, 203, 220, 272, 279.

98 See P.G. Hamberg, Studies in Roman Imperial Art (Copen-

hagen 1945) 21-32, pl. 1; Brilliant (supra n. 27) passim. " C.H.V. Sutherland, Roman Coins (London 1974) fig. 100; J.P.C. Kent, Roman Coins (London 1978) pl. 14, fig. 47; Brilliant (supra n. 27) 42, 44.
100

Tacitus, Hist. 1.54; 2.8 (dextras, concordiae insignia). See also

M. Gough, Origins of Christian Art (London 1973) fig. 42.

Ann. 2.58. Claudius was also shown shaking hands with a praetorian on an aureus struckto commemoratehis accession:Sutherland (supra n. 99) fig. 285.

638

GLENYS DAVIES

[AJA 89

FIDES MILIcepts: FIDES EXERCITUUM, TUM, CONSENSUS EXERCITUS, and later (under Nerva) CONCORDIA EXERCITUUM.1'1 More significant for our purpose is the gradual adoption of the handshake motif for the public expression of more private and domestic harmonies.102 family,103 but in the Antonine period it was generally

mission of barbarians,and a battle or hunting scene. These would seem to have had a dual significance:on the one hand they may allude to actual events in the life of the deceased,but on the other hand they would appear to allude allegoricallyto the four cardinalvirtues-the hunt/battle to virtus, sacrifice to pietas,
concordia.106 The dextrarum iunctio episode on these sarcophagi

At first it was used to link two men of the Imperial submission to clementia and the dextrarum iunctio to used as a symbol of harmony between the marriage partners of the Imperial house. Reekmans, following Rodenwaldt's original suggestion, published a long list of Imperial couples represented in this way on coins, starting with Hadrian and Sabina.104 Often the Imperial couple is broughttogetherby a female figure who stands between and behind them. Her identity, and the general significanceof the motif, are provided by the legend:CONCORDIA(E), often with an additional concept such as FELIX or AETERNA. These scenes are very similar in composition to the dextrarum iunctio groups on Roman sarcophagiof the sec-

includesnot only the man and woman who arejoining hands, but also a stately female figure wearing a diadem who stands between and behind them with her hands on their shoulders,and a child with a torchwho stands in front of the group. The woman is variously identifiedas Concordiaor Juno Pronuba,the child as Hymenaeus. The intermediaryfemale figure was not presenton earlier funerarymonuments,but was common on coins illustrating "concordia."It is likely, therefore, that this version of the dextrarum iunctio motif was influenced by official art, and this circumond and third centuries A.C. and it seems that in these stance strengthens the view that the scene alluded to sarcophagi we can see a fusion of the public, official concordas one of the attributesof the virtuous man. At the same time the presenceof Hymenaeus confirms and private, funerary versionsof the motif. that the scene alludes to marriage.The ambiguity inTHE DEXTRARUM ROMAN SARCOPHAGI: IbNCTIO herent in the scene seems to have been deliberately AND MARRIAGE exploited, and is illustratedby our inability to decide The use of the dextrarum iunctio motif on a small whether the female figure is Juno Pronuba or Congroup of sarcophagi of the Antonine period (e.g., in cordia. The dextrarumiunctio was not meant to be a the Palazzo Ducale at Mantua; pl. 70, fig. 12) has realistic representationof the marriage ceremony,107 been studied quite extensively by several scholars, in- but it did allude to it, defining the area in which the cluding G. Rodenwaldt, and, more recently, N.B. deceased had demonstrated the virtue of concordia.s08 On Kampen.15os such sarcophagithe handshakescene The biographical purpose,109 though undoubtedly is accompaniedby others showing a sacrifice,the sub- present, is secondary.
1o' Kent (supra n. 99) pl. 62, fig. 219; Sutherland (supra n. 99) figs. 331-32; Hamberg (supra n. 98) 24; Brilliant (supra n. 27) 102-103, fig. 2.121. 102An early example appears on a Claudian didrachmof Caesarea in Cappadocia, which shows Messalina's children, Britannicus and Octavia, linked by the handshake:Brilliant (supra n. 27) 79. 103Sestertius of A.D. 80/1 with Domitian and Titus shaking hands with Pietas between them: Brilliant (supra n. 27) 92, fig. 2.93; Reekmans (supra n. 1) fig. 5. To celebrateadoption:an early issue of Hadrian's reign with Trajan and Hadrian shaking hands with the legend ADOPTIO (Hamberg [supra n. 98] 25) and medallion of A.D. 137 with Aelius and Hadrian shaking hands, Concordiapresiding (Kent [supra n. 99] pl. 85, fig. 298; Brilliant [supra n. 27] 134, fig. 3.72). A later example appears on the arch of Septimius Severus at Leptis Magna: Brilliant 201, fig. 4.104. complete examples are in the Palazzo Ducale, Mantua (pl. 70, fig. 12), the Uffizi, Florence, Los Angeles County Museum, and the Louvre (formerly Frascati). 106This suggestion was originally put forward by Rodenwaldt (supra n. 105) passim but esp. 6, and has gained general acceptance. 107Contrast a sarcophagus in the Vatican (Ryberg [supra n. 74] fig. 94) where emphasis is placed on the marriage (the bulk of the scene is taken up by the dextrarum iunctio, a large Hymenaeus and attendants with gifts) with two sarcophagi, one in the Vatican (Wood [supra n. 73] fig. 4), the other in Leningrad (Kampen [supra n. 105] pl. 11, fig. 20; Ryberg [supra n. 74] fig. 93), where the subject of the scene is the marriage ceremony, but the dextrarum iunctio is not used, and instead the nuptial sacrifice dominates the front. o10sFrom the Antonine period onward, the cult of Concord, the harmony of the Imperial house and the marriage of ordinary people were closely bound together as newlyweds were required to perform a sacrifice in honor of the Imperial couple as a sign of their "concordia": Reekmans (supra n. 1) 35-36; McCann (supra n. 104) 128; Hamberg (supra n. 98) 26, fig. 1. The wife's life might be celebrated in less prominent parts of o109 the sarcophagus: on the Uffizi and Los Angeles sarcophagi, the right side shows a baby being bathed in the presence of its mother. The lid of the Via Tiburtina sarcophagus (Kampen [supra n. 105] pl. 10, fig. 18) also has a scene of babyhood and education on the wife's side of the central dextrarum iunctio, corresponding to the submission scene on the man's side.

104 Reekmans (supra n. 1) 31-37; A.M. McCann, Roman Sarcophagi in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York 1978) 128,

also cites a coin of Matidia.

Rodenwaldt (supra n. 1) esp. 13-17 (on dextrarum iunctio); N. 05os

Boymel Kampen, "Biographical Narration in Roman Funerary Art," AJA 85 (1981) 47-58. See also: A. Rossbach, Rimische
Hochzeits- und Ehendenkmiiler (Leipzig 1871); P. Barrera, "Sar-

cofagi romani con scene della vita privatae militare,"Studi Romani 2 (1914) 93-120; E. Feinblatt, "Un sarcofago romano inedito nel museo di Los Angeles,"BdA 37 (1952) 193-203; Ryberg (supra n. 74) 163-67, figs. 90-92; McCann (supra n. 104) 124-29. The most

1985]

FUNERARY ART THE HANDSHAKEMOTIF IN CLASSICAL

639

As Kampen has shown, the biographicalcontentof such schemes was gradually eroded, and the coherent scheme used on the Antonine sarcophagi was fragmentedinto a series of emblems,the dextrarum iunctio The most common continuing to be very popular.110 types in the third century are sarcophagi divided up into sectionsby columnsor strigillatedpanels, the dextrarumiunctio scene usually occupyingthe centralposition on the front. As with the Antonine sarcophagi, the couple are always a man and a woman and are usually accompaniedby the Concordia/Pronubafigurein the background, Hymenaeus in front. In the outer sections there are often representations of the four Seasons or the Dioscuril': the couple and their marriage are placedin a wider setting,sincethe Seasonsallude to the eternalcycle of life and death,and the Dioscuri to the belief, or hope, that the union will continue after death. Thus the dextrarum iunctio took its place in the complex eschatological symbolism of the late Empire, and passed into Christian iconography.112 During the later second and third centuries, therefore, the dextrarum iunctio was used on Roman sarcophagi in scenes which generally imply that the two people linking right hands were married, but these scenes were designed to illustrate the concordof the married state rather than the marriage ceremony itself. The accompanying motifs on some sarcophagi suggest that the older significanceof the motif, alluding to the parting and reunion of loved ones at death, was not forgotten,and the motif could still be used in other media to link couples other than marriagepartners, especially the deceasedwith his/her psychopompos. Nevertheless, it seems to have been official art, perhaps a lost monumental relief, that was the most potent influence affecting the use of the motif on the sarcophagi.
CONCLUSION

The handshakegesture was representedin classical art on a wide variety of objects,in many differentcontexts, and over a long period of time. On funerary monuments it had a persistent association with the ideas of parting and meeting, especially parting at death and reunion in the afterlife. These are not to be seen as alternativeinterpretations,but as complementary: throughout the history of the motif this ambig110o The beginning of the process can be seen in the sarcophagusin S. Lorenzo fuori le Mura with its rich array of mythological and allegorical figures (Wood [supra n. 73] fig. 3; Ryberg [supra n. 74] fig. 95). See also the Balbinus sarcophagus in the catacombs of Praetextatus (D.E. Strong, Roman Imperial Sculpture [London 1961] fig. 121) and a sarcophagusfound on the Via Latina (Kampen [supra n. 105] pl. 12, fig. 28; Strong, fig. 127). "' E.g., P.E. Arias, E. Cristiani and E. Gabba, CamposantoMo-

uity seems to have been deliberatelyexploited by the artists concerned.Another importantfacet of the motif was its association with marriage: the motif appeared sporadically in scenes which allude to marriage from the fifth centuryB.C. onward,and this was to becomea majorconnotationin the latter part of the Imperial period. The motif was also used in scenes that imply apotheosisand salvation, and, particularly in official art, in scenes of concordand agreement. The handshakeemergedas a majorfunerarymotif on classical Athenian grave stelai, but its appearance on these monuments should not be studied in isolation. Vase painting of the late Archaic and Classical periods used the motif in a wide variety of contexts:it was associatedwith the heroes Herakles and Theseus in scenes which imply the grantingof status, in scenes in the Underworld and in scenes of marriage and agreement,and particularlyin scenes of greeting and parting. In view of this rich array of associations it seems unnecessaryto define too closely the "meaning" of the handshakeon the grave stelai: it may have been precisely this multiplicity of associations that made the motif such a suitable one for monumentsthat were generally chosen from stock rather than made to an individual design. But perhaps it was the themes of parting at death and reunion of the family in the afterlife that would have been uppermost. The handshakeseems to have had this dual connotation in late Etruscanfuneraryart as well, and it was also inherited by the Romans of the early Empire. The Romans saw the motif as particularlyappropriate for husbandsand wives, but clearlyother interpretations were still possible.A variantof the motif introduced at this time is the dextrarum iunctio inside an open doorway, surely meant to represent the barrier between this world and the next, and designed to stress the hoped-forreunion as well as parting. In the second century A.C. the dextrarum iunctio motif seems to have gained renewed popularity because of its adoptionin official art to illustrate domestic concordin the Imperial family, an extension of its earlier use on coins to express political harmony.The motif then took on a new meaning in funeraryart, as it was used to illustrate the virtue of concordia,a virtue that was particularly required in marriage. As a result the motif became more clearly defined and this
numentale di Pisa. Le Antichita (Pisa 1977) 109-10, no. A17int., pl. 51.105 (with Seasons); 143-44, no. C14est, pl. 82.172 (with Dioscuri) (both columnar); 110-11, no. A19int., pl. 53.107 (strigillated). 112Reekmans (supra n. 1) 50-91; G. Bovini,"Lescene della 'dextrarum iunctio' nell'arte cristiana," BullComm 62 (1946-1948) 103-17.

640

GLENYSDAVIES

[AJA89

definition limited its former rich variety of meaning. With the sarcophagi of the mid- and late Empire the dextrarum iunctio became associated more strongly with marriage, although its other meanings were not completely forgotten. The handshake, then, was widely used by classical artists as a gesture that had several connotations,and could be used to express a variety of concepts.On occasion, it seems to me, the multiplicity of possible meanings was exploited by the artist to createa conve-

nient ambiguity, and this is why modern scholars have not always been able to agree on an interpretation. The handshake continues to be a popular image today because we too see it as a complex and ambiguous motif.
DEPARTMENT OF CLASSICAL ARCHAEOLOGY UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH 16-20o GEORGE SQUARE EDINBURGH EH8 9JZ UNITED KINGDOM

PLATE

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DAVIES

FIG.3. Detail of Attic red-figurestamnos,British Museum E448. (CourtesyTrustees of the British Museum)

FIG. I. Attic black-figureamphora,Museum of Fine Arts, Boston 97. 205. Gift of Mrs. Abbot Lawrencein the name of J.W. Paige, 1897. (CourtesyMuseum of Fine Arts, Boston)

FIG.4. Etruscanterracottaash chest, Museo Nazionale Etrusco, Chiusi

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Lindsley F. Hall)

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