Tomb Robbers, Art Dealers, and a Dikast's Pinakion from an Athenian Grave

by Yannis Galanakis and Stella Skaltsa

Hesperia, Volume 81, Issue 4
Page(s): 619-653
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2972/hesperia.81.4.0619
Year: 2012
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ABSTRACT:

A letter sent by Athanasios Rhousopoulos, a professor and art dealer in Athens, to George Rolleston, professor of anatomy at Oxford, in August 1871 is the only witness to a 4th-century B.C. grave at Pangrati in Athens. Rhousopoulos’s description allows for a critical examination of the tomb and its contents, including a dikast’s pinakion. The tomb is a significant addition to the archaeology of Pangrati, and the pinakion may supply evidence for the location of the deme of Ptelea. The letter also illustrates the trafficking of antiquities in 19th-century Athens and the activities of tomb robbers and art dealers.