Funerary Couch from the Tomb at Pydna

Two metres of marble carved to look like a couch, the kind on which Greeks reclined to dine. The legs and rails are decorated with palmettes, volutes and small shields, and traces of red paint cling to the ornament. Under the bed lies a dog, its head worked in the round and added to the slab. Along the front, scenes unfold in low relief. Banqueters recline at a feast. A chariot races off with Persephone, her veil flying, while a torch bearing figure, Aura, runs beside the horses and Demeter, her mother, reaches out after her. It is the abduction of Persephone by Hades, the myth Greeks chose most often for a tomb, because it promised that the dead, like the goddess, might return.