Der Taucher von Paestum: Jugend, Eros und das Meer im antiken Griechenland by Tonio Hölscher (review)

Abstract

In October 2018, a conference was held in Paestum to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the discovery of the Tomb of the Diver, a one-of-a-kind funerary monument from the fifth century bce. The publication that followed included a brief contribution by Dr. Tonio Hölscher, who proposed a reading of the iconography of the tomb that diverged significantly from that of archeologist Marco Napoli, the discoverer of the tomb and supporter of an eschatological interpretation.1 The present book by Hölscher elaborates on his previous work; namely, he argues that the images in the tomb are not a metaphorical representation of the passage of the diver from an earthy plane to the afterlife but are instead evidence of social and cultural practices common to the youth of ancient Greece. Hölscher provides an evaluation of the iconography of the tomb in sociological and anthropological terms, reading the act of diving as a youthful activity in a period of transition from the free areas of the coast into the structured order of adult life in the polis. He has made the bold decision to avoid what he calls ‘academic arguments and theoretic jargon’ (‘akademische Argumentation und theoretischen Jargon’ [6]) opting for a general appendix instead of footnotes, which allows him to build his case in a concise but elegant manner that benefits the general reader and prompts the scholar to further inquiry. The volume also includes 42 images, most of which are examples of extant artwork and are reproduced in color with excellent detail. Given the length of the volume, each of its twelve chapters occupies only a few pages. Chapter 1 begins with a thorough description of the tomb and its iconography, including the gestures and actions of all participants in the symposium scene. Chapter 2 contrasts Napoli’s original interpretation of the images with Hölscher’s, which is developed throughout the rest of the book. Chapter 3 begins this exploration by comparing the iconography of the tomb with other surviving images of fishing and swimming, mainly in Etruscan tombs and on Greek skyphoi and kylixes. Chapter 4 explores the social importance of swimming and diving in Greek culture, focusing on the role of natural caves as liminal meeting places for young ephebes needing to prove their athletic abilities and gain access to the company of other youths in homoerotic encounters. Chapters 5 and 6 make some of the most exciting suggestions in the book. Here, Hölscher extends his thesis of the cultural relevance of swimming and diving to include women and explores the importance of the sea in the education and social life of girls. According to his thesis, representation on ancient amphorae of young girls swimming and diving should be interpreted as real depictions of