Gable of a funerary stele

Date3rd c

Mediummarble

Dimensions63.5 x 60 x 6.5 cm

ClassificationsSculpture

Credit LineGift of Dr. Lillian Malcove

Object numberM82.328

DescriptionWhite marble grave stele of truncated arch form. The central concave panel has a relief of two busts of a man and a woman and a full length figure of a male child in the middle. All figures are clad in a chiton and himation (cloak) and the child holds a bird in his left hand - a favorite pet for children in antiquity. Probably a husband and his deceased wife, and the youth one of their children mentioned in the inscrption at the bottom and on the sides of the stele. Like cat. 16, 17, this is probably from the Upper Tembris Valley, Turkey ("Anatolia") and dated ca. 270-285, but more precisely 280-285 on basis of comparable works discussed in catalogue at length. The inscription takes the usual form of Phyrgian inscriptions of the Roman Period. The mutilated nature of the stone makes it difficult to restore fully.

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