Funerary Stele, Latin
- Date
- 1st C. BC, Hellenistic
- Museum
- Manisa, Archaeological and Ethnographic Museum
- Museum Inventory No.
- Sardis or Museum Inv. No.
- NoEx63.006
- Material
- Marble, Stone
- Object Type
- Sculpture
- Sculpture Type
- Stele, Funerary Relief
- Inscription Text
MANLIA AF SALVE ΜΑΛΙΑ ΑΥΛΟΥ ΧΑΙΡΕ
- Inscription Translation
- Inscription Comment
- Site
- Alaşehir (Philadelphia)
- Findspot
- Vicinity of Alaşehir.
- Description
The stele is rectangular with a tenon at the bottom for insertion into another block. Represented on the relief panel are a standing man and woman, three children, and a servant, and in the center background a flat pillar which probably carried an epithema, now broken off, as suggested by H. Möbius (letter of May 25, 1971). In the lower l. corner is a tiny servant boy, standing with his legs crossed, his cloak thrown over his shoulder. He is looking up at his master, the next figure. This man, clothed in a tunic and himation, stands with his r. arm bent across his chest, his l. arm, also covered by the himation, held behind him, hand on his buttock. His weight is on his r. leg, the l. one brought forward. Between the man and woman is a pillar, and in front of it, two children. A boy, draped in himation, stands in the same position as his father. Behind him stands a taller girl in a high-girt chiton. Only the head and upper body of this figure are shown. The woman, next on the r., is wearing a chiton and a himation drawn over her head; her r. hand, enveloped by the drapery, falls at her r. side; her l. is brought forward slightly and folds fall below it. Her weight is on her l. leg; the r. drawn back. At the far r. is another girl, the smallest of three children. She wears a high-girt chiton and carries a rectangular object. Her body is twisted with the weight on the l. leg, and the r. leg bent and brought forward.
The slender man and heavier woman are typical of late Hellenistic stelai; and the general type of stele is well known in Asia Minor (Fıratlı, Stèles, esp. pl. 39, nos. 159-160). The date of this piece is 1st C. B.C., according to H. Möbius, letter of April 26, 1971.
- Condition
- Marble. Only top portion of stele is missing, i.e. the border above the figures. The l. border is heavily damaged. The faces of all figures broken away.
- Dimensions
- H. with tenon 0.68; W. at bottom 0.55, at top 0.525; max. Th. 0.115. Relief panel: H. 0.45; W. 0.44; recessed D. 0.05.
- Comments
- See Also
- Bibliography
- To appear in Pfuhl-Möbius, Ostgriechischen Grabreliefs. On the difference in size between children and servants, see Pfuhl, Beiwerke, 66.
- Author
- NHR