• r2-262-10
    Funerary stele, overview. (©Archaeological Exploration of Sardis/President and Fellows of Harvard College)
  • r2-262-20
    Funerary stele, detail of central child. (©Archaeological Exploration of Sardis/President and Fellows of Harvard College)
  • r2-262-30
    Funerary stele, detail of inscription. (©Archaeological Exploration of Sardis/President and Fellows of Harvard College)

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