The “Cretan Polis” ➔ Marble funerary stele of young archer
Γ145
Stone (Fine white marble)
Only the upper part of the stele is preserved. Minor chipping, mainly on pediment.
Preserved Height: 50 cm. Width: 65 cm.
Agia Pelagia/Apollonia
Classical period:
450-425 BC:
Gallery:
XIXCase:
Not in caseExhibition thematic unit:
Geometric - Archaic - Classical period (10th-4th c. BC). The CemeteriesDescription
Funerary stele crowned with a pediment and plain acroteria at the upper corners. A naked youth, obviously the deceased, is depicted in high relief, head slightly bowed. His face is stern, with an expression of restrained sorrow. On his back is slung a quiver hung from leather straps, originally rendered in paint which has worn away. The quiver lid is closed, symbolically inactivated by death. The Cretans were famous archers in antiquity, both on a social and a military level, in hunting and in war. The local repertoire and worldview has been translated here into a masterpiece, probably the work of an artist from the Cyclades.Bibliography:
Benndorf Otto, Stele im Museum von Kandia, Jahreshefte des Österreichischen Archäologischen Instituts in Wien 6 (1903), 1-9. E. Kirsten, Das dorische Kreta. Die Insel Kreta im fünften und vierten Jahrhundert, Leipzig 1936, 22-24. M.W. Baldwin-Bowsky returns to the earlier view of Attic influence on the work, "An Atticizing Stele from Western Crete", Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik, 118 (1997), 197-206, esp. 199-201.Author:
K. S.Photographs' metadata