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Funerary stele in form of a temple with warrior and slave

Γ18
White marble
Mended from two pieces. Missing the separately worked head, the lower part of the stele from the figure's shins down, and the right hand. Chipping around the edge.
Preserved height 46 cm. Width 25 cm.
Gortyn
2nd c. BC:
Gallery:
XXVII
Case:
Not in case
Exhibition thematic unit:
Sculpture. Hellenistic period (3rd-2nd c. BC) Roman period (1st c. BC-3rd c. AD)
Description
Small funerary stele in the form of a temple with simple horizontal entablature with cymatium, originally bearing acroteria. It depicts dead man youth frontally, as a hoplite, wearing an exomis (a short tunic leaving one shoulder bare) and a long chlamys (cloak) draped down his back. He is leaning with his left hand on a long spear, while his right is loosely placed on his thigh. He wears a sword on a diagonal baldric. Next to him stands a young slave, gazing at him sadly and holding his oval Gallic shield set upright on the ground. Although the separately made head with integral neck is not preserved, it would surely have portrayed the deceased looking directly in front of him, towards the viewer and into the nothingness of death.
Bibliography:
N. Platon, A Guide to the Archaeological Museum of Heraclion, Athens 1964, 160. K. Sporn, "Römische Grabreliefs auf Kreta. Alte Traditionen und neue Wege", in Th. Stefanidou-Tiveriou - P. Karanastasi - D. Damaskos (eds), Κλασική παράδοση και νεωτερικά στοιχεία στην πλαστική της ρωμαϊκής Ελλάδας. Πρακτικά Διεθνούς Συνεδρίου, Θεσσαλονίκη, 7-9 Μαΐου 2009 (Thessaloniki 2012), 454, n. 26. A. Prinu, Hellenistische und römische Grabreliefs von den griechischen Inseln (Kreta, Dodekanes und östliche Ägäis), unpublished PhD thesis, Mainz 1996, 364, Κρ. 12, pls16, 123, 191.
Author:
K. S.


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