Grave stele. End of 5th century BCE.
Exhibited in the National Archaeological Museum in Athens, Greece. Thespian marble. Found in the outskirts of Thebes.
Two figures, a bearded man with a staff on the right and a spinning (?) woman on the left, sit facing each other. Three more figures, two men and a woman, stand in the background. A very small female attendand is represented at far left
Characteristic attributes are the pomegranate and torch (?) held by the standing bearded man in his left hand, as well as the aryballos in the right hand of the beardless youth. The solemnity of the relief, which is emphasized by the rhythmic arrangement of the magnificent figures in two levels, points to the heroization of the dead -a fact that accords with the Boeotian origin of the stele End of the fifth century BC.
Art Athens Attica Classical Funerary Marble National Archaeological Museum Original Photo Relief Sculpture Stele