AIUK46 no. 27 Grave stele of Demetria

Grave stele of Demetria

AIUK 4.6 (BM, Funerary Monuments) no. 27 Date: 360-340 BC

[Δ]ημητρία. (relief)

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Translated text

References:

AIUK 4.6 (BM, Funerary Monuments) no. 27 (Translated text) (AIUK) (AIO)

IG II² 11071 (PHI)

GIBM I 113

Conze I no. 296

Clairmont, CAT 3.366b

Scholl, Bildfeldstelen no. 437

Translation by: Robert Pitt

AIO Images: 1

Monument type: Stele

Inscription type: Funerary

Findspot: Athens (BM 1861,0523.6)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] This stele was part of the collection of the 4th Earl of Aberdeen, George Hamilton Gordon (1784-1860). Aberdeen had visited Athens in 1803, and served as British Prime Minister from 1852 to 1855; his son donated the relief to the British Museum in 1861. Demetria is seated on a high-backed chair (klismos) with her feet resting on a footstool; she wears a sleeved chiton and himation drawn over the back of her head and takes something out of a box held by an attendant. A younger woman, perhaps a relative, stands in between these two figures. The theme of a box held out by a slave is found on many funerary reliefs for women and was presumably meant to represent the deceased’s collection of jewellery, a status symbol but perhaps also a representation of the dowry she had brought into the marriage (cf. AIUK 5, no. 2, AIUK 7, no. 1). A modern inscription has been carved beneath the relief with the date 1780. For more detailed discussion of the inscription see AIUK 4.6 (BM, Funerary Monuments), no. 27.

Added: 6 Apr 2022
Updated: 6 Apr 2022
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