AIUK46 no. 39 Grave stele of Mousis

Grave stele of Mousis

AIUK 4.6 (BM, Funerary Monuments) no. 39 Date: early i AD

Μουσὶς Ἀργαίου Μιλησία. (relief)

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Translated text

References:

AIUK 4.6 (BM, Funerary Monuments) no. 39 (Translated text) (AIUK) (AIO)

IG II² 9781 (PHI)

GIBM I 103

Conze IV no. 1848

von Moock no. 447

Translation by: Robert Pitt

AIO Images: 1

Monument type: Stele

Inscription type: Funerary

Findspot: Athens (BM 1785,0527.5)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] This stele was aquired in Athens by Richard Chandler and donated to the British Museum by the Society of Dilettanti in 1785. It is crowned by a pediment containing a shield. The relief is framed by an arch set on columns and is datable to the Julio-Claudian period. Mousis is depicted seated on a stool pulling back her veil and holding an aulos (double pipe), a common symbol of culture at this period which might also allude to her name, taken from the Muses. Perhaps she was a professional musician (cf. AIUK 3 (Fitzwilliam), no. 9). “Milesians” were very numerous in Roman Athens, and it seems they were not all literally from Miletos but were a status category which included freedmen and illegitimate children (cf. AIUK 2, no. 13; IG II² 1996). Mousis would seem likely to have been a “Milesian” in this sense. For more detailed discussion of the inscription see AIUK 4.6 (BM, Funerary Monuments), no. 39.

Added: 6 Apr 2022
Updated: 6 Apr 2022
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ID: AIO_2207