Relief from an honorary decree

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Provision of image

Inventory number

ΕΑΜ 2947

Artist

Attic workshop

Category

Inscription

Period

Classical Period

Date

350-325 BC

Dimensions

Height: 0.29 m
Length: 0.345 m
Width: 0.115 m
Relief depth: 0.03 m

Material

Marble

Location

First Floor, North

Description
Bibliography

Found in the Odeion of Herodes Atticus at the south slope of the Acropolis in 1857. From this honorary decree only the relief decoration from the upper part of the stele is preserved.

The relief is in the shape of a building with an anta on each end and antefixes on its roof. On a wide band under the relief, two letters can be discerned: OI from the word [ΘΕ]ΟΙ, meaning “gods”.

On the viewers right side stands a woman, possibly a goddess. Dressed in a peplos, chiton and himation, she would hold an object in her hand, perhaps a scepter, spear or thyrsos, once rendered in paint on the relief’s background. Next to her, a bearded man holding a shield crowns with a wreath the honoree who is depicted at a smaller scale since he is a mortal.

The honoree, also bearded, is clad in a short chiton and chlamys an attire usually connected with young men and riders, so maybe he is a winner in a martial or equestrian contest. The man that crowns him is wearing a cuirass and is usually identified with the god Ares, or according to other scholars the hero Oineus whose place of worship was located near the findspot of the relief.

Schillbach, R., Über das Odeion des Herodes Attikos, Jena, 1858, σελ. 26
Sybel, L. von, Katalog der Sculpturen zu Athen, Marburg, 1881, σελ. 375-376, αρ. κατ. 5993
Friederichs, C., Wolters, P., Die Gipsabgüsse antiker Bildwerke, Berlin, 1885, σελ. 390, αρ. κατ. 1179
Svoronos, J.N., Das Athener Nationalmuseum, Athen, 1908-1937, σελ. 657-658, εικ. 190.2, αρ. κατ. 414
Matz, F., Die Naturpersonifikationen in der griechischen Kunst, Goettingen, 1913, σελ. 56
Walter, O., Beschreibung der Reliefs im kleinen Akropolismuseum in Athen, Wien, 1923, σελ. 13
Peek, W., «Attische Inschriften», Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts. Athenische Abteilung 67, 1942, σελ. 6, αρ. κατ. 2
Kron, U., Die zehn attischen Phylenheroen: Geschichte, Mythos, Kult und Darstellungen, Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts, Athenische Abteilung: Beiheft 5, Berlin, 1976, σελ. 237-238, 281 υποσημ. 6
Meyer, M., Die griechischen Urkundenreliefs, Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts. Athenische Abteilung: Beiheft 13, Berlin, 1989, σελ. 309, εικ. 46.1, αρ. κατ. A157
Lawton, C., Attic document reliefs, Oxford, 1995, σελ. 141, εικ. 74, αρ. κατ. 139
Ματθαίου, Α., Μαλούχου, Γ., Συνοπτικός κατάλογος των επιγραφών της Ακροπόλεως, Αθήνα, 2012, σελ. 25