AIUK46 no. 83 Grave stele of Hermias

Grave stele of Hermias

AIUK 4.6 (BM, Funerary Monuments) no. 83 Date: ii-i BC

Hermias (son) of Athanaion. (relief)^[1]

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Greek text

References:

AIUK 4.6 (BM, Funerary Monuments) no. 83 (Translated text) (AIUK) (AIO)

IG II² 11325 (PHI)

GIBM I 116

Translation by: Robert Pitt

AIO Images: 1

Monument type: Stele

Inscription type: Funerary

Findspot: Byzantion or Chalcedon? (BM 1864,0220.8)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] This stele was purchased by the British Museum from the Strangford collection (see AIUK 4.6, no. 35). The relief depicts a funerary banquet scene with a male figure reclining on a couch and holding a cup or bowl before a table laden with food. A seated woman with hand to her veil is likely his wife, if this represents the gesture of anakalypsis (unveiling), while a young girl brings a cup, and a boy stands mournfully with a hand to his chin. The stone has long been suspected of originating somewhere other than Athens from the style of relief and the lettering. The Doric form Athanaion occurs almost exclusively around the Thracian coast and the southwest corner of the Black Sea, leading Louis Robert to place the stone in Byzantion or Chalcedon, cities from which many antiquities were spirited away, and close to Istanbul where Strangford was ambassador between 1820-24. For more detailed discussion of the inscription see AIUK 4.6 (BM, Funerary Monuments), no. 40.

Added: 6 Apr 2022
Updated: 6 Apr 2022
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ID: AIO_2250