AIUK46 no. 30 Funerary naiskos of Archagora

Funerary naiskos of Archagora

AIUK 4.6 (BM, Funerary Monuments) no. 30 Date: 350-320 BC

Archagora daughter of I- -. (relief)^[1]

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Greek text

References:

AIUK 4.6 (BM, Funerary Monuments) no. 30 (Translated text) (AIUK) (AIO)

IG II² 10851 (PHI)

IG II² Add. 10747a (PHI)

GIBM IV 939

Clairmont, CAT 3.418

Translation by: Robert Pitt

AIO Images: 1 2

Monument type: Stele

Inscription type: Funerary

Findspot: Menidi(?), Attica (BM 1911,1010.1)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] This large pedimental naiskos stele was bought by the British Museum in 1910 from the dealer Georges Yannacopoulos. It is said to have come from Menidi (Acharnes) in Attica. The deeply carved sculptural scene depicts a seated Archagora dressed in a sleeved chiton, peplos and himation, resting her sandalled feet on a footstool. She shakes hands (dexiosis, cf. on no. 26) with an old, bearded man who rests his other hand on his himation. An older female figure stands in the background between them, touching the edge of her himation and looking downwards in a gesture of mourning. Archagora is the only figure whose name was inscribed, and so should represent the deceased; she may have died first and the family (two parents?) were to be commemorated in their turn. The crowning acroterion depicts a double-bodied sphinx (for these apotropaic figures, cf. AIUK 4.6, no. 21), which can – like sirens – indicate an untimely death, stressing Archagora's unmarried status. For more detailed discussion of the inscription see AIUK 4.6 (BM, Funerary Monuments), no. 30.

Added: 6 Apr 2022
Updated: 1 Mar 2024
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