IGII2 9347a Funerary trapeza of Philoxenos of Messene

Funerary trapeza of Philoxenos of Messene

IG II² 9347a Date: mid-iv BC

Philoxenos son of Dion of Messene.

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References:

IG II² 9347a (Translated text) (PHI)

Translation by: Robert Pitt, Patricia McDonald

Images: Wikimedia Commons - (1)

Monument type: Table

Inscription type: Funerary

Findspot: Kerameikos, precinct of the Messenians (Kerameikos Museum I 367, at peribolos)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] This is one of three marble funerary trapezai (or mensae), solid rectangular table-like monuments, set in a row within a funerary precinct (peribolos) in the Kerameikos. The other two are IG II² 9347b and 9347c. The inscriptions are on the short sides facing towards the road (South Street). They commemorate Philoxenos from Messene and his two sons, Dion and Parthenios, and seem to have been set up about the same time (ca. 350 BC). The upper surfaces of the tables supported marble vessels; the only surviving one is a loutrophoros for Parthenios, indicating he died unmarried. The large precinct (145 m²) is unusual in being for a family of metics (resident foreigners, on whom see AIUK 11 (Ashmolean), 1 with notes), who could not normally own land, and for the number of burials and cremations it contained (over fifty-five). Philoxenos may have been granted special privileges and then allowed fellow Messenians to be buried here (the plot is near to the graves of other foreign envoys). The precinct also contains a relief sculpture which might have commemorated Philoxenos’ wife, Philoumene (SEMA 2523) and three small, low stelai (cippi) for women who may have been slaves (IG II² 8635; 10678; 12755). On the peribolos, see J. Stroszeck, Der Kerameikos in Athen, 2014, 175-6, no. 32) and for images, see Commons. For a general discussion of Attic funerary monuments, AIUK 3 (Fitzwilliam), section 3.

Added: 2 Jun 2025
Updated: 2 Jun 2025
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ID: AIO_3109