SEMA 2523 Funerary marker for Philoumene

Funerary marker for Philoumene

SEMA 2523 Date: ca. 350 BC

Philoumene.^[1]

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References:

SEMA 2523 (Translated text)

SEG 40.245 (PHI)

Clairmont, CAT 1.432

Translation by: Robert Pitt

Images: Wikimedia Commons - (1)

Monument type: Block

Inscription type: Funerary

Findspot: Kerameikos, precinct of the Messenians (Kerameikos Museum I 517)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] This substantial rectangular slab may have formed a horizontal grave marker with the inscription carved across its larger upper surface. It was, however, not found in its original use, but repurposed as one of the supporting blocks for a relief sculpture of a seated female (Kerameikos P 686, ca. 350 BC) in the funerary precinct of the Messenians in the Kerameikos (on this precinct, see IG II² 9347a). In this reuse, the inscribed face was turned inwards, so that it was no longer visible. The precinct was formed around the middle of the 4^th century BC and was substantially damaged during works on the city walls following the Battle of Chaironeia (338 BC). The re-use of the block as a support dates to the subsequent repairs. The re-use of the block as a support for the relief has led to the suggestion that they may originally have been related and that the relief depicted Philoumene, but this is not certain and the fact that the reuse left the inscription invisible militates against it (see W. Kovacsovics, Kerameikos XIV, 104/5; Clairmont, CAT 1.432). 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_3115