Long description

This is a colour photograph showing a funerary stele resembling the façade of a temple. The sides are carved into columns which taper slightly as they rise towards a Doric capital. They support a triangular pediment decorated with a finial at each corner. There is an inscription in Greek carved across the base of the pediment.

The figure of a young man carved in high relief stands in the recessed space between the columns. He has short hair and is beardless. His left arm touches the column on the viewer’s right. His weight is on his left leg and his hip is raised. His right leg is slightly bent in a relaxed position. His lower body faces forward but he twists his upper body slightly to his right as he looks down. His arms are held loosely at the sides and in his right hand he holds a curved instrument (strigil), which appears to represent him scraping his thigh with it.

A small globular vase in the shape of an aryballos, with a short neck and small mouth, hangs at chest height on the wall to the viewer’s left. A piece of cloth (towel) hangs just above it. The folds fall either side of the vase covering part of the column on that side.

The lower part of the stele is damaged and has been reconstructed. The figure’s feet and lower legs are missing. These have not been restored.