Tomb stela: youth and his servant

Classification

funerary stela ; funerary relief

Culture

Greek (culture)

Dimensions

31 × 33.5 cm

Date

first half of the 3rd century B.C.

Period

Hellenistic Period (Greek, 323–31)

Material

marble analysis ; Parian marble, choriodaki

Iconography

column ; youth ; chiton ; himation ; ball ; servant, slave ; aryballos ; strigil ; sponge

Findspot

Rhodes (island)

Present location

Budapest, Museum of Fine Arts, Collection of Classical Antiquities

Provenance

Arndt, Paul (1865–1937)

Inventory

4790

Hyp-3913

References

Hekler 1929, 82, no. 68; Wollanka 1912, 78, no. 63

The youth on the right holds a ball in his right hand, while his servant carries the customary equipment for personal hygiene: a bottle filled with scented oil (aryballos), a scraper (strigilis), and a sponge. The youth was thus immortalised by his loved ones as a good athlete – and at the same time as a good citizen.

Marble analyses conducted by Danielle Decrouez (Geneva, Museum of Natural History) and Karl Ramseyer (University of Bern, Institute of Geological Sciences) have shown that the stela was made of Parian (Choriodaki) marble. Click here for the detailed results.

This record is subject to revision due to ongoing research.