Grave Stele with the Figure of a Boy from Palmyra in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, August 2019

Funerary relief
ca. 172


Object Details

Date: ca. 172

Geography: From Syria, Palmyra

Medium: Limestone

Dimensions: 20 5/8 × 15 5/8 × 4 3/8 in. (52.4 × 39.7 × 11.1 cm)

Classification: Stone-Sculpture-Inscribed

Credit Line: Purchase, 1902

Accession Number: 02.29.6


Inscription:
1 Alas!
2 Shu‘adel,
3 son of Zabdibol,
4 son of Mokimu,
5 the craftsman.
6 Died the 3rd day
7 of Kanun, the year
8-9 484.

Transliteration:
1 ḥbl
2 šʿdʾl
3 br zbdbwl
4 br mqymw
5 ʾmnʾ
6 myt ywm 3
7 bknwn šnt
8 4.100+80
9 +4

This relief is a type of funerary monument characteristic of the prosperous caravan city of Palmyra during the first three centuries A.D. Reliefs with a representation of the deceased and a short identifying inscription were used to seal burial niches in elaborately decorated communal tombs; those with a half-length or bust format became prevalent sometime after A.D. 65. After this early period, full-length representations such as this relief were used more frequently for memorials to children rather than adults.

Shown here is a young man or boy in high relief facing directly toward the viewer, dressed in a Greek cloak known as a himation, worn over a chiton, or tunic, and wrapped around the right arm like a sling. His left hand grasps a fold of the voluminous garment at waist level. His expression is serene, and his upraised eyes gaze at a point far beyond the viewer. Incised concentric circles indicate the iris and pupil of each eye. His short hair is depicted as a mass of wavy locks that cover his head like a cap, ending above his protruding ears. This relief depicts the deceased with the dress and coiffure of an adult, and without the attributes such as birds or bunches of grapes that Palmyrene children frequently hold in their memorial portraits, so it is primarily the use of the full-length format that suggests he may be a child. He stands in front of a dorsalium (draped cloth) affixed by circular pins to a pair of curving leafy branches. An inscription in Palmyrene Aramaic, visible at right, gives his name, lineage, and date of death. The months of the Palmyrene calendar were based on the earlier Babylonian calendar, while the years were reckoned according to the Seleucid era, which began in 312 B.C.


Text from: www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/322380