Faculty of Classics - University of Cambridge

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Grave Stele of Phainippe or Kleo

Showing six adults and a child, this relief is the pinnacle of the trend towards group compositions in grave memorials. This adds variety to the composition, but in the limited space available the relief is very crowded. It also seems that a couple of the figures were added later, making the density even more uncomfortable.

The young seated figure is the deceased, and she shakes hands with — presumably — her mother, while her father stands between but further back. It may be that the stele doubled as a memorial to the dead parents too. The names of these three are inscribed at the top, although whether the sitting woman is Phainippe or Kleo is debated

Material: 
Marble
Location of Original: 

Athens National Museum 719

Size: 
1.12 x 0.70m
References: 

Papaspiridi: Guide du Musée Nationale d’Athènes (1927), ?
Walston: Catalogue of Casts in the Museum of Classical Archaeology (1889), 62, no.275
Staïs: Marbres et Bronzes du Musée Nationale d’Athènes, 114
Conze: Die Attischen Grabreliefs (1890-1922), 359, pl. LXXXIX
Johansen: the Attic Grave Reliefs of the Classical Period (1951), 46, n.1
Clairmont: Classical Attic Tombstones (1993), vol. IV, 191

Date: 
c.340-320 BCE
Inscription: 

Phainippe. Smikythion. Kleo.

Provenance: 

Found at Salamis

Number: 
258

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