Getty Museum

Grave Stele of Phanokrates

Date

about 200 B.C.

Medium

Marble

Culture

East Greek

Department

Sculpture

Institution

Getty Museum

On this grave relief, the deceased youth's aristocratic background is conveyed by his rich garments and the items that surround him. His cloak is fastened on his right shoulder with an unusual pin in the shape of a large ivy leaf, and a short sword with an ornate eagle-headed hilt edges out from under his cloak. The head of a child attendant or enslaved person remains at his side. On the shelf above the youth's head are objects associated with the life of an educated man: on the left, a closed pair of wax writing tablets; in the middle, a chest with an arched lid that probably held book rolls; and on the right, a framed tablet with a wreath. The inscription on the low base under the wreath names the deceased as "Phanokrate[s?] [son of] Phanokrates." The stele was free-standing, not a slab from a longer frieze, but it was probably set in an architectural framework.

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