Thread by @VeraCausa9

A thread on ancient Greek Funerary Sculpture, that is grave markers/stelai to commemorate the dead, a common human sentiment about loss & life impermanence.

This stele seems to evoke a 4th c. BC epitaph found in Piraeus:

"I lie here, but I do not lose
your love"

Fragment of marble stele (grave marker) of a young woman with her head bowed in sorrow ca. 350 BC found at Acharnae, Menidi, in Attica 
at Met Museum.

The Piraeus 4th c. BC epitaph is recorded as EG 69, 4 Epigrammata Graeca [1]

Greeks buried their dead outside city walls along roads to the city gates like Kerameikos cemetery
in Athens.This meant grave stelai were visible to all who entered & left the city with each passerby reading their epitaphs, thus keeping the memory of the dead alive [2]

Marble stele of a grandmother named Ampharete holding her grandson and showing him a little bird.

On the upper frame of the stele is carved her moving epitaph.

Grave stele of Ampharete and her grandson ca. 430-420 BC from the Kerameikos cemetery, Athens.

The moving stele of Ampharete & her grandson with its beautifully evocative epitaph is at The Kerameikos Archaeological Museum in Athens. [1]

Greek stelae can be described as a retrospective funerary art, a looking back but simultaneously keeping the memory of the dead in a timeless present through the physical carved stone and through each family commemoration across multiple generations. [2]

Marble grave stele of a dead mother named Timarista & her daughter Krito in an emotional embrace that seems to plead for one more fleeting moment together & perhaps defy oblivion. The detailed folds of
their peploi are exquisite ca. 420 BC, from Kamiros Necropolis, Rhodes.

This mother & daughter grave stele is what I'd call the definition of pathos captured in marble- at the Archaeological Museum of Rhodes [1]

Marble grave naiskos of Apollonia, inscribed "Apollonia [daughter] of Aristandros and Thevageneia". She holds a pomegranate & reaches up to stroke a dove. Pomegranate & dove are clear references to the Underworld: the fruit of the dead & the bird is symbolic of the soul c. 100 BC

Birds frequently appear with little girls in funerary sculpture, possibly as a sentimental reference to a favorite pet but also as in this case as a correlation between the dove & her soul-at Getty Museum [1]

Grave Stele of Pollis, a hoplite in battle w/ crested helmet, sword, raised shield & thrusting spear. His epitaph inscription still defiant after more than 2,000 yrs. The tattooed enemy is likely Thracians serving in Xerxes army ca. 480 BC- Parian marble, from Megara, Greece.

Greek sculptors from about 480-450 BC displayed a new interest in the representation of space, movement & human anatomy. Pollis conveys a sense of three-dimensionality. This effect is all the more remarkable, give the stele’s very shallow carving. -at Getty Museum [1]

Marble grave stele of Ktesilaos & his wife Theano. Ktesilaos, stands in quiet contemplation as he longingly gazes at his wife. She holds her veil as a Greek bride, perhaps this is a wedding nostalgic scene. As both names are inscribed, possibly means this is a joint grave-400 BC

Ktesilaos & his wife Theano are framed within a naiskos or small temple in classical order w/ columns or pillars and pediment, often used in Greek funerary art. Both names are carved on the lintel of the pediment-marble c. 400-390 BC at National Archaeological Museum, Athens [1]

Marble grave stele known as "The Cat Stele". It lacks inscription, producing many interpretations: Is the youth rescuing his pet bird from his cat ? Does the bird symbolize the release of the soul or its imprisonment?Does it tell us about the fragility of life?-from Aegina 420 BC

The style of the carving resembles the Parthenon frieze, especially the face of the youth & his drapery, perhaps the work one of the Parthenon sculptors doing a customized gravestone for an affluent client. "The Cat Stele" c. 420-410 BC-National Archaeological Museum, Athens [1]

Funerary marble stele erected by Thrasōn, grieving father on the loss of his young sons, Dexiphanes & Thrasōn in an earthquake. Yet this grave marker/epitaph cannot substitute what Fate has destroyed. We can only feel immense pity (oiktos) c. 120 BC from Nicomedia (İzmit,Turkey)

Thrasōn also honors a young hero named Hermes who carried his two young sons out of the rubble but tragically they were already dead. This moving grave stele is at The Louvre [1]

*P.S. On the above marble grave stele of dead mother Timarista & her daughter Krito:

Krito is shown with very short hair, cutting her hair is a sign of mourning but also points to a Greek rite of passage where girls cut their hair prior to marriage & dedicate it to Artemis.

Krito is depicted with developed breasts, indicating that she is of a marriageable age of 14-15-16. As she prepares to leave the realm of the chaste Artemis and enter into the realm of love & procreation embodied by Aphrodite [1]

Grave stele for Eupheros, ephebe athlete about 15-16 holding his strigil to scrape away dirt & excess oil from his naked body. Stele dated 430-420 BC, raising the possibility that Eupheros was a victim of the plague that ravaged Athens in 430-427 BC during the Peloponnesian War.

His name, Eupheros, is inscribed on the pediment above his head. Eupheros is dressed in a himation, sandals & wears a headband. Stele was erected at Kerameikos necropolis where the Ηiera Hodos (the Sacred Way, i.e. the road to Eleusis) began-at the Kerameikos Museum, Athens [1]

Eupheros marble grave stele shows traces of polychromy: blue for the background, yellow for the hair, red band beneath the figure's feet. A reminder that all the Greek grave stelai shown in this thread were originally painted. [2]