Grave stele of Dionysios

myminifactory

The inscription reads: "Hail good man Dionysios who has died untimely, farewell." Lavish funerary monuments were erected by aristocratic families of Attica in private burial grounds along roadside family estates or near Athens during the sixth century B.C. Relief sculptures, statues, and tall stelai crowned with capitals and finials marked many graves. Each monument had an inscribed base with an epitaph, often in verse that memorialized the deceased. A relief depicting a generalized image of the dead sometimes evoked aspects of their life, accompanied by servants, possessions, and dogs. Early reliefs made it easy to identify the deceased person; however, during the fourth century B.C., more family members were added to scenes and many names were inscribed, making it difficult to distinguish the deceased from mourners.