Gravestone of Euphiletos' daughter, Gokousa

myminifactory

Aristocratic families of Attica erected lavish funerary monuments in private burial grounds along the roadside on their family estates or near Athens as early as the sixth century B.C. These grand monuments featured relief sculpture, statues, and tall stelai crowned by capitals and finials that stood out prominently. Many graves were marked with inscribed bases bearing epitaphs, often written in verse, which celebrated the lives of the deceased. Some reliefs depicted generalized images of the dead person, sometimes accompanied by servants, possessions, and dogs, highlighting aspects of their life. Early reliefs made it easy to identify the individual being honored, but as time passed, during the fourth century B.C., more family members were added to the scenes, making it increasingly difficult to distinguish between the deceased and those mourning their loss with inscribed names often included.