Gravestone of Kratinos' daughter

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By the sixth century B.C., aristocratic families of Attica were commissioning extravagant funerary monuments in private burial grounds along the roadside on their family estates or near Athens. These elaborate structures featured relief sculpture, statues, and towering stelai crowned with ornate capitals and finials. Each monument bore an inscribed base, typically adorned with a poetic epitaph that honored the deceased. Many of these grave markers also boasted reliefs depicting generalized images of the deceased, often accompanied by servants, possessions, or even dogs. Early reliefs made it relatively easy to identify the individual being memorialized; however, as the fourth century B.C. progressed, the scenes became increasingly crowded with family members and inscriptions, making it challenging to distinguish the deceased from their mourners.