Grave district of a Persian
The burial area of a Persian is a preserved tomb ensemble of the Kerameikos , the most important and largest ancient cemetery in Athens .
The burial area of a Persian belongs to the necropolis south of the grave road . It connects to the west of the burial area of Kephisodorus and Nicostrate , to the east there is another burial area, of which probably no grave monuments have survived and which today lies under the Piraeus Street . Thus, the burial area of a Persian is the last completely preserved funeral monument within the Kerameikos archaeological park. Nevertheless, it is not visible to visitors, as it is now hidden under the embankment at the end of the grave road. In the further course of the grave road, the relief of Prokles and Grabnaïskos des Aristonautes were found, their locations are now outside the archaeological park.
The front wall of the comparatively small burial area was at least 2.5 meters high, but only 3.93 meters wide. It was built from limestone blocks. The lowest step of the front wall consisted of two four-meter-wide blocks and was thus somewhat wider than the actual grave area. This was probably followed by six more cuboid layers. Behind the facade was a 2.2 meter wide foundation for a naïskos grave . In this was the statue of a man dressed in Persian, of whom fragments were found in the north-east corner of the district during excavations under the direction of Alfred Brueckner in 1908 . The base of the statue has also been preserved. Two remains of statues that represent Scythian archers found nearby cannot be safely assigned to this tomb, they probably come from the burial district of Dionysius . Andreas Scholl sees it differently, assigning these two corner figures to this grave and also identifying it as the grave of a diplomatic dignitary from the Persian sphere of influence, probably an ambassador or guest from Phenicia . Such graves are documented several times for the Kerameikos, for example in the ambassador's stelae . It is also possible, but rather improbable, that an Athenian was shown in foreign costume.
The grave district and the grave monument were built around the middle of the 4th century BC. Built in BC. They did not last very long, they were after the lost battle of Chaironeia against the Macedonians under Philip II in 338 BC. Destroyed by these and then not rebuilt.
literature
- Ursula Knigge : The Kerameikos of Athens. Guided tour of excavations and history. Krene, Athens 1988, p. 127.
- Andreas Scholl : The "Persian" and the "Scythian archers" from the Kerameikos. In: Yearbook of the German Archaeological Institute , Volume 115, 2000, pp. 79–112.
- Jutta Stroszeck : The Kerameikos in Athens. History, buildings and monuments in the archaeological park. Bibliopolis, Athens 2014, ISBN 978-3-943741-04-9 , p. 202.
Remarks
- ^ National Archaeological Museum of Athens , inventory number 2728
- ^ National Archaeological Museum of Athens, inventory numbers 823 and 824