Myrtle burial mound
The Burial Mound of the Myrtle is a burial mound of Kerameikos , the most important and largest ancient cemetery in Athens .
The burial mound of the myrtle is one of the burial mounds in front of the city wall of the ancient city. The comparatively small burial mound is located immediately to the west of the rotunda on Eridanos , and to the east is the burial area of Cleomedes . To the north it partially overlaps with the burial mound west of the rotunda . The hill was built during fortification work on the canal bed of Eridanos , which is located directly to the south, in 394 BC. BC or shortly thereafter.
On the hill was still at the original site , a column base found, the relevant Stele of myrtle was just south of the hill in the bed of Eridanus. The name of the myrtle can be read on top of the gable stele as an inscription without any further additions , another inscription further down on the column names Pythogeneia, the Antidoros from the Demos Plotheia . As is often the case, the exact family relationship cannot be identified from the inscription, it is very likely that Pythogeneia was the wife or daughter of Antidorus. Ursula Knigge suspected that Pythogeneia was the mother of the myrtle. Stylistically, the stele is made around the year 400 BC. Dated which matches the dating of the hill. A sarcophagus and a larnax were found under the burial mound . The grave goods found included bulbous palmette leyths and a clay alabastron with a white-ground coating.
The burial mound was discovered in 1932 during the excavations of the Athens Department of the German Archaeological Institute , led by Karl Kübler . The mound was finally examined during excavations between 1974 and 1977 under Ursula Knigge. Today a copy of the stele can be found in the area of the Archaeological Park, the original statue is in the Kerameikos Museum .
literature
- Ursula Knigge , Bettina von Freytag called Löringhoff , Klaus von Woyski : Kerameikos. Activity report 1973–1974. In: Archäologischer Anzeiger Volume 90, 1975, pp. 456-471, especially p. 463.
- Ursula Knigge: The Kerameikos of Athens. Guided tour of excavations and history. Krene, Athens 1988, p. 152.
- Jutta Stroszeck : The Kerameikos in Athens. History, buildings and monuments in the archaeological park. Bibliopolis, Athens 2014, ISBN 978-3-943741-04-9 , pp. 164-165.
Remarks
- ↑ Inventory number Kerameikos I 208