Stele of the rider Menes

On the front green hill the Samakion stele can be seen on the left, in the middle the stele without inscription, on the right the stele of the rider Menes, on the left side of the picture is the burial area of ​​Koroibos.

The stele of the rider Menes is a marble gable stele in the ancient Athenian cemetery Kerameikos .

The small grave area, to which the stele of the rider Menes from Argos belonged, was originally enclosed by walls. It is located in the immediate vicinity of an anonymous stele and the stele of the Samakion . It was made of Hymettic marble and is anchored in a base made of porous limestone . The stele tapers towards the top and is closed by a gable which protrudes over the depth of the stele. A little below the center begins the flat relief showing a rider in a square image field. The rider wears a short-sleeved chiton and a coat, with boots on his feet. Above the field of view is the inscription Menes son of Callias from Argos. Farewell upset.

Menes came from Argos, a city that had been famous for its horses since Homeric times. Perhaps the representation should remind of this. Argos has always been allied with Athens throughout history. This may have given rise to the right to a burial in Athens, because the representation of a Metöken as a rider is very unusual for Athens.

Due to the style of the relief, the stele is dated around 320 BC. Dated. It was not found at its original location, as the grave below was much older. So it must have been implemented in antiquity. It was found by Athanasios S. Rhousopoulos during the excavations of the Athens Archaeological Society in 1870. Karl Kübler uncovered the associated grave district between 1938 and 1940. During the Greek Civil War from 1946 to 1949, the tombstone was reused when it was used to mark one of the war victims. The name of the buried person was written on the stele in pencil, but has passed today. A copy can be found in the area today, the original is kept in the Kerameikos Museum .

literature

• Alexander Conze (ed.): The Attic grave reliefs. Volume 2. Spemann, Berlin 1900, p. 256 No. 1161 A with illus. ( Digitized version ).
• Jutta Stroszeck : The Kerameikos in Athens. History, buildings and monuments in the archaeological park. Bibliopolis, Athens 2014, ISBN 978-3-943741-04-9 , p. 217.

Remarks

1. ↑ Inscriptiones Graecae II² 8370
   Greek  
   Μένης Καλλίου
   Ἀργεῖος χαῖρε .
2. ↑ Inventory number I 271 - P 651

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