Δυο ανάγλυφες επιτύμβιες στήλες των πρώιμων ελληνιστικών χρόνων από την κεντρική Μακεδονία
Part of : Αρχαιολογικόν δελτίον ; Vol.53, 1998, pages 301-312
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301-312
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Two early Hellenistic relief grave stelai from Central Macedonia
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The inscribed marble relief stelai of Nikanor son of Menandros and Menandros son of Nikanor were erected as markers on their graves, and provide us with the opportunity to reconstruct the genealogy of another Macedonian family. It consists of the grandfather Menandros, his son Nikanor, and his grandson Menandros, who were contemporaries with Philip II and Alexander the Great. On the first stele, which dates from 340-320 BC, is a frontal depiction of Nikanor son of Menandros, wearing a breastplate and a chlamys. He stands in front of his horse, which is moving left, and holds a spear in his left hand and the reins of the animal in his right. The heroised dead man, who served in the Macedonian light cavalry, has arrived at his destination and gazes at the viewers, at the end of his glorious journey.The second stele, dating from the late 4th-early 5th c. BC, has a depiction of a funeral banquet with Menandros son of Nikanor. The heroised dead man reclines on a couch f acing left. He wears a himation that leaves the upper part of his body exposed, is beardless, and is crowned with an ivy wreath. In his advanced right hand he holds a rhyton, and his left arm, which is bent at the elbow, leans on two pillows, supporting his head in his left hand. At the left is depicted a nude cupbearer holding a bowl in his left hand and in his right an oinochoe with which he has drawn wine from a volute krater. In front of the couch is a three-legged round table with lathe-turned animal’s legs. There are sacrificial cakes on the ends of the table and a large loaf of bread in the middle.These two stelai have interesting motifs that may be added to the relatively limited list of artistic creations yielded so far by the soil of Macedonia. The roots of the provincial stonemasons who executed them should be sought in the early Hellenistic artistic environment created under the influence of the Attic tradition. Comparison of the scale and art of these works with other monumental marble grave reliefs of Pella is particularly instructive. Despite certain weaknesses, the craftsman or craftsmen of the stelai were expressive and original. They reveal a charming atmosphere that reflects the society of the period and its beliefs about life and death, at a time when major changes in the Macedonian kingdom during the late Classical and early Hellenistic period were bringing about a profound psychological and social transformation in the Macedonians themselves.
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Το άρθρο περιέχεται στο τεύχος: Μέρος Α'-Μελέτες
