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Left: Relief from an honorary decree (for a military man?) Right:

Collection: Athens, National Archaeological Museum
Title: Relief from an honorary decree (for a military man?)
Context: Probably from Athens, Acropolis
Findspot: Said to be from Athens
Summary: Relief from an honorary decree (for a military man?)
Object Function: Honorary
Material: Marble
Sculpture Type: Stele, relief-decorated
Category: Single monument
Style: Late Classical
Technique: Low relief
Original or Copy: Original
Date: ca. 350 BC - ca. 300 BC
Dimensions: H. 0.285 m; Pres. W. 0.445 m; Th. 0.135 m; Pres. H. (stele) 0.485 m; D. (relief) 0.02 m
Scale: Miniature (pictorial field)
Region: Attica
Period: Late Classical/Hellenistic

Subject Description:

Athena, standing 3/4-view to right, wearing a high-belted chiton, an aegis with a central gorgoneion (that has been eroded away), and a helmet, rests her left hand on her shield rim (the shield emerges to the right, from behind her body), and raises her right hand, probably to her (once painted?) spear; a small, bearded male figure, probably the honorand, standing 3/4-view to right, wearing a short chiton and a cuirass (hoplite dress), rests his left hand on the rim of his shield, and holds in his right hand a worn, unidentified object, adjacent to Athena's shield; a bearded male figure, perhaps Demos, standing 3/4-view to left, with weight on his right leg, wearing a himation (with a triangular overfold) wrapped around his hips and draped over his left shoulder and arm (his left hand, obscured by drapery, rests on his left hip), reaches his right hand to crown the honorand on his right.

This bearded male figure is, as noted by Palagia (1980, 63), most readily comparable to Demos on Athens, NM 2958.

Form & Style:

The relief is framed by antae, of which the right one, preserved, tapers in width from 0.048 up to 0.038 m, with a complex capital (H. 0.022 m) comprised of two fasciae under an echinus and abacus, supporting an entablature (larger than, although comparable to that on Athens, NM 2407. Below the relief is a moulding (H. 0.05 m) comprised of a taenia above an ovolo. The entablature (H. 0.08 m) is comprised of antefixes above an inscribed architrave, that has been chipped away.

The relief technique on this example is comparable to that on Athens, NM 2407, with more emphasis on the anatomical precision than on the drapery, which itself is rather schematic.

Condition: Fragmentary

Condition Description: Two joining fragments, preserving most of the relief, including the top and right edges; broken on other sides, and particularly cleanly on the left edge, as if it was cut here for reuse; bottom now encased in plaster, adhered to modern marble base; top edge and back rough-picked; entablature severely chipped; surface worn, flaked, cracked, and corroded, especially around the break between fragments; grayish-white adhesions, and some reddish-brown stains, especially on the top edge.

Material Description: White, medium-grained marble

Inscription: On the inscribed architrave, the distinct remains of a "*D" or "*L" appear just above the head of "Demos." Would it be too optimistic to restore this word as *D[*H*M*O*S], in confirmation of the supposition that Demos is represented?

Sources Used: Smith 1997, cat. DR 36; Lawton 1995, 145-46 no. 149, pl. 79 (with previous bibliography); O. Tzachou-Alexandri in Coulson et al. eds. 1994, 67; Svoronos 1903-12, 657 no. 413, pl. 190.1.