Ancient Stele
Just as we use tombstones to mark graves and commemorate our dead, so too did ancient civilizations. One way to do so in the ancient world was through the use of steles. A stele is a stone slab, usually decorated in relief and inscribed, that honored the death of a person. Three of the ancient cultures that had implemented the use of the stele were the Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans. In comparing an example from each civilization, it is possible to see the evolution of the stele from one period to another and the different influences each civilization had on a single element. The Egyptians had many ways to honor their dead, including the stele. Wealthy Egyptians, especially officials and priest, often had stele placed near their tombs. These steles usually told of the name, position/rank, and the epithets of the deceased along with a funerary prayer. (Gee 224) One such example is the Funerary Stele from Dendereh from the First Intermediate Period (ca. 2150 BCE). (University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology) This stele belongs to a man named Tjaunty, an official during the First Intermediate Period. The stele depicts Tjaunty on the far left of the rectangular slab. The other two-thirds of the stele
Why should it surprise anyone to see it within the art that was meant to memorialize them? Comparing these three civilizations has shown that a single element, used in different civilizations, may have the same intended use but the way each civilization goes about using this element can be quite different from one another. The stele discussed from the Egyptian society appears to be very basic and gives only a summed-up version of information about the owner. Hadrian, as well as the personification of Campus Martius (the location of the event), observe the cremation. It is said that the woman on the left is his wife. Even though the earliest civilization covered here was Egyptian, it is certain that they were not the first to apply such an idea. The purpose of the Egyptian style was to represent the human form in the clearest and most complete way. (Janson and Janson 178 - 179) The Apothesis of Sabina very much conveys the Hellenistic style. He is leaning on his left elbow and holds up a funerary wreath with the right hand. " (Janson and Janson 179) Stele, grave-markers, tombstones . Sabrina and Hadrian's faces appearing as portraits is characteristic to the Hellenistic style as well. (Janson and Janson 44) As for the inscriptions to the right of Tjaunty, this author is not able to definitively identify the meaning. It is a high relief with spatial depth: objects and figures in the foreground emerge in the round out of the relief, whereas those in the background are carved more flatly. It is also known that Sabina has been deified by appearance the "goddess" crown upon her head. Another type, a short and broad rectangle, depicts the deceased at a feast - the "Death Feast" or "Totenmahl reliefs. It is assumed that it tells of Tjaunty's name, rank, and offers a funerary prayer.
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