Greek grave relief showing woman with attendants

National Archeological Museum, Athens, Greece

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Material: Pentelic marble
Date range: Middle of the 4th century BC
Origin: Piraeus, Greece

This grave relief honored a young woman who likely died in childbirth, as shown by the newborn baby held by one attendant. The throne she sits on is decorated with sacred symbols including a sphinx and ram's head, creatures that held religious meaning in Greek beliefs about death and the afterlife.

The sphinx was a guardian figure in Greek religion, often placed on tombs to protect the dead and mark sacred burial spaces. The ram's head also carried religious symbolism, connecting to sacrificial rituals and honoring the deceased through animal imagery that represented offerings to the gods.

This monument served as a permanent prayer in stone, remembering the woman and her tragic death during childbirth. The intimate scene of women gathered around her represents the community's mourning and the religious customs surrounding death, with the funerary monument acting as a holy marker for her final resting place.

Museum label reference: 819. Grave relief. Pentelic marble. Confiscated in Piraeus. A young woman seated on a throne decorated with a sphinx and a ram's head on the backrest, draws up her himation with her right hand. Her left hand rests on the jewellery box on her knees. She is accompanied by three women. The one at the left stoops and tenderly touches her hand, while another in the background holds her newly born baby. At the right is preserved the fragmentary figure of a maidservant wearing a barbarian sleeved chiton. The funerary monument was supplemented by a pediment and pilasters. Middle of the 4th c. BC.

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Attic grave relief of a seated woman with attendants

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