It was made in Athens soon after 400 BC and shipped to Amphipolis when it was it was 'owned' by Athens, then given to the Louvre in 1899 by the French minister to Cavalla (was Amphipolis still Ottoman then?).
The slab shows two women in peploi, and the slab would have been the back wall of a funerary naiskos.
Amphipolis was the capital of Achaemenid territory in Europe. Cimon laid siege to and captured the city then called Ennea Hodoi, in 475. In 437/436, the Athenians captured Ennea Hodoi, settling both Athenian and other Greek citizens there. They lost it only reconquering it in 365 BC ... so Athens did not own Amphipolis during the period this sculpture was created, showing that it was probably imported by a local, possibly one of the original Thracian settlers.
Philip II was able to capture Amphipolis, after Mausolus of Caria had attacked the Athenians and prevented them from defending Amphipolis (357 BC).
Fragment de stèle funéraire : femme et jeune fille
Vers 400 avant J.-C.
Découvert à Amphipolis (Grèce du nord)
Marbre
H. : 52,50 cm. ; l. : 48,50 cm. ; Pr. : 17,50 cm.
| Don N. Bulgaridès, agent consulaire de France à Kavalla (Grèce), 1899 | |
| Département des Antiquités grecques, étrusques et romaines | |
