Collection: Athens, Acropolis Museum
Title: Relief from an honorary decree
Context: From Athens
Findspot: Found at Athens, probably Acropolis
Object Function: Honorary
Material: Marble
Sculpture Type: Stele, relief-decorated
Category: Separated fragments
Style: Late Classical/Hellenistic
Technique: Low relief
Original or Copy: Original
Date: ca. 350 BC - ca. 300 BC
Dimensions: P.H. 0.115 m; P.W. 0.285 m; Th. 0.095 m; P.H. (stele) 0.16 m; D. (relief) 0.015 m
Scale: Miniature (pictorial field)
Region: Attica
Period: Late Classical/Hellenistic


Subject Description: At least one figure missing, probably Athena or Demos, as suggested by Lawton (151); a small honorand (only part of head preserved); a female figure, perhaps Boule (preserved above her waist), standing 3/4-view to the left, wearing a chiton (?), a himation draped over her left shoulder, and a sakkos (?), raises her right hand (chipped off), to crown the honorand.

Form & Style: The right anta (P.W. tapering up from 0.025 to 0.02 m), set 0.025 m to the left of the right edge, with a capital comprised of taenia over ovolo (H. 0.018 m), below abacus (H. 0.009 m), supporting plain (?) entablature (H. 0.04 m). On the smooth right edge of the relief, just below the level of the capital, is a ridge (H. ca. 0.015 m).

Condition: Single piece

Condition Description: Single fragment preserving top right corner of relief, with part of right and top of stele preserved; broken sharply on bottom and left; back rough-picked, but worn smooth; surface worn, scratched, and pitted, with white and tan adhesions, light orange (iron?) stains, and modern plaster adhesions on underside; architectural frame worn and chipped, broken off on left portion.

Material Description: Grayish-white, medium-grained marble

Sources Used: Lawton 1995, 151 no. 163, pl. 85 (with previous bibliography); Papadaki 1960, 43 no. 5