Unknown Maker, Attic (ancient style)

From the 6th to the 4th century BCE, erect stone slabs (stelai) with painted or sculpted scenes and inscriptions were the most common form of grave marker in ancient Greece. This example shows a woman, probably the deceased, with her hair covered, indicating that she was married. Her left hand moves the cloth away from her cheek - a gesture often seen in funerary monuments. Grave markers with single figures, such as this one, could have been situated together to create family groupings; the individual figures would have appeared to be taking part in a family gathering. In fact, funerary displays became so elaborate that Athenian laws limited their size and ostentation in the late 4th century BCE.