Attic Bilingual Grave Reliefs of the 4th Cent. B.C.

Abstract

Phoenicians had lived in Greece since the Early Iron Age (e.g. Kommos and Eleutherna in Crete, Thera, Vroulia in Rhodes, Paros). Proxenia and honorary decrees as well as grave steles of Phoenicians are known from classical Athens.The tombstones are always inscribed with bilinguals. Among them are three grave reliefs, two of which were dedicated to men and one to a woman. The two Phoenician men, Abdeshmun and Antipatros, appear to have had a special function in Athens. Antipatros was a priest, as the bilingual informs us. Abdeshmun was probably an ambassador or a merchant. The relief motifs of both monuments are inspired by Phoenician art and culture.The third grave relief with a bilingual is that of a woman from Byzantium, named Eirene. She might have been married to a Phoenician man and died in Athens.The motif on her grave marker is known from other Attic grave reliefs.