Inscribed: Γάïος Γαΐου καὶ μητὴρ Βασιλι[νδ]ῖνα χαίρετε.—Kertch.
Limestone; height, 2 feet 6½ inches; width, 1 foot 7¼ inches. Greek Inscriptions in Brit. Mus., CLXXXVI.; Latyschev, II., 93.
710. Circular pedestal or altar on a square plinth, on one side of which is a sepulchral relief. A man stands on the right, clasping the right hand of a seated woman, probably his wife. She holds her veil with her left hand. Behind the woman stands Hermes Psychopompos, about to conduct her shade to Hades. He has petasos, talaria, chlamys and caduceus. On the right is another male figure standing, with folded hands, and beyond is what appears to be an altar. The altar is rectangular, and is surmounted by a conical object, round which a serpent is twined. By the side of the altar is the mutilated figure of a boy. On the extreme left behind Hermes is a sundial, to which his hand is pointing. At the side of the chair stands a draped female attendant of diminutive stature. This figure is much defaced, and the lower part is broken away. The head of this figure has been broken off, and the faces and general surface of all the figures are much eaten away by exposure to weather. This relief occupies about a third of the circle of the pedestal, the remainder being ornamented by festoons of ivy suspended between three bulls' heads. In the centre of the top of the pedestal is a round hole, as if to receive a dowel, and the surface of the marble seems prepared for a joint. The whole may have served as a pedestal for a statue.—Obtained from Greece by the fourth Earl of Aberdeen, and presented by the fifth Earl of Aberdeen, 1861.
Greek marble; height, 3 feet 7 inches; diameter, 2 feet 9 inches. Guide to Graeco-Roman Sculptures, Part II., No. 75.
RELIEFS REPRESENTING THE SEPULCHRAL BANQUET.
For a discussion of the interpretation of this class of reliefs, see above, p. [298].
711. Cast of a sepulchral relief, sometimes known as the "Death of Socrates." A man, bearded, reclines on a couch, with a bowl in his right hand, held out as if to pour a libation. A woman seated on a stool by the foot of the couch, extends her hands. On the right is a man, draped and bearded, and on the left a nude youth who stands with a jug by a large crater. Below the couch is a dog gnawing a bone. The original, of white marble, was found at the Piraeus in 1838, and is now in the National Museum at Athens.
Height, 1 foot 7½ inches; width, 2 feet 1 inch. Ἐφημερίς, 1839, No. 269; Le Bas, Mon. Fig., pl. 52; Pervanoglu, Familienmahl, p. 24, No. 60; Mitchell, p. 504; Wolters, No. 1052; Roscher, Lexicon, p. 2574.