Funerary stele; Rome, Asia Minor, 3rd-4th century AD.

Funerary stele; Rome, Asia Minor, 3rd-4th century AD.Limestone.It presents losses in the edges, although it has a good state of preservation.Measures: 52 x 29 x 14 cm; 59 x 29 x 13 cm (base).Funerary stele of carved limestone, with a rectangular lower part and a triangular gabled top. The decoration is divided into two registers: the upper one with a scene related to the harvest (two naked male figures carrying a basket and what look like small garlands with fruits or bunches of fruits, flanking a lady in tunic, holding a disk in one hand and carrying a staff or long rod in the other); the lower one presents, in a larger size, a figure dressed in a tunic, staring straight ahead, all done with very schematic features, as was usual at the time, holding a bowl in one hand and with the open palm of the other upwards, accompanied by two five-petaled flowers flanking her head. The aesthetic features of the present work evidence both its chronology and the area to which it belongs, mainly because of the schematization in forms and features, but also because of the composition.In the Roman Empire, funerary stelae were very frequent elements, especially to mark burial sites when burial became widespread (cremation was the most common ritual until Trajan, emperor between 98 and 117 AD, This was the period from which the burial of bodies became widespread, mainly due to the influence of certain Eastern religions, the best known of which was Christianity, thus changing the cinerary urns for sarcophagi which, when buried, required a "sign" on the outside of the burial site). Although they used to have an epitaph engraved on the stone (or, directly, a plaque with the epitaph), it is not uncommon for this text not to be present.The typologies are very varied, as are the decorative elements used on them. They are frequent those in which the text or the figure of the deceased appears framed in an architectural composition like those used in the buildings of the time, either topped by a triangular pediment or with the figure sheltered by an arch. As is also the case with sarcophagi, the theme chosen was usually related to the deceased (either with his religion, with the figure of a divinity to which he had special devotion, with his profession, etc.).