Description:
Half-length figure of a draped male facing forward (fragment of reclining figure)

Label Text:
The ancient Syrian city of Palmyra was a prosperous commercial center and an oasis for traveling caravans. The city continued to flourish after its incorporation into the Roman Empire at the end of the 1st century CE and its wealthier citizens displayed their riches not only in life, but also in death. A kilometer-long necropolis called the “Valley of the Tombs” bordered the city walls and housed over 150 tombs for the elite merchant class.
This fragment is an example of a funerary bust from an underground tombs. Each portrait would have sealed off a cubiculum, a compartment housing the mummified body of the deceased set into the tomb wall. The man, now missing his hips and legs, is in the banquet style, reclining on a cushion under his elbow and holding a glass.

- From Reconstructing Antiquity, Rachel G. Beaupré (Sept. 2016)

Tags:
ancient; archaeology; funeral rites and ceremonies; monuments

Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=MH+1932.2.C.OII

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