Page:Travels & discoveries in the Levant (1865) Vol. 1.djvu/44

22 form of a stelé is a narrow flat slab of marble, with a height varying from one to twelve feet, and in shape somewhat resembling a modern Turkish tombstone, of which it probably suggested the form. The top generally terminates either in a floral ornament sculptured in relief, often very rich and flowing in its lines, or in a small pediment. Below this the name of the deceased person is inscribed, with or without a composition in relief. These designs are usually in very low relief set in a sunk square. In the stelæ which only bear an inscription, it is probable that a similar design was painted on the plain surface. The composition in these reliefs is usually very simple; not more than two or three figures are introduced, and all in the same plane. In this simplicity of treatment, these compositions remind us at once of the vase-pictures of the best period. In both cases, the limitation of space restricted the artist to few figures and to a single plane.

The scenes in these sepulchral reliefs seem to be for the most part domestic; and the mystic and symbolical import which some archaeologists have discovered in them seems for the most part far-fetched. It is probable that the figures represent the family of the person whom the stele commemorates; but no attempt seems to have been made to reproduce their individual likeness, as in the Roman sarcophagi. The most frequent scenes represent a seated female figure, surrounded by others, who are usually standing up, and who are evidently the surviving members of her family. In many of these compositions, one of these bystanders presents to the