Painted limestone funerary slab with a soldier standing at ease

Unknown

2nd half of 3rd century BCE · Limestone, paint · Greek and Roman Art

A soldier wearing a long blue cloak stands alone, with a spear in his right hand and a tall ovoid shield at his left. Celtic groups from Europe migrated eastward in 279 B.C. and established independent kingdoms in Thrace and central Asia Minor. Known as Galatians, they were used extensively as mercenary soldiers. Inscriptions identifying at least three Galatian soldiers who must have served under the Ptolemies occur on loculus slabs in the rather simple tomb found in 1884.

Artist

Unknown

Date

2nd half of 3rd century BCE

Medium

Limestone, paint

Culture

Greek

Department

Greek and Roman Art

Credit line

Gift of Darius Ogden Mills, 1904