Votive or funerary stele

Unknown

ca. late 1st millennium BCE · Alabaster (gypsum) · Ancient Near Eastern Art

This highly polished alabaster stele is made of two pieces. A smooth undecorated slab sits in a socket carved into a stepped base. Inscribed in Sabaic letters in two rows on the base is “DRMT SFLYN.” This name, "Dhurmat (of the clan) Safalin” identifies the person, perhaps a woman, who dedicated the monument. The shapes of the letters allow us to date this object to the late first millennium B.C.

Artist

Unknown

Date

ca. late 1st millennium BCE

Medium

Alabaster (gypsum)

Department

Ancient Near Eastern Art

Credit line

Purchase, Mr. and Mrs. Nathaniel Spear Jr. Gift, 1982