During the Ptolemaic period a distinctive type of subterranean tomb for multiple burials proliferated in the cemeteries around the city of Alexandria. Underground chambers cut into the living rock radiated from a central courtyard open to the sky. Most chambers contained a number of loculi, long narrow niches cut into the walls, which served as burial slots. Some loculi were sealed with painted limestone slabs in the form of small shrines. Here, a lively depiction of a man trying to bridle a horse, while a boy stands behind him, commemorates a man from Thessaly in Northern Greece, who must have been one of the many foreigners who congregated in the wealthy, cosmopolitan Ptolemaic capital.
Due to rights restrictions, this image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.
Open Access
As part of the Met's Open Access policy, you can freely copy, modify and distribute this image, even for commercial purposes.
API
Public domain data for this object can also be accessed using the Met's Open Access API.
Inscription: Painted inscription: “Pelopides, a Thessalian”
Found in a tomb near Alexandria, Egypt, in 1884
1884, found in a tomb in Alexandria, Egypt; 1884, purchased by Elbert E. Farman, New York; after 1887, purchased by Darius Ogden Mills from Elbert E. Farman; until 1904, collection of Darius Ogden Mills; acquired in 1904, gift of D.O. Mills.
Merriam, Augustus C. 1885. "Inscribed Sepulchral Vases from Alexandria." American Journal of Archaeology and of the History of the Fine Arts, 1(1): p. 18 (general mention).
Merriam, Augustus C. 1887. "Painted Sepulchral Stelai from Alexandria." American Journal of Archaeology and of the History of the Fine Arts, 3(3/4): no. IV, p. 265.
Gillett, Charles R. 1896. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Catalogue of the Egyptian antiquities in Hall III, Handbook no. 4. no. 871, p. 59, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Gillett, Charles R. 1898. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Egyptian Antiquities in Halls 3 and 4. no. 864, p. 58, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Reinach, A. J. 1910. "“Les Galates dans l’Art Alexandrin.”." Monuments et mémoires de la Fondation Eugène Piot, 18(1): no. 10 (under no. 2156), p. 56.
Pagenstecher, Rudolf. 1919. Nekropolis: Untersuchungen über Gestalt und Entwicklung der alexandrinischen Grabanlagen und ihrer Malereien. no. 54, pp. 54, 69, Leipzig: Giesecke & Devrient.
Richter, Gisela M. A. 1927. Handbook of the Classical Collection. p. 192, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Swindler, Mary Hamilton. 1929. Ancient Painting, from the Earliest Times to the Period of Christian Art. pp. 344–46, fig. 551, New Haven, London: Yale University Press.
Richter, Gisela M. A. 1953. Handbook of the Greek Collection. p. 132, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.
Brown, Blanche R. 1957. Ptolemaic Paintings and Mosaics and the Alexandrian Style. pp. 16, 20, pl. V, Cambridge, Mass.
Birren, Faber. 1965. History of Color in Painting. p. 16, New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold Co.
Cook, Brian. 1966. Inscribed Hadra Vases in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Papers of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Vol. 12. pp. 12, 16–8, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Picón, Carlos A. 2007. Art of the Classical World in the Metropolitan Museum of Art: Greece, Cyprus, Etruria, Rome no. 213, pp. 186, 447, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Plantzos, Dimitris. 2018. The Art of Painting in Ancient Greece. pp. 259–61, fig. 253, Atlanta: Lockwood Press.
Abramitis, De and Mark Benford Abbe. 2019. "A group of painted funerary monuments from Hellenistic Alexandria in the Metropolitan Museum of Art." Techne : Journal of Technology for Architecture and Environment, 48: pp. 60–71, figs. 1–10.
Zanker, Paul. 2022. Afterlives : Ancient Greek Funerary Monuments in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. no. 54, pp. 166–67, New York: Scala Publishers.
The Met's Libraries and Research Centers provide unparalleled resources for research and welcome an international community of students and scholars.
The Met Collection API is where all makers, creators, researchers, and dreamers can connect to the most up-to-date data and public domain images for The Met collection. Open Access data and public domain images are available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee.
Feedback
We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. If you have comments or questions about this object record, please complete and submit this form. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments.
The Museum's collection of Greek and Roman art comprises more than 30,000 works ranging in date from the Neolithic period to the time of the Roman emperor Constantine's conversion to Christianity in A.D. 312.
