This dissertation was written as part of the MA in Classical Archaeology and the Ancient
History of Macedonia at the International Hellenic University.
During Antiquity, people used to commemorate their deceased by placing highly visible
sculptures as markers on their graves, such as the funerary stelae and other monuments.
Funerary reliefs were considered the symbols of the deceased and they play a significant role
in the research and studies for many reasons. Not only do they represent the beliefs of the
society regarding life and death issues, but also they provide information about the artistic
expression of local or foreign workshops, of which they were products.
Starting with a short historical overview on the Roman Period in the region of Macedonia,
this Thesis discusses the subject of funerary banquet reliefs in Roman Macedonia in four main
chapters. Chapter I describes the iconography of the funerary banquet, the existence of the
subject from the Archaic and the Classical period and its development in correlation with the
development of the banqueting rituals and customs in the Roman society. The second Chapter
presents two of the most significant sculptural production centers of banquet reliefs in
Macedonia during the Roman period, namely Veroia and Thasos - two highly important cities
in Roman Macedonia. Each workshop is examined through the typological and
iconographical development of the banquet reliefs, whereas an attempt is made to understand
the Thasian or the Veroian local societies – at least as they are presented in these banquet
reliefs. Chapter three is dealing with a different kind of funerary reliefs, the stelae or round
reliefs with multifigured family portraits, through the presentation of the production of
Thessaloniki and Serres, two cities that again were important and of high-quality sculptural
centers. The last and forth chapter presents the concluding discussion about the social status
of women and children within the Roman society in general and into Roman Macedonia in
specific – as deducted through their depiction in the aforementioned funerary reliefs.
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