Two marble sarcophagi commissioned by Antonios Attikos and his wife, Favia Samvo, for their four children.
The two marble sarcophagi (MΘ 5676 and ΜΘ 5677) were found together in front of the Kassandreotiki Gate (Syntrivaniou Square) towards the eastern walls of Thessaloniki. The sarchofagi consist of the chest and the lid in the form of pitched tile roof.
The inscription on the front of the rim of the sarcophagi commemorates the names of both the dead children and their living parents. Tragic figures, the two parents who ordered these preeminent monuments seeking to achieve the perpetuation of memory for their deceased children.
The sarchofagus of the three daughters of the family (ΜΘ 5677) has two niches with relief depictions. One depicts Aphrodite in the type of "Frejus" and the other Artemis the huntress with a dog, ready to shoot an arrow. A deer can be seen in the extension of her bow. The two corners of the lid (acroteria) depict Eros who holds a basket of fruits above his head and Psyche holding a poppy (papaver somniferum). The divine representations are of symbolic and eschatological meaning. They briefly express the world of the young daughters (beauty, purity, happiness of youth) both in life and afterlife.
The sarcophagus of the son (ΜΘ 5676) contains a composition with the figure of the deceased as a hero-horseman in motion with a dog and a boar. The figure emphasizes the heroic nature of the dead. In the corners of the lid two young male figures are related with the deceased. The fist wears a himation and holds a papyrus scroll and the second with a bat and a lion's head recalls Hercules. The figures, as symbolic depictions of the deceased, reveal the high educational and social status of Antonios and his family.
The importance of the two sarcophagi lies in their iconography. They are presented as conventional symbols of physical and spiritual virtus directly associated with the deceased. Probably an effort by the parents to preserve the memory of their children who passed away so prematurely. For the living relatives these idealized theomorphic representations are transformed into memories of the diseased themselves. The depictions of mortals in the form of the heroes or gods are considered to have symbolic significance, while providing protection to the deceased and consolation to the mourning ones.
The reliefs, although small in size, are of good quality and the details have been rendered with great care. The sarcophagi where manufactured in a local workshop and they date to 150-175 A.D.
The two sarcophagi are displayed in the permanent open-air exhibition "Memory in stone".
