TÜRKÇE
Funerary Stele Fragment
The basalt fragment probably belongs to the left side of an originally larger stele. The surviving fragment is about 0.54 m wide and 0.37 m high. The deep relief shows four figures. A woman is shown seated in the backside of a chariot, and in front of her are two standing men. The mostly visible first man, in a typical pose, appears to have just released an arrow with his raised right hand. The second man, of which only the back of the head is visible, is likely to be the driver of the chariot. This might be part of a hunting scene. Behind the chariot, a female, probably a servant, is standing in front of a small dining table. She is holding a palm(?) leaf fan in her right hand and perhaps a food item in the left. Although the combination of a dining scene with a chariot scene is a rare theme (see Arslantepe), stylistic factors favor an identification of the stele as a funerary item originating from the region of Maraş. Stylistically, it can be dated to sometime between the late 9th and early 8th centuries BCE. The stele was first spotted in 2005 in an art gallery in Munich, but at least since 2009 it appears to be in the possession of another art gallery based in Los Angeles.
