Marble Plaques in Tombstones from the Southern Suburb of Tauric Chersonesos

Abstract

During the excavations of the necropolis in the Southern Suburb of Chersonesos in 2021–2023, eight marble tombstone plaques with inscriptions were discovered. They date from the third to the second century BC: Στράτιππος Ὕμνου; [- -]τας [- -]λειος; Παρθε[- -] Πυθίων[ος], χαῖρ[ε]; Διονύ[σιος ?] Διονυ[σίου ?]; [- -]ΚΛΕΙΣ[- -] | [Ἀπολ]λωνίδ[ου]; Κλυμένα Ἀπολλᾶ [Ἡ]ρογείτου [γ]υνά; Παρθένο[κλῆς?] Διοτίμ[ου]; Πολ[υκάστα ?] Δαμ[- -] Σιμ[αίου] [γυ]νά. The use of limestone tombstone stelae with small marble plaques is characteristic of the funerary practices of Megara and several of its colonies. The Chersonesos tombstones of this type date from the beginning of the third century BC to the end of the second century AD and constitute slightly more than one quarter of the funerary monuments known at the present time. The majority of these belong to the third to second centuries BC.