Melian reliefs were produced on the island of

Milos Milos or Melos (; el, label=Modern Greek, Μήλος, Mílos, ; grc, Μῆλος, Mêlos) is a volcanic Greek island in the Aegean Sea, just north of the Sea of Crete. Milos is the southwesternmost island in the Cyclades group. The ''Venus d ...

from about 470 to 416 BC. Most of them were found on this island. They share the same technical features, with a shallow relief, not higher than and a flat back. Details were once painted, but the paint is now most often gone. They show most often narrative subjects from

Greek mythology A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the Cosmogony, origin and Cosmology#Metaphysical co ...

. They were perhaps made for wooden boxes Another option is, that they were placed on walls.J. Walter Graham: ''The Ransom of Hector on a New Melian Relief'', in: ''American Journal of Archaeology'' , Jul., 1958, Vol. 62, No. 3 (Jul., 1958), p. 316 providing an inexpensive imitation for reliefs made in more expensive materials, such as ivory. Many of them show holes for an attachment. In 416 BC, Milos was ransacked by

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

in the

Peloponnesian War The Peloponnesian War (431–404 BC) was an ancient Greek war fought between Athens and Sparta and their respective allies for the hegemony of the Greek world. The war remained undecided for a long time until the decisive intervention of th ...

. The population was sold into

slavery Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

. This is most likely the end of the production of the Melian reliefs.

References

External links

{{commons category, Melian reliefs
Melian Relief, LouvreRelief plaque
5th-century BC Greek art Ancient Greek sculpture