The Stele of Arniadas is an Archaic-period funerary

stele A stele ( ),Anglicized plural steles ( ); Greek plural stelai ( ), from Greek , ''stēlē''. The Greek plural is written , ''stēlai'', but this is only rarely encountered in English. or occasionally stela (plural ''stelas'' or ''stelæ''), whe ...

Corfu Corfu (, ) or Kerkyra ( el, Κέρκυρα, Kérkyra, , ; ; la, Corcyra.) is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea, of the Ionian Islands, and, including its small satellite islands, forms the margin of the northwestern frontier of Greece. The isl ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

, found on the tomb of Arniadas, a warrior. It was intended to mark his grave and honour his memory by enumerating his bravery in a battle near the river

Arachthos Arachthos ( el, Άραχθος) is a former municipality in the Arta regional unit, Epirus, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Nikolaos Skoufas Nikolaos Skoufas ( el, Νικόλαος Σκουφάς; 17 ...

in the location of ancient Amvrakia, modern-day Arta. The stele was found in 1846 at the necropolis of the Corfu Palaiopolis in the suburb of Garitsa, near the

Tomb of Menecrates The Tomb of Menecrates or Monument of Menecrates is an Archaic-period cenotaph in Corfu, Greece, built around 600 BC in the ancient city of Korkyra (or Corcyra). The tomb and the funerary sculpture of a lion were discovered in 1843 during dem ...

, after a demolition of Venetian fortifications in the area by the British, who at the time ruled Corfu. The date of the stele is early 6th century BC. The stele bears an

epigram An epigram is a brief, interesting, memorable, and sometimes surprising or satirical statement. The word is derived from the Greek "inscription" from "to write on, to inscribe", and the literary device has been employed for over two mille ...

written vertically in verses following an alternating direction writing style called

boustrophedon Boustrophedon is a style of writing in which alternate lines of writing are reversed, with letters also written in reverse, mirror-style. This is in contrast to modern European languages, where lines always begin on the same side, usually the le ...

. The inscription describes the details of the death of warrior Arniadas in a battle near ships on the banks of the river

and praises the dead warrior's bravery. The

Homer Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of the ...

hexameter Hexameter is a metrical line of verses consisting of six feet (a "foot" here is the pulse, or major accent, of words in an English line of poetry; in Greek and Latin a "foot" is not an accent, but describes various combinations of syllables). It w ...

of the verses, the proximity of the battle to ships, and the pompous style of the writing are clear indications that the inscription was influenced by the writings of Homer. Such inscriptions were common for that era, and exist in other funerary inscriptions in Corfu of that time. The Stele of Arniadas is exhibited at the Archaeological Museum of Corfu.

Discovery and description

Lion of Menecrates at the Corfu Museum (cropped)

The stele was found in 1846 at the

necropolis A necropolis (plural necropolises, necropoles, necropoleis, necropoli) is a large, designed cemetery with elaborate tomb monuments. The name stems from the Ancient Greek ''nekropolis'', literally meaning "city of the dead". The term usually im ...

of the Corfu Palaiopolis, in the suburb of Garitsa, near the

, after a demolition of the Venetian-era fortifications in the area by the British, who at the time ruled Corfu. The stele has been dated to the early 6th century BC. It is 0.55 m wide and 1.90 m high and made of

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

. The four holes on the stone functioned as lifting points, assisting in the process of lifting the stele and placing it on the tomb. There is also speculation that the Lion of Menecrates, found near his tomb, may actually belong to the tomb of Arniadas.

Inscription

There is an ancient inscription on the stele. It is written in

, a writing system with text alternating in reading direction in each successive line. The inscription contains four verses written in

, and it is written vertically. The inscription reads as follows: The ancient inscription translates as:

Analysis of the inscription

Scholars have analysed the epigram and have found clear Homeric influence. A. Petrovic states that the inscription has been "directly influenced" by a passage from the ''

Iliad The ''Iliad'' (; grc, Ἰλιάς, Iliás, ; "a poem about Ilium") is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the ''Odysse ...

''. The high style of the inscription and the epic attributes of the verses indicate that there was a competition among epigram writers aiming at making their inscriptions and monuments distinctive. Grave epigrams of soldiers during the archaic and classical periods follow the structure of Hector's words in the Iliad. The characteristics of Hector's message include a varying sequence of the designation "Τόδε σῆμα" ( Ionian form ("This sign/marker/monument")) or "Τόδε σᾶμα" (

Doric Doric may refer to: * Doric, of or relating to the Dorians of ancient Greece ** Doric Greek, the dialects of the Dorians * Doric order, a style of ancient Greek architecture * Doric mode, a synonym of Dorian mode * Doric dialect (Scotland) * Doric ...

form) or in reverse order "Σᾶμα τόδε" etc., and the possessive form (

genitive In grammar, the genitive case (abbreviated ) is the grammatical case that marks a word, usually a noun, as modifying another word, also usually a noun—thus indicating an attributive relationship of one noun to the other noun. A genitive can al ...

) of the name of the warrior, followed by the description of the warrior's bravery as excellent (ἀριστεύοντα), and brief details of his death. A number of academics have used Arniadas's inscription as an example which follows the Homeric formula. Hans-Martin Lumpp is considered the first scholar to suggest that Arniadas's epigram was directly related to Hector's words in the ''Iliad''. Anthony Raubitschek states that the verses are "extraordinarily similar" to the pronouncements of

Hector In Greek mythology, Hector (; grc, Ἕκτωρ, Hektōr, label=none, ) is a character in Homer's Iliad. He was a Trojan prince and the greatest warrior for Troy during the Trojan War. Hector led the Trojans and their allies in the defense o ...

. Paul Friedländer and Herbert B. Hoffleit describe the epigram as "the masterpiece among...sepulchral pigramsin epic manner". There is a difference between the death of Arniadas and that of Menecrates as evidenced by the inscriptions on their tombs. Arniadas's death appears heroic since he was slain by Ares himself, the god of war, while Menecrates was simply lost at sea. There is also uncertainty about the term "χαροπός" ("Charopos" (bright-eyed)), a fact that makes the exact

syntactic In linguistics, syntax () is the study of how words and morphemes combine to form larger units such as phrases and sentences. Central concerns of syntax include word order, grammatical relations, hierarchical sentence structure (constituency), ...

analysis of the epigram challenging. It is unclear if Arniadas is the son of Charops, or vice versa, or even if Charops is a member of a group called Arniadai. Also, "χαροπός" is not used as an adjective for the god of war

Ares Ares (; grc, Ἄρης, ''Árēs'' ) is the Greek god of war and courage. He is one of the Twelve Olympians, and the son of Zeus and Hera. The Greeks were ambivalent towards him. He embodies the physical valor necessary for success in war b ...

in epic poetry. The latter makes the epigram's connection to the Homeric epics tenuous. The inscription is described as having a "grand epic style" which "all but transports rniadasto the Island of the Blessed", without providing any details of the dead warrior's life before he died fighting.

References

{{reflist Ancient Corcyra Archaic Greek sculpture Ancient Greek tombs Ancient cemeteries in Greece 6th century BC in Greece 6th-century BC works