Leseprobe

118 Tomb slab of Nohrâ 226/227 CE Limestone; 52.5×42.5×25 cm Donated by Crown Prince Friedrich August of Saxony in 1890 Inv. no. Hm 25 Located in present-day Syria, the ancient oasis city of Palmyra achieved great wealth in the Roman Empire as a trading city and commercial hub. In the period from the 1st to 3rd century CE, the city developed its own unique culture and visual language influenced in equal measure by local and trans-regional pictorial traditions. This is particularly evident in Palmyra’s portrait-adorned funerary reliefs, which were originally erected in tomb complexes surrounding the former city. These funerary monuments took a variety of forms: high funerary towers, exclusive ‘house tombs’, and temple tombs, as well as subterranean complexes ( hypogaea ). From the 1st century CE, the loculi (that is, the actual burial portions of the structures) were usually sealed with slabs. The representations and Aramaic inscriptions on the loculi reliefs served to memorialize the deceased. The woman shown on the Dresden relief looks towards the viewer. The inscription to the right of her head records her name (Nohrâ), date of death (226 or 227 CE), and which family she belonged to. She wears a cloak and veil over her short-sleeved under- garment. She is also richly bejewelled, wearing earrings, necklaces, a bracelet, and a ring. This abundant jewellery, which would have looked even more eye-catching in its original painted form, illustrates the strong display of status typical of Pal- myra funerary portraits.  |  sw