Funerary Stele of the Camel-Herder 'Iglum
Unknown · Second to third century AD
A rectangular alabaster slab is divided into two carved panels beneath a line of South Arabian letters and a band of flowers. In the upper scene three figures gather for a banquet: a man seated on a chair before a table holding a vessel, a smaller figure carrying a bowl and a woman with a jar, perhaps the dead man, his son and his wife. Below, a rider on horseback holding a lance leads a dromedary by a rope. The panels are separated by a scroll of vine leaves. Look at the neat, monumental letters of the inscription, each one carved as a separate geometric shape.
The Sabaean text reads: image and funerary monument of 'Iglum son of Sa'dallat, followed by a curse on anyone who would destroy it. The stele stood over a tomb in Yemen in the second or third century of our era, and its scenes sum up a prosperous life in a caravan society, feasting at home and driving camels across the desert. The Louvre bought it in eighteen eighty-three, and it has since become one of the reference pieces of South Arabian funerary art.
Did You Know? The inscription calls on the god Athtar the Eastern to strike anyone who demolishes the monument, a curse formula common in South Arabian tombs.
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