Image Details
Hirmer Fotoarchiv Muenchen
A husband and wife sit side by side with their arms around one another and their feet resting on footstools. This 40 inch high basalt tomb stele found at Marash (in south central Turkey) reflects Hittite and Assyrian influences, as is typical of Neo-Hittite art.
The woman holds in her hand a mirror, a symbol of femininity; her husband holds a bunch of grapes, a Hittite symbol of fertility.
The meticulously curled hair layered on both figures’ heads, the carefully articulated grapes in the husband’s hand, and the fringed robes all bear the artistic stamp of Assyria.
This stele dates from the late eighth or early seventh centuries B.C. and is one of the last known examples of Neo-Hittite art.