Private Beverly Hills, California, USA collection; ex-Westreich collection, Rancho Santa Fe, California, USA and previously on display in Chevy Chase, Maryland, USA, acquired on the London art market and imported into the US in 1985
Repaired from several pieces with some very light restoration and most break lines visible. Chipping with small areas of loss to peripheries. Otherwise, excellent with smooth surfaces and impressive remaining detail to inscriptions.
Marble tabletops have been found widely throughout the Roman and Byzantine Empires; however, the vast majority exist as only small fragments. These tabletops were used to celebrate feasts for the dead at grave sites - a commemorative practice known throughout the Roman and early Byzantine worlds - and were often supported by bases and elaborately incised with messages promising salvation.
Prior to the 2nd century, Romans cremated their dead; around that time, inspired by the Greek and Etruscan practice of using sarcophagi, they began to place their dead in sarcophagi. This trend spread rapidly throughout the Roman Empire. In the western part of the Empire, sarcophagi were placed inside a mausoleum against a wall or in a niche, so the only decorated panels were on the front and the short sides. This tabletop probably came from the grave of a high-status Roman citizen.
A marble tabletop with an identical Greek inscription is discussed in "Syria Grammata Kai Agalmata" by Hassan Salame-Sarkis in the journal Syria, 66, no. 1/4 (Institut Francais du Proche-Orient, 1989), 320-322.
