Memorial Bucranium carved relief, part of a free standing funerary exedra (in the original Greek sense a seat out of doors), was discovered in the nor

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Memorial Bucranium carved relief, part of a free standing funerary exedra (in the original Greek sense a seat out of doors), was discovered in the northern cemetery of ancient Patras, unique in this city and generally extremely rare. It was constructed from big limestone slabs, carefully carved and secured with iron bonds. A bench runs along the inside of the monuments walls, while the facades were decorated with bucranes ornamented with ribbons, a motive related to burial beliefs. Dating from Early Roman Imperial times, it is one of the earliest exedra of this type. The bucranium, decorative relief represented an ox killed in religious sacrifice, a motif that was later imported into Bronze Age Crete as part of a bull cult, where the bull's head was decorated with a garland of bay leaves.

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Size: 5107px × 6830px
Photo credit: © ***DEPENDS ON PIC***/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

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