page_title: Harpy Tomb
section_title: Tomb
hierarchical_section_title: Harpy Tomb / Tomb
caption_attribution_description: Granatäpfel und Blüten werden als Weihegaben gereicht: Szene des Reliefs auf dem sog. Harpyienmonument, einem Pfeilergrab, dass in dieser Form in Lykien einzigartig ist. Die Reliefplatten sind Kopien der Originale, die in London aufbewahrt werden. Fotograf: Alexander Buschorn (1990)
context_page_description: The Harpy Tomb is a marble chamber from a pillar tomb that stands in the abandoned city of Xanthos, capital of ancient Lycia, a region of southwestern Anatolia in what is now Turkey. Built in the Persian Achaemenid Empire, and dating to approximately 480–470 BC, the chamber topped a tall pillar and was decorated with marble panels carved in bas-relief. The tomb was built for an Iranian prince or governor of Xanthus, perhaps Kybernis.
  The marble chamber is carved in the Greek Archaic style. Along with much other material in Xanthos it is heavily influenced by Greek art, but there are also indications of non-Greek influence in the carvings. The reliefs are reminiscent of reliefs at Persepolis. The monument takes its name from the four carved female winged figures, resembling Harpies. The identities of the carved figures and the meaning of the scenes depicted are uncertain, but it is generally now agreed that the winged creatures are not Harpies. The Lycians absorbed much of Greek mythology into their own culture and the scenes may represent Greek deities, but it is also possible they are unknown Lycian deities.
context_section_description: The tomb was built in Xanthos in the Persian Achaemenid Empire (present-day Antalya Province, Turkey), for an Iranian prince or governor of the city. The Harpy Tomb is in the Acropolis of Xanthos to the north of where the Roman theatre now stands and on its west side.  It would have originally stood on the edge of the marketplace. The original pillar is still in place; Fellows took only the sculptures, which have been replaced with cement casts of the originals.
  The tomb is the only Late Archaic tomb in Xanthos to have survived the extensive redevelopment of the acropolis in the Roman period, and was left standing as an isolated historical artefact. Many other Lycian tombs survive in Xanthos, but there are no others from this particular period.
  The space inside the tomb was later occupied by an early Christian hermit. Fellows noted that the backs of the reliefs still bore the remains of the hermit's religious paintings and monograms. Fellows speculates that this man was a disciple of Simeon Stylites (390–459 AD), one of the eponymously named Christian ascetics known as stylites, who lived on the top of tall columns.
caption: The replacement copies of the reliefs on the Harpy Tomb
exif: {}