For the first time, the Unseen Museum in Athens presents the “stele of the twin babies”, a fragment of a funerary monument found in a torrent at Menidi suburb of western Athens.
The fragment preserves in relief two bundled twin babies in the arms of a female figure and is probably part of a tombstone that would have been erected on the grave of a woman who died in childbirth.
This is the only surviving funerary relief of the ancient Greek world depicting twin babies in the same arms, which indicates their common fate as orphans, the Museum website noes.
Proposed position of the twin babies stele.
The “stele* of the twin babies” dated in the 4th century B.C. was delivered to the Archaeological Museum in Athens in November 2008 by a rag-picker.
The fragment is now in exhibition in the “ Altar Hall” (no. 34) of the Unseen Museum in the National Archaeological Museum in downtown Athens from Thursday, March 21, to Monday, May 13, 2024.
Ticket reservations are necessary in order to attend the presentations that will be
Ticket reservations are necessary in order to attend the presentations that will be held on Sunday, March 31 and April 14 and 28 at 13:00 and on Wednesdays, March 27, April 10 and 24 as well as on May 8, 2024.
The Unseen Museum is the well-known exhibition project of the National Archaeological Museum of Athens that brings to the fore antiquities stored in its vaults away from the visitor’s eyes.
*stele is an upright stone slab or column typically bearing a commemorative inscription or relief design, often serving as a gravestone.
