The funerary monument II
Funerary Monument II was constructed outside the west fortifications of Aptera, as the mausoleum of a wealthy family. Only the underground part survives today, as the aboveground part collapsed in the earthquake of 365 AD.
The form of the aboveground monument can be partly reconstructed from part of the epistyle of the façade, which was reused, in pieces, in the construction of early Byzantine tombs. The mouldings were removed without destroying the inscription. Although the study of the architectural material is still ongoing, the Ionic epistyle with integral frieze, and the fragments of a cornice and fluted columns, all indicate that the superstructure was shaped like a temple with a north-facing façade consisting of four Ionic or Corinthian columns or two columns in antis.
The epistyle is preserved in two pieces with a total length of 190.5 cm, and bears a two-line inscription dated to the first half of the 2nd century BC:
Soterios son of Protogenes
of Eleutherna made this.
The reference to Eleutherna, the owner’s place of origin, highlights the relations of friendship and alliance between the two cities, while the prominent location of the monument indicates that Soterios, the son of Protogenes, wanted to show off his wealth and origins.
The particularly well-built underground part of the monument consists of an antechamber and a burial chamber with four stone burial shafts. The graves were disturbed. Numerous objects were found along the narrow sides of the antechamber: metal, iron and bronze implements, glass unguentaria, clay vases and terracotta figurines, and fragments of gold sheet. The finds date the end of the monument’s use to the early or mid-2nd century AD.
Many of the restored figurines belong to distinctive iconographic types, while some are unique (the eunuchs). Taken together with the rest of the finds, they indicate a connection to the mystery cult of Cybele.
Following the destruction of the monument, cist graves were built here in the Early Byzantine period (late 5th – early 6th c. AD), using material taken from the monument itself.