HELLENISTIC PERIOD, CIRCA LATE 4TH-3RD CENTURY B.C.

The relief takes the form of a naiskos framed on either side by pilasters that support an epistyle and a cornice with antefixes. Within the naiskos, the hero or god reclines on a draped kline, leaning on pillows with his left elbow and holding a phiale in his right hand. Before him is a tripod table with feline legs, its circular top laden with food. At the end of the kline is a seated draped woman, her feet resting on a footstool, holding a snake in her hands. At the foot of the bed, a serving boy in a short chiton holds an oinochoe as he prepares to draw wine from a volute-krater on a stand.

Related hero reliefs with banquets scenes were dedicated throughout mainland and east Greece from the late 4th to the early 3rd century B.C. A number of them have been found in the context of Asclepieia, and many, including the example presented here, depict snakes, which are associated with healing, but it is not clear if these reliefs were dedicated to the god or if they served funerary purposes (see chapter II, “Heroenreliefs,” in N. Himmelmann, Der Ausruhende Herakles).