Fragment of a Relief of a Horseman and Companion from a Funerary Building

Shown in heroic nudity, a man leans forward to attack an unseen opponent. Originally, he held a spear in his now-missing right hand. Behind him is a rearing horse, its rider almost completely missing. Below, a large, lean, mastiff-like dog snarls at the foe. The presence of the dog indicates that the unseen opponent is actually prey and this is a hunting scene.

At Taras (modern Taranto), a Greek colony in South Italy, the wealthy dead were honored with small but ornate funerary monuments, often decorated with sculpture carved from soft local limestone. This fragmentary relief sculpture comes from such a monument. In this instance, the funerary monument had the appearance of a temple and this relief was probably part of a long frieze that ran across the facade.

The theme of hunting—a popular and privileged activity—on a funerary relief conveys a hope for the continuation of such pleasures in the afterlife. Traces of preserved paint hint at the original appearance of the relief: red on the cloaks, the hilt of the sword, the horse, and the hunter's boots; brown on the dog; and blue on the background.