Funerary Relief of a Woman and Two Children

Ba’altega, Daughter of Hairan. Alas! Ba’altega gazes at us. Decked out in fine jewelry and reaching modestly toward her veil, she is the very image of a wealthy Palmyrene mother. This portrait likely marked Ba’altega’s burial in a family tomb when it was made in the second century CE. Imagine stepping into Ba’altega’s family tomb at Palmyra. A tendril of scented smoke floats up from incense you lit on a small altar. The light from your oil lamp flickers on the faces of the ancestors around you. You spot Ba’altega and step closer, ready to pour a libation and leave her your lamp. In Palmyra, she would have been surrounded by similar portraits marking burials of her family members, all identified by name. Here in Cambridge, she is accompanied only by her sons, Šim’on, shown to the left, and Hairan, shown to the right. Caring for the Dead at the Harvard Art Museums