Roman funerary stele, 2nd-4th centuries A.D.

Roman funerary stele, 2nd-4th century A.D.
Carved limestone.
In good state of preservation. It has lost a fragment in the upper left part but it does not affect the central part of the piece. It has been cleaned and consolidated.
Measurements: 27 x 22 x 6 cm.
The sad and desolate aspect of the protagonist of this funerary stele indicates that we could be in front of the figure of Atis, the sad young shepherd who accompanies the deceased, a motif that will spread throughout the Mediterranean in imperial times. Some sources indicate that Atis would be the son of Cybele, while others affirm that it would be a simple shepherd, who would have broken the promise of chastity contracted with the goddess Cybele. When Atis was about to marry the daughter of King Midas of Pesinunte, Cybele went mad with fury, interrupting the wedding and transforming it into an orgy of blood, and in full ecstasy, Atis would have self-mutilated his genitals under a pine tree (which is why it became the symbolic tree of this god) and as a result, he died. Cybele regretted what she had caused and implored Zeus to bring him back to life. The prayer of the goddess was answered and Attis, incorrupt, ascended to heaven in the chariot of the Mater Magna as his mate. The reception of Attis in Rome seems to have occurred at the same time as the adoption of Cybele as Mater Magna in 204 BC. Apparently even then Attis is associated with the funerary sphere as a god of death and resurrection. It will become a god protector of the dead, funeral god not necessarily mystical god, because, in fact, Atis as a deity of mourning and ultramundane hope appears dissociated from the initiatory cult of Cybele. The sculptures and reliefs of Attis in funerary monuments became an emblem of resurrection and eternity, another funerary symbol, like the laurea and increasingly devoid of religious content. The iconography of Attis is very varied, but the most common iconographic type of the god in funerary contexts is called Attis Tristis: a young shepherd dressed in the oriental style with a short tunic with sleeves, knotted at the waist, covering his back with a cloak and his legs with braccae, pants, and wearing a Phrygian cap. In a pensive and melancholic attitude, he places his right hand under his chin and his left hand on his abdomen while crossing his legs one over the other. Sometimes he is represented winged in reference to his apotheosis or rebirth. Although we cannot affirm categorically that it is Atis, since the iconographic type is not clear, we can say that it can be related since the representations of this oriental deity or of personages with sad and mournful attitudes are habitual in the funerary iconography.