Missio at Halicarnassus

Abstract

IN 1846 Viscount Stratford de Redcliffe presented the British Museum with a slab of coarse-grained marble from Halicarnassus that had in turn been presented to him by H. I. M. Abdul Medjid (fig. 1).1 This slab measures 25.5 inches in height and 31 inches in width. On it is a relief sculpture incorporating an inscription in two registers.2 It is estimated to date from the second century A.D.3 The relief comprises a unique representation of women attired as gladiators. The face of the woman on the right has been damaged, and details of the armor on her exposed arm and her legs have been partially destroyed, but it is clear that both figures are similarly equipped. Each of them is wearing a subligaculum (loin-cloth), greaves, and a protector on the exposed arm extending from the wrist to the armpit. Each is carrying a curved oblong shield. Their breasts are bare; so are their heads. The result of their engagement is recorded in the blank field above the image, with their names inscribed underneath on the platform on which they are