The _stelae_ proper were slabs of stone, standing upright in the ground. They were often made of marble[202]. The shape was frequently that of a little chapel, and they were usually of one piece, the upper part being designated the _epithema_[203]. This epithema was sometimes rounded like a coping tile, and sometimes fashioned like a gable. The latter form of the triangular arch was suggestive of a religious purpose and the attributing of divine honors to the dead, for this pediment belonged to the house of a deity. It was usually adorned with acanthus leaves, worked into arabesques, closely resembling those on the coffins[204]. The stele of a warrior, found in the Attic deme of Icaria during the excavations by the American School in February, 1888, has been an object of considerable interest to archæologists[205]. The slab of stone had been broken into three parts, but when compared with the well-known stele of Aristion, (found in 1838) the Icarian relief was found to correspond very closely with the older monument. The Icarian stele, when complete, must have been about eight feet high, and about a foot and a half wide at the base, tapering slightly as it rose. The figure is of a warrior in armor, holding an upright spear. There is unmistakable evidence that the details of the relief had been painted. The Lyseas stele (found in 1839) had a uniform surface, on which had been painted Lyseas, draped in a long himation, and engaged in pouring out a libation. The _stelae_ and the tombs were frequently adorned with reliefs in which the details were probably finished by painting. The chapel-like form was convenient for the artist in carving the relief, since this afforded a retreating background, and gave the figures the appearance of being within the chapel or temple. A favorite subject was an idealistic representation of the dying scene[206]. The occupation of the deceased is also indicated, and a mounted horseman is cut in relief on the tomb of a knight who fell at Leuctra[207]; on the tomb of an athlete is seen his figure, with his strigil and dog[208]; one who had taken prizes for declamation, music, ball-throwing and ring-tossing is represented with a scroll, a lyre, the ball and the ring[209]. Many similar carvings and paintings have been recently discovered. Pausanias refers to this custom of decorating the tombs, and mentions the picture at Sicyon, on the monument of Xenodice, who died in child-birth, as particularly worthy of examination[210].