Short-lived are both the praiser and the praised, and the rememberer and the remembered. Marcus Aurelius. Meditations. Book 8.
Image: Rectangular funerary altar dedicated to the tragic actor Marcus Var(e)inius Areskon, by his mother, Var(e)inia Areskousa, and another member of his family, in 170-200 CE. On the front side a relief represents the upper part of a frontally standing man clad in a military costume and raising his right hand. A female mask in the upper left corner of the relief, with traces of color still clearly visible on the lips and hair, is not part of the actor’s equipment (he is depicted in military costume) but simply identifies the figure as an actor. Moldings above and below, tympanon with central rosette and leaves, and a preserved akroterion complete the altar. he cognomen shared by Marcus and his mother, “Areskon” and “Areskousa”, signifies “he/she who pleases” or “who is pleasing or popular”. This is consistent with the assumption that both were members of a family of theatrical artists — although, since women did not act in the official theatre, Var(e)inia must have belonged to one of the “paratheatrical” professions. Her son, however, became a tragic actor and won fame and fortune, as may be deduced from the monument commemorating him. Now in the collections of the Tessaloniki Archaeological Museum. Image courtesy of Egisto Sani (CC BY-NC 2.0)
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