The Tomb of the Three Brothers is a three-chambered hypogeum, the main chamber of which decorated with frescoes. The 2nd century paintings display a very rich Greco-Roman iconography.
On the narrow vertical sections of the walls separating the funerary niches, there are portraits of the deceased in round frames. Each medallion is carried by winged Victory standing on a globe.
Victory carrying a medallion with a portrait of a man with a child. Photo [source]
The same motif of Victoria holding the medallion with a bust of the deceased we can find on a limestone relief, which was originally used as a vertical separation on the wall inside the Three Brothers’ tomb.
While the frames of the fresco medallions refer to Greko-Roman architectural elements, the sculptured frame depicts a floral wreath.
Beautiful medallion, a tondo with a bust of a priest in high relief was ones part of a celling of Bel Temple, and it is dated the same as the tomb to the first half of the 2nd century.
Sources:
– Palmyrene Tomb Paintings in Context
Annette Højen Sørensen
– The Tomb of the Three Brothers in Palmyra: The Use of Mimetite, A Rare Yellow Pigment, in A Rich Decoration
N. Buisson, D. Burlot
– Limestone panel with a Victory
– The tondo from the Bel Temple
– Death and Burial in the Roman World ; J. M. C. Toynbee
– LE TOMBEAU DES TROIS FRÈRES À PALMYRE
Mission archéologique franco-syrienne 2004-2009
Hélène Eristov, Claude Vibert-Guigue, Walid al-As`ad et Nada Sarkis (dir.)
Pictures:
– from the Palmyra Museum by Troels Myrup
– Getty images
– Professor Emeritus Michael Fuller Palmyra Tombs