An ancient column that is part of a tomb from the 3rd century BCE. On the stone is the inscription “Achilleus, son of Prothymus, be happy even in the underworld”.
The part of the preserved grave also features an image of a young man in a toga with a pomegranate in his hand. Hands raised up is probably the motif of the invocation to the sun god, which appears among the tombstones of people who died before reaching adulthood or died in criminal circumstances. It was believed that such a soul was restless and wandered around the earth, unable to find peace. The call to the sun god was to ask an all-seeing deity to help track down the murderer and bring relief to a restless soul.
The artefact is on display at the Parco Archeologico di Lilibeo in Marsala (Sicily).
