Stela

::This article is about the stone structure. Stele is also a concept in plant biology.

Related Topics:
Stele - Plant - Biology

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A stela (or stele) is a stone or wooden slab, generally taller than it is wide, erected for funerary or commemorative purposes, most usually decorated with the names and titles of the deceased, or living, inscribed, carved in relief or painted onto the slab. The word derives from the Greek stele, "standing block". The word can be pronounced /{{IPA|?sti?.l?}}/ or /{{IPA|?sti?.li?}}/, and the plural is stelae, pronounced /{{IPA|?sti?.li?}}/.

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Stelae were also used as territorial markers, as the boundary stelae of Akhenaton at Amarna, or commemorated military victories. They were widely used in the Ancient Near East, Greece and Egypt, and, quite independently, in China and some Buddhist cultures (see the Nestorian Stele), and, more surely independently, by Mesoamerican civilisations, notably the Maya. The huge number of stelae surviving from ancient Egypt and in Central America constitute one of the largest and most significant sources of information on those civilisations. An informative stela of Tiglath-Pileser III is preserved in the British Museum. Two stelae built into the walls of a church are major documents relating to the Etruscan language.

Related Topics:
Amarna - Ancient Near East - Greece - Egypt - China - Buddhist - Nestorian Stele - Mesoamerican - Maya - Ancient Egypt - Tiglath-Pileser III - British Museum - Etruscan language

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Unfinished standing stones, set up without inscriptions from Libya in North Africa to Scotland were monuments of pre-literate Megalithic cultures in the Late Stone Age.

Related Topics:
Standing stone - Libya - Scotland - Megalith - Late Stone Age

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An obelisk is a specialized kind of stela. The High crosses of Ireland and Celtic areas of Britain are specialized stelae. A modern gravestone with its inscribed epitaph is also a kind of stela.

Related Topics:
Obelisk - High cross - Gravestone - Epitaph

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