The Polyxena sarcophagus is a late 6th century BCE sarcophagus from Hellespontine Phrygia, at the beginning of the period when it became a Province of the Achaemenid Empire. The sarcophagus was found in the Kızöldün tumulus, in the Granicus river valley, near Biga in the Province of Çanakkale in 1994. The area where the sarcophagus was found is located midway between Troy and Daskyleion, the capital of Hellespontine Phrygia.
Relief of the sacrifice of Polyxena, Polyxena sarcophagus, Çanakkale Archaeological Museum.
Hoplites on the Polyxena sarcophagus
Side view.
Side view.
Hellespontine Phrygia or Lesser Phrygia was a Persian satrapy (province) in northwestern Anatolia, directly southeast of the Hellespont. Its capital was Dascylium, and for most of its existence it was ruled by the hereditary Persian Pharnacid dynasty. Together with Greater Phrygia, it made up the administrative provinces of the wider Phrygia region.
An Achaemenid dynast of Hellespontine Phrygia attacking a Greek psilos, Altıkulaç Sarcophagus, early 4th century BC.
The Polyxena sarcophagus from Hellespontine Phrygia, in Late Greek Archaic style, 520-500 BC. Çanakkale Archaeological Museum.