Paper short abstract:

The study of the anthropomorphic stelae from Bronze-age Yemen in the light of certain regularities that have been previously found in the structure of earliest hero memorials from other regions of Eurasia enables us to elucidate the function of the stelae and the semantics of images.

Paper long abstract:

In his previous works, the author has found, using as a key the material of the ancient but still living tradition of Indian 'hero-stones', certain regularities in the images on the anthropomorphic Bronze age stelae found in different regions of Eurasia. These stelae are connected with the cult of heroes, 'masters of the herds', and with the worldview of 'pastoral heroism'. The North-Mediterranean 'statue-menhirs', anthropomorphic stelae in the North Pontic region and in the Altai region much further to the east (the Chemurcheck culture), stelae from south-eastern Turkey (Hakkari), Greek Geometric funerary vases and Archaic stelae, the so-called 'deer stones', then Scythian and even mediaeval Turkic heroic statues in the Eurasian steppe, Indian 'hero-stones' and some other traditions are in fact branches of the one great Bronze Age Eurasian tradition. The hero is commonly represented in a state of posthumous apotheosis. His body, usually naked ('heroic nudity'), is divided by the necklace and the belt into 'thematic' panels: above the belt can be seen weapons or other symbols of the hero's powerful status; the lower panel sometimes contains a scene of his last battle but more often, the objects of the fight: livestock, women or other valuables.

The anthropomorphic stelae from the highland Yemen represent one more branch of the same tradition. A comparison with materials from other regions has made it possible to elucidate semantics of the images and of some important pictorial motifs.