Toter Niobide (Jewellery of a splendid vessel); Clay; hand-modeled; clay; Total: Height: 7.15 cm; Width: 20 cm; Depth: 3 cm; ceramic; grave goods; niobe; early Hellenistic; Greek antiquity; Small terracotta figure of a naked young man lying on his back with a lifelessly stretched out body The left arm is guided along the body; the half-open hand is facing upwards; while the right hand is grasping the base of the broad; overstretched neck. The head has already sunk back with apparently closed eyes. In the chest of the statuette there is a conspicuously deep hole; a wound in which an arrow - possibly made of bronze - was originally inserted. The former application speaks for an identification of the statuette as a child of the Theban Queen Niobe. His mother had incurred the wrath of Leto (Roman Latona) by boasting of the multitude of her sons and daughters; while the goddess had only two children - Apollo and Artemis. Offended by the hubris of the human niobe; Leto sent her children to kill the niobids with bow and arrow. Like the figure of the dying niobid (Inv. 1917.448); this statuette is also from Canosa. There it was found in a chamber grave together with other vessels decorated with figures. The dead niobide probably also belongs to a larger group whose individually made figures could be distributed among several vessels. The latter could then be sold individually; thus separating their thematically related figures. Further niobide statuettes are located in Vienna. The presence of the gods; on the other hand; is only made clear by the applied arrows; but in the context of the niobide narrative they are not depicted as figures on magnificent vessels. Although they are removed from the complex depiction of a niobid killing; the small statuette nevertheless illustrates the tragic extent of the narrative by bringing the right hand to their necks in what appears to be the last breath. In its function as grave decoration; it not only reminds us to respect the deities.