Disc-shaped stele 01

Gender and life cycle

This type of funerary monument actually lacks any gender significance. In other words, it could represent both men and women, being used to mark the location of a tomb, which might be that of a dead male or female. Death was one of the few contexts in which there was no separation or gender inequality during the Middle Ages. The close link with the iconography of the cross and the choice of holy spaces as a vehicle for attaining the beyond represent an important tool for establishing the desired social distinctions from the other cultures found in medieval society – Muslims and Jews – as well as establishing gender relationships based on cultural issues associated with religiosity and gender.