Abstract
A new town, the so-called Marina el-Alamein was started in 1985/6 on the Mediterranean coast of Egypt, near the lagoon lying 96km west of Alexandria. While visiting the area in 1986 I realized that all over there were numerous fragments of the ancient pottery of Graeco-Egyptian origin. This is why, soon after, with kind permission of the Egyptian Antiquities Organization I started archaeological investigation of the area. The site consisted of extensive urban architecture and a vast necropolis. During excavations there were uncovered several sculptured images of the deceased, found in the context of aboveground masonry tombs of limestone. Although of interest they represented a primitive variant of art produced by local artisans. On the other hand, the marble statues and statuettes found by us in the houses of the ancient town (probably Leucaspis) were of fine quality, most probably coming from workshops operating in Alexandria or in the Nile Delta. These sculptures were of late Hellenistic and Roman times.
References
B
Bąkowska-Czerner G., Aphrodite in Egypt. Images of the goddess from Marina el-Alamein, [in:] Classica Orientalia, Essays presented to Wiktor-Andrzej Daszewski on his 75th Birthday, Warsaw 2011
C
Czerner R., The Architectural Decoration of Marina el-Alamein, British Archaeological Reports, International Series 1942, 2009
D
Daszewski W.A., The gods of the North-West coast of Egypt in the Graeco-Roman period, Mélanges d’archéologie et d’histoire de l’École française de Rome. Antiquité 103/1, 1991
Daszewski W.A., Á la recherche d’une Égypte peu connue: Travaux sur la Côté-Nord-Ouest, à Marina el-Alamein, CRAI, avril-juin 1993
Daszewski W.A., Marina el-Alamein 1994, Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean VI (Reports 1994), 1995
Daszewski W.A. et al., Marina el-Alamein, Excavation Report 2004, Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean XVI (Reports 2004), 2005
Delivorrias A., Berger-Doer G., Kossatz-Deissmann A., s.v. Aphrodite, [in:] Lexicon iconographicum mythologiae classicae II
M
Medeksza S., Marina el-Alamein, Conservation Work 2001, Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean XIII (Reports 2001), 2002
Myśliwiec K., Contexte archéologique, [in:] K. Myśliwiec, A. Krzyżanowska, Tell Atrib 1985–1995 II, Varsovie 2009
S
Smith R.R.R., Hellenistic Sculptures, London 1991
Stahli A., Die Verweigerung der Luste, Berlin 1999
T
Tran Tam Tinh V., s.v. Isis, [in:] Lexicon iconographicum mythologiae classicae V/1
