Une grande reine et deesse

Author: Zsolt Kiss | Pages: 185–194

Abstract

During the research led by the European Institute for Underwater Archaeology at Heracleion a huge statue of black diorite was found on the site of the Temple. Preserved in four parts, the sculpture is nearly complete (2.20m). It represents a woman standing, with arms on her sides down and slightly forward. In her left hand she hold the sign ankh and on the chest of her garment she bears the ‘knot of Isis’. Also the hair, arranged in long, rolled-up curls, are characteristic for the goddess. But the broad flat diadem is clearly a royal one, therefore it is possible to see in this sculpture an image of a ptolemaic queen assimilated with Isis. Certain is that Berenice II, the wife of Ptolemy III, wore on some portraits this kind of ‘isiac’ hairdress. Close to the Heracleion statue are portraits of Cleopatra II, sister-wife of Ptolemy VI, and of her daughter – Cleopatra III. Distinction of the portraits of the mother and daughter is difficult, but considering the long reign of the last one, the Heracleion statue seems more probably an image of Cleopatra III as Isis.

References

Albersmeier S., Untersuchungen zu den Frauenstatuen des ptolemäischen Ägypten, Mainz a/Rhein 2002
Albersmeier S.S., Das Isisgewand der Ptolemäerinnen. Herkunft, Form und Funktion, Städel Jb 19, 2004
Albersmeier S.S., Statues of Ptolemaic Queens from Alexandria, Canopus and Heracleion-Thonis, [in:] D. Ribonson, A. Wilson (Eds), Alexandria and the Western Delta, Oxford 2010
Ashton S.-A., Ptolemaic Royal Sculpture from Egypt. The interaction between Greek and Egyptian traditions, British Archaeological Reports IS 923, Oxford 2001

Belli Pasqua R., Sculture di étà romana in « basalto », Roma 1995
Bergman J., Isis, [in:] Helck W., Otto E., Lexikon der Ägyptologie I, Wiesbaden 1975
Bianchi R.S., [in:] Cleopatra’s Egypt. Age of the Ptolemies, The Brooklyn Museum 1988
Bothmer B.V., [in:] Egyptian Sculpture of the Late Period, Brooklyn Museum 1960
Breccia E., Le rovine e i monumenti di Canopo (Monuments de l’Égypte Gréco-Romaine I), Bergamo 1926

Careddu G., Museo Barracco di Scultura Antica : La Collezione Egizia, Roma 1985
Cleopatra of Egypt. From History to Myth, London 2001

Fleischer R., Studien zur seleukidischen Kunst I. Herrscherbildnisse, Mainz a/Rhein 1981

Goddio F., The Topography and Excavation of Heracleion-Thonis and East Canopus (1996–2006), Oxford 2007
Grimm G., D. Johannes, Kunst der Ptolemäer- und Römerzeit im Ägyptischen Museum Kairo, Mainz a/Rhein 1975

Hamiaux M., Musée du Louvre. Les sculptures grecques II : La période hellénistique, Paris 1988
Höbl G., A History of the Ptolemaic Empire, London 2001

Kiss Z., La reine de pierre noire aux yeux incrustés, [in:] F. Goddio (Ed.), Trésors engloutis d’Égypte, Paris 2006
Kiss Z., Autour de Bérénice, Études et travaux XXII, 2008
Kyrieleis H., Bildnisse der Ptolemäer, Berlin 1975

La gloire d’Alexandrie, Paris 1999
La Rocca E., L’étà d’oro di Cleopâtra, Roma 1984
Lembke K., Eine Ptolemäergalerie aus Thmuis/Tell Timai, Jahrbuch des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts 115, 2000

Malaise M., Note sur le nœud isiaque, Göttinger Miszellen 143, 1994

Neverov O., Antique Cameos in the Hermitage Collection, Leningrad 1971

Queyrel F., Un ensemble du culte dynastique lagide : Les portraits du groupe sculpté de Thmouis (Tell Timai), [in:] Faraoni come dei – Tolomei come faraoni, Palermo 2003

Rogge E., Statuen der 30. Dynastie und der ptolemäisch-römischen Epoche. Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien, Mainz a/Rhein 1999

Seipel W., Gott – Mensch – Pharao, Wien 1992
Smith R.R.R., Hellenistic Royal Portraits, Oxford 1988
Svenson D., Darstellungen hellenistischen Königen mit Götterattributen, Frankfurt 1995
Svoronos J.S., Ta nomismatou kratos ton Ptolemaion, Athenai 1904

Wentzel G., Les boucle d’Isis, [in:] De Memphis à Rome, Leiden 2000