Ancient Egyptian block statue (gabbro with traces of pigment) of Neskhemenyu, son of Kapefha. Artist unknown; 4th cent. BCE (early Ptolemaic period). From a cache at the Temple of Amun, Thebes; now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
In the wake of Ptolemy’s I takeover of Egypt(around 323 BC), an estimated 150.000 Greeks moved to Alexandria to be close to this new source of power and patronage. Alexandria became the capital city and a major center of Greek culture (Greek was the official language under the Ptolemies) and trade. The traditional gods were still worshipped but new gods were also introduced, like Serapis, a composite of several Egyptian and Hellenistic deities.
The Ptolemies were generous supporters of artists, and they used their freedom to treat the human form with daring realism. For the first time, there were museums and great libraries, such as those at Alexandria (Great Library of Alexandria) and Pergamon.Marble was a fantastic medium for showing the human form. Some of the best known sculptures from the ancient world are products of this period.
The Roman province of Egypt was established in 30 BC after Octavian (later emperor Augustus) defeatedMark Antony, deposed his lover Queen Cleopatra VII and annexed the Ptolemaic Kingdom to the Roman Empire.
Several exquisite pieces dating back to the Hellenistic, RomanandByzantine eras were discovered during excavations in the site of the construction of the New Library of Alexandria. These works reflect the rich, multi-cultural history of Egypt with its Pharaonic, Graeco-Roman, Coptic and Islamic heritage.
The remains of the Christian Basilica at Hermopolis Magna.
Hermopolis Magna was an ancient city of Upper Egypt known as Khmunu (“the City of the Eight”). It was was the ancient capital of the 15th Hare nome (administrative division, province of ancient Egypt)
The great deity worshiped there was Thoth, the Egyptian god of the Moon, the inventor of writing, the creator of languages and the patron of scribes. The Greeks associated Thoth with their god Hermes(so they called the city Hermopolis). The temple of Thoth made the city an important religious center during the Ptolemaic period.
At Hermopolis, Greco-Roman and Egyptian culture mixed, resulting in temples to a variety of gods. The most impressive structure today dates to the 5th century CE: the Christian basilica. The 29 monolithic columns of red granite with their fine Corinthian capitals are almost all that is left of the basilica (c. 410-440 AD) which covered an area of 1195 square meters. The stylobate and the foundations of the basilica were built of reused blocks of stone from different periods.
The city had other important temples, among them a temple dedicated to Amon, another to Nero, a Ptolemaic sanctuary and a temple dedicated to Alexander the Great and his half-brother, Philip Arrhidaeus (Philip III of Macedon).
Cleopatra Selene II (ca. 40-5 BC), also known as Cleopatra VIII of Egypt, a Ptolemaic Princess and the only daughter to Ptolemaic queen Cleopatra VII of Egypt and Roman triumvir Mark Antony.
Raised from a single sheet, superbly sculpted in high relief in the form of the bust of a young woman wearing an elephant headdress over the top of her head, its raised trunk and tapering tusks projecting forward, all separately made and inserted, the skin crosshatched, each diamond punctuated by a central dot, its broad ears descending along her neck, the woman with her head turned slightly to her right, with luxuriant curly hair massed in two rows of thick serpentine locks
Her striking face with a high smooth forehead merging with the bridge of her long slender nose, the nostrils indented, her large eyes with heavy upper lids, the pupils and irises indicated, the brows delicately incised, her small mouth with a full lower lip, the philtrum drop-shaped, the prominent chin rounded, wearing a chiton crenellated along the collar and a himation with broad U-shaped folds, buttoned on her right shoulder, embellished with a scorpion on her right shoulder, a cobra on her left, a lioness and a lion at her chest, fruit and wheat between them; the himation and portions of the headdress gilt.
Parcel-gilt and silver. Now in the Private Collection.
