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A Portrait of a Ptolemaic Queen

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 December 2013

Roger Hinks
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Extract

The miniature head published here has not been described in detail before. It was found at Naucratis during the excavations of the Egypt Exploration Fund in 1885–6, and presented by the Committee of the Fund to the British Museum in 1888. Its height, from the crown of the head to the flat base of the neck, is 59 millimetres; its length, from the tip of the nose to the circular disk at the back of the coiffure, is 56 millimetres. It is made of greyish-white clay, coated, except on the eyes and base, with a fine greenish-blue glaze; the eyes are left in the light colour of the clay, and the pupils do not appear ever to have been marked. The thin diadem and the earrings are glazed lemon-yellow, for gold. The earrings consisted originally of a thick ring with a conical pendant; both of these pendants have been broken away from the cheek, leaving only the rings intact.

The forehead is long and receding. The arching brows are sharply defined; and the eyes are large and wide open, with delicately drawn lids. The nose is straight, fine, and round-tipped. The mouth is very short and sinuous, with deep-set corners, and crisp, protuberant lips. The ball of the chin is very round; and underneath it is a full roll of flesh, with three more rolls on the neck, which is long and was evidently never attached to a body.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Hellenic Studies , Volume 48 , Issue 2 , 1928 , pp. 239 - 242
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies 1928

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References

1 Brief notice by Gardner, in Naucratis, II, Pl. XVII. 11, p. 86Google Scholar; short descriptions by Walters, , History of Ancient Pottery, I. p. 129Google Scholar, Pl. X.; id., B.M. Catalogue of Roman Pottery, K 7, Pl. II.

2 The brown mark on the left eye is an accidental stain, not an intentional colouring of the pupil.

3 Gardner, op. cit., p. 87, leaves the question open; but the base of the neck is flat and unrestored, and was never inset in a body.

4 E.g. B.M. Catalogue of Bronzes, No. 766 and others.

5 See the numerous examples collected by Anti, in Africa Italiana, I. (1927), pp. 170 ff.Google Scholar

6 Weber, , Die ägyptischen Terrakotten, II. p. 35Google Scholar, Pl. XXXV.

7 Cf., for example, a small head from Alexandria in Lord Melchett's collection: Strong, , Catalogue, No. 25, Pl. XXXIII.Google Scholar

8 Ghislanzoni, in Notiziario Archeologico, IV. (1927), p. 165 f.Google Scholar, and Fig. 8 on Pl. XXII; Anti, op. cit.

9 B.M.C. Ptolemies, Pl. XIII.

10 Arridt-Bruckmann, 99–100; Lehmann-Hartleben, in R.M. XL. (1925), pp. 139 ff.Google Scholar, suggests that it may be an imaginary portrait of Thespis, the doyen of the Attic drama.

11 Antike Porträts, Pl. XXVIII; the supposed resemblance to the coin-types is not easy to detect.

12 Oest. Jahreshefte, XIV. (1911), p. 119.

13 P. 63 and Pl. XVI.

14 Journ. Egypt. Arch. XI. (1925), p. 189. In the same article he identifies as Berenice II, but without giving any reasons, a fragment in the Alexandria museum. Less uncertain, perhaps, is the head in Tübingen found by the Sieglin expedition (II. 1 b, p. 16, Blatt 2 and Fig. 3, No. 6), which Watzinger describes as Berenice II on account of the pose of the head, the Melonenfrisur, and the regular features (straight nose, small chin, and fine mouth). If Berenice, it would show her in the flower of youth, about four years older than in the Gyrene head.

15 Rubensohn, , Hellenistisches Silbergerät in antiken Gipsabgüssen, No. 65, p. 76Google Scholar, Pl. XVIII.

16 Antike Gemmen, I. Pls. XXXII, 32 and 37; II. pp. 159 and 160.

17 von Schneider, R., Album auserlesener Gegenstände der Antikensammlung des allerhöchsten Kaiserhauses, Pl. XIII. 1.Google Scholar The ceremonial wig with long corkscrew curls resembles that of the coin-type of Libya (B.M.C. Cyrenaica, Pls. XXIX–XXX) and that worn by Euthenia on the Tazza Farnese (Furtwängler, , A.G., I. Pl. LV.Google Scholar); but as far as I know the only other Ptolemaic portrait to show this feature is the Lykomedes gem from the Tyszkiewicz, collection (A.G., I. Pl. XXXII. 31; II. p. 159).Google Scholar It was responsible for the erroneous identification of the Herculaneum head as Berenice.

18 Journal International d'Archéologie Numismatique, I. (1898), pp. 228 ff.

19 Athenaeus, XII. 550c, quoted from Agatharchides. I owe this reference to my colleague, Mr. E. S. G. Robinson.

20 B.M.C. Ptolemies, Pl. VIII.

21 Eichler, and Kris, , Die Kameen, No. 3, Pl. IGoogle Scholar (better photo than A.G., I. Pl. LIII). The identification as Ptolemy II Philadelphos and Arsinoe II is adopted by Eichler in preference to the older description as Alexander and Olympias. Furtwängler sees the features of Arsinoe on the fine intaglio from the Tyszkiewicz, collection (A.G., I. Pl. XXXII. 36; II. p. 159Google Scholar): the peculiar nose with upturned tip is certainly similar, and so is the heavy metal diadem, a distinctive feature of the coin portraits; the head lacks character, however, and is not very helpful iconographically. Professor Jacobsthal pointed out to me that the bulging eyes and fleshy neck of the B.M. head and the coins suggest that Arsinoe suffered from exophthalmic goitre: a conjecture supported by the fate of her half-brother Magas noted above (n. 19).

22 I am indebted to Mr. E. S. G. Robinson for the coin-cast reproduced in figure 3, as well as for much help with Ptolemaic iconography; and to Mr. H. B. Walters for permission to illustrate the B.M. head from copyright photographs.