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(EL)
Two marble female heads were recently presented to the Benaki Museum through the generosity of certain friends of the Museum. Although the provenance of the works is unknown, the style and certain technical features betray their Egyptian origin. This study touches on the well-known debate concerning elective affinities in the development of the iconography of gods and rulers in the Ptolemaic capital, dictated by the desire of the rulers in Alexandria to endow their dynastic portraits with divine attributes. The first work (inv. no. 38784, h: 19 cm) is made from Parian marble. The rear section was rounded off with another material, probably gypsum. Interpretation of the figure was greatly facilitated by the hole in the top the head, which is found in many female sculptures and was used for attaching the symbols of Isis. It is very probable that the missing section was covered with corkscrew locks made of plaster. This theory is corroborated by the absence of the ears, an indication that this area was covered by the curls and thus did not need to be represented. The question arises whether the figure is a representation of Isis or of a queen portrayed as Isis in the Isis-Aphrodite type, in view of the lines on the neck (known as 'Venus rings') and the fleshy mouth. The features which suggest that this is a portrait and not an idealised figure are the characteristically small, full mouth and the elongated oval face with the heavy chin. If it is a portrait, the figure appropriates certain characteristics of the two deities, the maternal aspect of Isis and the eroticism of Aphrodite. In this case the sculpture should be interpreted as a representation of a deified queen, to whom the artist has given the attributes adopted by the Alexandrian court as a form of pro-Ptolemaic propaganda. Numismatic evidence is however significant. The British Museum contains a unique Alexandrian gold octadrachm of Cleopatra I (194/3-176 BC), in which the similarity of certain facial features with those of the sculpture is apparent: the flat, recessive chin, the prominent lower lip and the groove below it point to the marble head being a portrait of Cleopatra. The dating of the sculpture to the 2nd century BC is also supported by other arguments. Portraits of 3rd century Ptolemaic queens are notable for the realistic depiction of facial features, in sculpture and especially on coins. The 2nd century sees a change towards a more idealised portrayal of figures, which makes attempts at individual identification difficult. Queens are usually identified with Isis, and they adopt her symbols, thus confusing the iconography of deities and rulers. This identification became formalised in the reign of Cleopatra I, who, as daughter of the Seleucid Antiochus III, known from literary sources as 'the Syrian', wished in this way to assert her authority over her Egyptian subjects: her adoption of the symbols of the principal female Egyptian deity was mainly directed towards serving her political interests. The second head, made from thick-grained marble, is 10 cm. high (inv. no. 39213). The identification of the figure depends directly on the surviving iconographie features. The crown with its circular base and the small semi-circular notch in the front right section help to identify the figure as Isis in her hypostasis as Selene. Yet certain facial characteristics suggest that the head represents a Ptolemaic queen in the guise of Isis, as the small round mouth, the eyes turned down at the corners and the fleshy cheeks and heavy chin are undoubtedly portrait features. The close relationship between Isis and the Ptolemaic queen, noted in this sculpture, leads us once again to the identification of the figure with a 2nd-century BC Cleopatra, and this would conform with the dating of the sculpture independently of any individual attribution. As the work portrays a woman of advanced years we can exclude the possibility of it being a portrait of Cleopatra I. We are assisted here by a basalt male head (h.: 6.7 cm) in the Benaki Museum. It depicts a ruler and the prevailing view is that it represents Ptolemy IX (116-107, 88-80 BC) or Ptolemy X (107-88 BC). A comparison of this small sculpture with the female head reveals surprising similarities in the facial features, for example the downturn of the corners of the eyes, the small mouth with the drill holes at the corners and the shape of the lower part of the face. It might not be overbold to seek the identification of the head against the background of a dynastic family of the second half of the 2nd century BC. Cleopatra III is the mostly likely candidate since she was the mother of Ptolemy IX and X and was closely associated with the goddess. From 130 BC the eponymous priest of Cleopatra held a title which equated the queen with the goddess. The identification is so close that it is impossible to judge whether surviving portraits from the age of Cleopatra represent Isis or the queen, something that should not surprise us when we take into account the combination of her dynamic personality and her prominent role in the Ptolemaic kingdom.
(EN)
