Chapter 12 Where Are the Statues of the Women of Hellenistic Alexandria?

In: Rethinking Ancient Egypt
Author:
Paul Edmund Stanwick
Search for other papers by Paul Edmund Stanwick in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Close

Purchase instant access (PDF download and unlimited online access):

$40.00

Abstract

This article studies the Greek statues of women from Hellenistic Alexandria within the context of the broader Hellenistic world. Ideas about the “anchoring effect”—a cognitive theory developed by Daniel Kahneman—are used to examine available evidence for the statues and develop alternative perspectives. The article discusses a cache of Greek statue fragments in limestone discovered in 1993 while digging the foundations for the modern Bibliotheca Alexandrina in Alexandria.

  • Collapse
  • Expand

Rethinking Ancient Egypt

Studies in Honor of Ann Macy Roth

Series:  Harvard Egyptological Studies, Volume: 22
  • Abd el-Fattah, Ahmed. “The Excavation of the Site of Bibliotheca Alexandrina.” In Bibliotheca Alexandrina: The Archaeological Museum, edited by Zahi A. Hawass, 5162. Zamalek: Supreme Council of Antiquities, 2002.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Abd el-Maksoud, Mohamed, Ahmed Abd el-Fattah, and Mervat Seif el-Din. “Preliminary Report on the Excavation at Kom el-Dikka: Discovery of the Boubasteion of Alexandria.” ASAE 88 (2015–2020): 1538.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Adriani, Achille. Repertorio d’arte dell’Egitto greco-romano, series A, vol. 1. Palermo: Fondazione “Ignazio Mormino” del Banco di Sicilia, 1961.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Albersmeier, Sabine. Untersuchungen zu den Frauenstatuen des ptolemäischen Ägypten. Aegyptiaca Treverensia 10. Mainz am Rhein: Philipp Von Zabern, 2002.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Barr-Sharrar, Beryl. The Derveni Krater: Masterpiece of Classical Greek Metalwork. Princeton: American School of Classical Studies at Athens, 2008.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Bergmann, Marianne. “Frühhellenistische Weihgeschenke aus Zagazig (Bubastis) im Nildelta.” JDAI 134 (2019): 53166.

  • Beschi, Luigi. “Divinità funerarie cirenaiche.” Annuario della Scuola Archeologica di Atene e delle Missioni Italiane in Oriente 4748 (1969–1970): 133342.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Biard, Guillaume. La représentation honorifique dans les cités grecques aux époques classique et hellénistique. Athens: École française d’Athènes, 2017.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Bowman, Alan K., Charles V. Crowther, Simon Hornblower, Rachel Mairs, and Kyriakos Savvopoulos, eds. Corpus of Ptolemaic Inscriptions Part I: Greek, Bilingual, and Trilingual Inscriptions from Egypt. Volume 1. Alexandria and the Delta (Nos. 1–206). Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2021.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Connelly, Joan Breton. Portrait of a Priestess: Women and Ritual in Ancient Greece. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2007.

  • Daehner, Jens M. and Kenneth Lapatin, eds. Power and Pathos: Bronze Sculpture of the Hellenistic World. Los Angeles: Getty Publications, 2015.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Dillon, Sheila. The Female Portrait Statue in the Greek World. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010.

  • Edgar, Campbell Cowan. “Greek Sculpture from Tell Timai.” Le Musée Égyptien 3 (1915): 113.

  • Gallo, Paolo. “Les faux pharaonica d’Alexandrie: reliquats du grand commerce international d’antiquités (XVIIIe–XXe siècles).” In Alexandrina 5, edited by Marie-Dominique Nenna, 2154. EtudAlex 50. Alexandria: Centre d’études alexandrines, 2020.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Ghisellini, Elena. Ritratti privati greci nell’Egitto tolemaico. Annuario della Scuola Archeologica di Atene e delle Missioni Italiane in Oriente Supplement 11. Athens: Scuola Archeologica di Atene, 2022.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Ghisellini, Elena. “Lo ‘Scultore di Boston:’ un artista attico ad Alessandria. Sul contributo di Atene alla formazione del linguaggio figurativo alessandrino.” Bollettino d’arte 99 (2014): 120.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Jacob, Raphaël. “Piecing, Attachments, Repairs.” In Handbook of Greek Sculpture, edited by Olga Palagia, 657689. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2019.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Kahneman, Daniel. Thinking, Fast and Slow. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2011.

  • Kyrieleis, Helmut. Bildnisse der Ptolemäer. Berlin: Mann, 1975.

  • Laube, Ingrid. Skulptur des Hellenismus und der Kaiserzeit aus Ägypten: Die Sammlungen in Dresden, Stuttgart und Tübingen. Munich: Hirmer, 2012.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Ma, John. Statues and Cities: Honorific Portraits and Civic Identity in the Hellenistic World. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013.

  • Majcherek, Grzegorz. “‘Crumbs from the Table’—Archaeological Remains of Hellenistic Alexandria.” In Hellenistic Alexandria: Celebrating 24 Centuries—Papers Presented at the Conference Held on December 1315 2017 at Acropolis Museum, Athens, edited by Christos S. Zerefos and Marianna V. Vardinoyannis, 7185. Oxford: Archaeopress, 2018.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Margariti, Katia. “Funerary Sculpture: Women on Attic Grave Reliefs.” In Handbook of Greek Sculpture, edited by Olga Palagia, 123159. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2019.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Masséglia, Jane. Body Language in Hellenistic Art and Society. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015.

  • Mehl, Andreas. “The Epigraphical Representation of Ptolemaic Personnel and the Position of Hellenistic Salamis among the Cypriot Cities.” In Salamis of Cyprus: History and Archaeology from the Earliest Times to Late Antiquity. Conference in Nicosia, 21–23 May 2015, edited by Sabine Rogge, Christina Ioannou, and Theodoros Mavrojannis, 469489. Münster: Waxmann, 2019.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Moyer, Ian S.Court, Chora, and Culture in Late Ptolemaic Egypt.” American Journal of Philology 132 (2011): 1544.

  • Palagia, Olga. “The Cult Statues of the Ptolemies and the Attalids.” In The Materiality of Hellenistic Ruler Cults, edited by Stefano G. Caneva, 6581. Liège: Presses Universitaires de Liège, 2020.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Pomeroy, Sarah B. Women in Hellenistic Egypt: From Alexander to Cleopatra. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1990.

  • Queyrel, François. “Alexandrinisme et art alexandrin: nouvelles approches.” In Grecs et Romains en Égypte: territoires, espaces de la vie et de la mort, objets de prestige et du quotidien, edited by Pascale Ballet, 235255. BiEtud 157. Cairo: Institut français d’archéologie orientale, 2012.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Queyrel, François. “Le garçon du Cricket et les enfants d’Alexandrie.” In Alexandrina 4. En l’honneur de Mervat Seif el-Din, edited by Jean-Yves Empereur, 131161. EtudAlex 32. Alexandria: Centre d’études alexandrines, 2014.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Queyrel, François. La sculpture hellénistique. Formes, thèmes et fonctions. Paris: Picard, 2016.

  • Queyrel, François. “Statues acrolithes lagides.” In Formate und Funktionen des Porträts / Formats et fonctions du portrait, edited by Dietrich Boschung and François Queyrel, 2136. Morphomata 45. Paderborn: Wilhelm Fink, 2020.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Queyrel, François and Ahmed Abd el-Fattah. “Sculptures de la Bibliotheca Alexandrina.” In Alexandrina 2, edited by Jean-Yves Empereur, 315339. EtudAlex 6. Cairo: Institut français d’archéologie orientale, 2002.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Riedel, Stefan. Die Basileia von Alexandria: Topographisch-urbanistische Untersuchungen zum ptolemäischen Königsviertel. Studies in Classical Archaeology 9. Turnhout: Brepols, 2020.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Savvopoulos, Kyriakos and Robert Steven Bianchi. Alexandrian Sculpture in the Graeco-Roman Museum. Alexandria: Bibliotheca Alexandrina, 2012.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Schentuleit, Maren. “Gender Issues: Women to the Fore.” In A Companion to Greco-Roman and Late Antique Egypt, edited by Katelijn Vandorpe, 347360. Hoboken: Wiley & Sons, 2019.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Schmidt, Stefan. Grabreliefs im Griechisch-Römischen Museum von Alexandria. Berlin: Achet-Verlag, 2003.

  • Schmidt, Stefan. “Kunst am Hof der Ptolemäer—Dokumente und Denkmäler.” Städel-Jahrbuch Neue Folge 19 (2004): 511524.

  • Seif el-Din, Mervat. “Un portrait de prêtresse trouvé à Alexandrie.” In Alexandrina 2, edited by Jean-Yves Empereur, 139147. EtudAlex 6. Cairo: Institut français d’archéologie orientale, 2002.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Siekierka, Przemysław, Krystyna Stebnicka, and Aleksander Wolicki. Women and the Polis: Public Honorific Inscriptions for Women in the Greek Cities from the Late Classical to the Roman Period. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2021.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Smith, Joanna S.Women in the Cities of Cyprus: Rulers and Urban Dwellers from the Late Bronze Age to the Hellenistic Period.” In Women in Antiquity: Real Women across the Ancient World, edited by Stephanie Lynn Budin and Jean MacIntosh Turfa, 416433. London: Routledge, 2016.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Sonnini, C.S. Voyage dans la haute et basse Égypte, fait par ordre de l’ancien gouvernement, et contenant des observations de tous genres, vol. 1. Paris: F. Buisson, 1799.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Stewart, Andrew. “Alexander, Philitas, and the Skeletos: Poseidippos and Truth in Early Hellenistic Portraiture.” In Early Hellenistic Portraiture: Image, Style, Context, edited by Peter Schultz and Ralf von den Hoff, 123138. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Svenson, Dominique. Darstellungen hellenistischer Könige mit Götterattributen. Frankfurt: Peter Lang, 1995.

  • Tezgör, Dominique Kassab. Tanagréennes d’Alexandrie: figurines de terre cuite hellénistiques des nécropoles orientales. Musée gréco-romain d’Alexandrie. EtudAlex 13. Cairo: Institut français d’archéologie orientale, 2007.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Thompson, Dorothy Burr. Ptolemaic Oinochoai and Portraits in Faience: Aspects of the Ruler-Cult. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1973.

  • Wace, Alan J.B., A.H.S. Megaw, and T.C. Skeat. Hermopolis Magna, Ashmunein: The Ptolemaic Sanctuary and the Basilica. Alexandria: Alexandria University Press, 1959.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

Metrics

All Time Past 365 days Past 30 Days
Abstract Views 55 55 7
Full Text Views 5 5 1
PDF Views & Downloads 7 7 2