Relief of Ptolemy II Philadelphos Ptolemaic PeriodBehbeit el Higra, Egypt

Description

Object Label: Although the Ptolemaic Period ushered in a long period of foreign rule, the Macedonian kings of that dynasty did not interfere with the Egyptian artistic traditions of the preceding three milennia. Ptolemy II Philadelphos, like his father Ptolemy I Soter, the founder of the dynasty, continued the practice of building and decorating temples in traditional Egyptian fashion. While this is not to say that the Macedonian rulers did not have Greek artists portray them according to Greek artistic conventions, here the Greek ruler is shown in a purely Egyptian guise, wearing the traditional nemes-headdress of the pharaoh. The style of the relief, including the deeply cut navel, the horizontal treatment of the torso muscles, the "golf ball" chin, and the upturned smile, is common in representations from Dynasties XXIX and XXX (circa 399–342 B.C.) and was readily adopted by the Ptolemies into their iconographic program. Visible behind the king is the figure of a goddess in another scene. Caption: Relief of Ptolemy II Philadelphos, 285 or 282–246 B.C.E.. Granite, 27 × 23 1/2 × 2 5/8 in. (68.6 × 59.7 × 6.7 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 72.127. (Photo: Brooklyn Museum)