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Ptolemaic queens in the Egyptian temple reliefs: Inter-cultural reflections of political authority, or religious imperatives?
Martina Minas-Nerpel
In P. Kousoulis and N. Lazaridis (eds.) Proceedings of the Tenth International Congress of Egyptologists, University of the Aegean, Rhodes, 22-29 May 2008. Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta., Volume: 241, Pages: 809 - 821
Swansea University Author: Martina Minas-Nerpel
Abstract
How far was the political authority of the Ptolemaic queens mirrored in Egyptian temples and how did its patterns fit ancient Egyptian religious imperatives? This question is made the more difficult by the difference in character between the Greek evidence (papyri and epigraphic sources) and represe...
| Published in: | In P. Kousoulis and N. Lazaridis (eds.) Proceedings of the Tenth International Congress of Egyptologists, University of the Aegean, Rhodes, 22-29 May 2008. Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta. |
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| Published: |
Leuven/Belgium
Peeters
2015
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| URI: | https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa546 |
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| Abstract: |
How far was the political authority of the Ptolemaic queens mirrored in Egyptian temples and how did its patterns fit ancient Egyptian religious imperatives? This question is made the more difficult by the difference in character between the Greek evidence (papyri and epigraphic sources) and representations in the indigenous temples, where Macedonian and Egyptian cultures interacted in order to adapt to the new political situation. Ptolemaic queens were shown in Egyptian temples accompanying the king in various ritual scenes, as deceased and as living or acting queens. Like Egyptian queens of the dynastic period, they mostly wear traditional Egyptian royal insignia and stand behind the king, generally in a passive role. In the later Ptolemaic period, after the queen had gained some political power, she could be less passive. She could even present specific offerings by herself, as did queen Nefertari in Dynasty 19. A figure of a king always complemented the Ptolemaic queens, in an adjacent ritual scene if not in the same one. The Ptolemies exploited Egyptian conventions and integrated the royal wives, mothers, or daughters into temple decoration. Where necessary, they modified earlier Egyptian traditions, for example when the king was married to two powerful wives at the same time, as is the case with Ptolemy VIII. Some of the requirements and conflicts of the Ptolemaic dynasty were incorporated into the temple reliefs by means of Egyptian metaphors. In this way, not only the figures of the kings but also those of the queens contribute vitally to our understanding of Ptolemaic Egypt. Very few scholars have focused on them so far, and still fewer on their images and titles in indigenous temples. |
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| Keywords: |
Egypt under Ptolemaic rule; ideology of kingship and queenship; royal iconography in the Egyptian temples. |
| College: |
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Start Page: |
809 |
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821 |