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EGYPT. Ptolemaic era, circa 280-150 BCE. Bronze inscribed incense altar to Sarapis and Isis....
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Description
Extraordinary Inscribed Hellenistic Altar
EGYPT. Ptolemaic era, circa 280-150 BCE. Bronze inscribed incense altar to Sarapis and Isis. Standing 6.4 inches (15.8 cm) tall, 4.2 inches (10.8 cm) across the base, this votive altar consists of a quadrangular, stepped base, a columnar middle section, and a squared top with four raised, pointed corners, the area within forming an open chamber for offerings. One side is inscribed with incised Greek letters as follows:On left and right triangular cornices: ΣΑΡΑΠΙ - ΙΣΙ
On rectangular architrave: ΑΠΟΛΛΩΝΙΔΗΣ
On cylindrical section: ΣΤΡΑΤΩΝΟΣ / ΣΕΛΕΥΚΕΥΣ / ΑΠΩ ΤΙΓΡΙΟΝ
On base: ΕΥΜΗΝ
Two short feet missing from base, otherwise intact, with original heavy green cuprite patina and mineralized encrustation.
TRANSLATION: The upper inscription is in the dedicatory form: To Sarapis / Isis. The lower inscription: [Dedicated by] Apollonides, son of Straton, from Seleukeia on the Tigris. EYMEN (there may be one or more letters at the end of the inscription covered by heavy patina) could be another proper name (Eumenes), or could be Greek for well-disposed.
See British Museum catalog 1872,0729.4 for an uninscribed altar base of similar design (with quadrangular foot and cylindrical middle section, lacking the four-cornered top), said to be found at Medinet el-Faiyum, Egypt, in 1872.
From the Hadji Baba Museum Collection, Old City Jerusalem. IAA Export Approval #530994.
This fascinating portable altar testifies to the religious syncretism and cosmopolitan nature of the Hellenistic world following conquests of Alexander the Great. Sarapis was a composite Greco-Egyptian deity whose cult was promoted by the Ptolemaic rulers of Egypt to provide a unifying religious force in the realm. Sarapis combined elements of the purely Egyptian god Osiris and the Greek deities Zeus and Hades. Isis, his consort, had much deeper roots in Egyptian theology as the supreme mother goddess, the sister-wife of Osiris and the mother of the hawk-headed Horus. The Greeks created a more Hellenized version of Isis by blending her attributes with those of Demeter and Aphrodite, and pairing her with Sarapis as "King and Queen of Heaven." The dedicatory inscription indicates the altar was commissioned, and perhaps placed in a public temple or shrine, by a certain Apollonides, son of Straton, who was originally from Seleukeia on the Tigris. This magnificent city, whose site now lies in central Iraq, was founded by Seleucus I Nicator circa 305 BCE and became capital of his vast Empire. Seleukeia fell to the Parthians in 141 BCE but remained a highly Hellenized metropolis until its destruction during the Roman-Parthian war of the 160s CE. The nature of the inscription seems to indicate Apollonides no longer resides at Seleukeia, and his adoption of Isis and Sarapis would point to his having found refuge in Ptolemaic Egypt at some point.
Auction Info
2016 November 16 Biblical Archaeology & Related Objects Grand Format Auction #6170 (go to Auction Home page)
Auction Dates
November, 2016
16th
Wednesday
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