Temple Relief of Queen Arsinoe II

After the death of Alexander of Macedon, who conquered Egypt in 332 BCE, control of the country fell to one his generals, Ptolemy, who established the Ptolemaic dynasty. Alexandria, Egypt’s newly founded city, became an important intellectual center. Its arts followed Greek concepts, while architecture and sculpture elsewhere in the country largely adhered to established Egyptian norms. Accordingly, the visual representation of Egypt’s Macedonian rulers includes both Greek-style royal images and traditional images of the pharaoh. On this relief fragment from a temple, the deified Queen Arsinoë II (c. 316–270 BCE), sister and wife of King Ptolemy II (r. 283/282– 246 BCE), wears a vulture headdress and a headgear consisting of the red crown of Lower Egypt and divine attributes, such as ram and bovine horns and a sun disk. Conception and style of the relief are entirely Egyptian, but Arsinoë’s profile resembles that of her Greek portrait on coins.