{"id":54717,"date":"2025-01-29T04:27:31","date_gmt":"2025-01-29T04:27:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/aerospace\/see-the-haunting-stone-face-of-a-ptolemaic-statue-unearthed-near-the-ancient-egyptian-city-of-alexandria\/"},"modified":"2025-01-29T04:27:31","modified_gmt":"2025-01-29T04:27:31","slug":"see-the-haunting-stone-face-of-a-ptolemaic-statue-unearthed-near-the-ancient-egyptian-city-of-alexandria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=54717","title":{"rendered":"See the Haunting Stone Face of a Ptolemaic Statue Unearthed Near the Ancient Egyptian City of Alexandria"},"content":{"rendered":"


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\n \"Head
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The marble head dates\u00a0to Egypt’s Ptolemaic period (305 to 30 B.C.E.), but it was found\u00a0in a seventh-century C.E. house.
\n Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities<\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As a team of French archaeologists excavated a seventh-century C.E. dwelling at Taposiris Magna<\/a>, an ancient city located around 30 miles west of Alexandria<\/a> along Egypt\u2019s northern coast, they found two cold marble eyes staring back up at them from the sandy ruins.<\/p>\n

Although its nose had been broken off, the statue of a man\u2019s head still showed remarkable detail. His forehead bore wrinkles. Crow\u2019s feet marked the corners of his wide eyes. His veins bulged at the temples. His eyebrows arched up sternly.<\/p>\n

Led by Joachim le Bomin<\/a>, an archaeologist at the University of Lyon and the French Institute for Oriental Archaeology in Cairo, the team determined that the marble head dates back to the Egyptian Ptolemaic period<\/a>, which lasted between 305 and 30 B.C.E., according to a statement<\/a> from the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.<\/p>\n

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\"Head\"

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Double the size\u00a0of a normal human skull, the ancient marble head was likely part of a larger-than-life statue that loomed over a public space or building.<\/p>\n

Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities<\/span><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

That means the head dates back at least seven centuries earlier than the ruins of the medieval house it was found in\u2014a \u201ccaptivating enigma\u201d that\u2019s left the team puzzled, as La Br\u00fajula Verde<\/a><\/em>\u2019s Guillermo Carvajal writes.<\/p>\n

At about 15 inches tall\u2014double the size<\/a> of a normal human skull\u2014the marble head was likely part of a larger-than-life statue that loomed over a public space or building, rather than a private residence, as Mohamed Ismail Khaled<\/a>, the secretary-general of Egypt\u2019s Supreme Council of Antiquities, says in the statement. Its body has not been recovered.<\/p>\n

Mohamed Abdel-Badie, an official at Egypt\u2019s Supreme Council of Antiquities, adds that the statue\u2019s model may have been a prominent public figure or member of the elite, but he likely wasn\u2019t a king, underscoring the importance of Taposiris Magna during the Ptolemaic period.<\/p>\n

The name Taposiris Magna comes from the Egyptian \u201cPer Wsir,\u201d which translates to \u201chouse of Osiris<\/a>,\u201d the Egyptian god of both fertility and death. The city and temple were established by the pharaoh Ptolemy II Philadelphus<\/a> between 280 and 270 B.C.E. in honor of the god.<\/p>\n

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\"Dig

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Dating to the Ptolemaic period, Taposiris Magna is a rich archaeological site on Egypt’s northern coast.<\/p>\n

Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities<\/span><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In more recent years, the site has also generated suspicions<\/a> that the ill-fated<\/a> lovers Mark Antony<\/a>, a Roman politician and general, and\u00a0Cleopatra VII<\/a>, the last ruler of the Ptolemaic dynasty, were entombed nearby after their suicides<\/a> in 30 B.C.E.<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, Kathleen Martinez<\/a>, a criminal lawyer turned archaeologist who has been digging for Cleopatra\u2019s tomb at the site since 2005, unearthed a small white marble bust that she thinks depicts the last Egyptian queen, infamous for her \u201cromantic and strategic relationships\u201d with Roman leaders Julius Caesar and Antony, as Smithsonian <\/em>magazine<\/a>\u2019s Julia Binswanger wrote.<\/p>\n

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\"Maybe

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Archaeologists debate whether this bust found at Taposiris Magna truly depicts Cleopatra.<\/p>\n

Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities<\/span><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But not all archaeologists agreed with Martinez\u2019s claim that the bust depicted Cleopatra.<\/p>\n

Zahi Hawass<\/a>, a former Egyptian minister of tourism and antiquities who wasn\u2019t involved with the dig, told Live Science<\/em><\/a>\u2019s Owen Jarus that the statue may date to a period after the queen\u2019s death. \u201cI looked at the bust carefully. It is not Cleopatra at all; it is Roman,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Although Martinez hasn\u2019t found Cleopatra’s tomb yet, her other incidental discoveries attest to the richness of the ancient city and temple. In 2022, for instance, Martinez and her team at the University of Santo Domingo discovered<\/a> a 6.5-foot-tall, 4,300-foot-long tunnel some 40 feet beneath the temple while searching for the tomb.<\/p>\n