Alexander and the Greeks in Egypt
More than Trade and Sex
By Debbie Challis
1
Mycenean IIIB1 stirrup
vase (UC16631)
2
Fragment of red-figure
pottery (UC19358)
9
11
2b
Statuette from Naukratis
(UC1649)
8
7
3
Scales from Persian
body armour (UC74787)
2
6
4
Alexander terracotta
head (UC49881)
3
5
Alexander as Heracles,
plaster cast of cameo
from a ring (UC2458)
1
6
Two-handled drinking
cup (UC19372)
7
Ostracon list in demotic
(UC71101)
8
Gorgon terracotta
medallion (UC48468)
10
9
Cartonnage mask
(UC45850)
2b
5
4
12
10
Handle of lamp showing
Serapis (UC54426)
11
Terracotta figures
(UC35954, UC75914,
UC35953).
12
Ptolemaic display case.
Introduction
[. . .] shouted acclamations
in Greek, and Egyptian, and some in Hebrew,
charmed by the lovely spectacle—
though they knew of course what all this was worth,
what empty words they really were, these kingships.
C. P. Cavafy, Alexandrian Kings
(C.P. Cavafy, Collected Poems. Translated by Edmund Keeley and Philip Sherrard.
Edited by George Savidis. Revised Edition. Princeton University Press, 1992)
Alexandria in Egypt was created and named by Alexander the Great,
King of Macedon and ruler of the Greek world. One of many
Alexandrias established by Alexander and scattered across the
known world in the fourth century BC, its fame still resonates. The
Greek poet and twentieth-century Alexandrian C. P. Cavafy captured
the echoes of the past in the city in his poem ‘Alexandrian Kings’.
It has become a cliché that history is written by the victors. As with all
clichés this is both true and trite; victors try to write the history. It is no
accident that Alexander the Great was accompanied on his travels
and wars by an, at first, tame historian Kallisthenes, whose work is
lost but informed the later historians Polybius and Plutarch. Once
Ptolemy I Soter became ruler of Egypt after Alexander's death, he
wrote his own history of Alexander and the Macedonian conquests.
Ptolemy then commissioned Manetho, a native Egyptian, to write a
history of Egypt from the first dynasty to the time of Alexander's
conquest in 332 BC. Again this work is lost, but informed the work of
the Romano-Jewish historian Josephus who wrote in the 1st Century
AD. Alexander could not control the dissemination of his history, but
his name and exploits are renowned to this day.
On the left; a
contemporary statue of
Alexander the Great in
Alexander Square, Nea
Pella. A modern town
next to the ancient
palace and city of Pella,
the capital of the
kingdom of Macedon.
On the right; part of an
image of a hunting
scene from a pebble
mosaic in a house in
Pella, birthplace of
Alexander the Great.
The image is sometimes
identified as Alexander
the Great.
Page 2 of 12
The wresting of Egypt from Persian control by Alexander transformed
the relationship between the Egyptians and Hellenic peoples,
particularly the Macedonians. Previously Greeks just had a trading
colony in Egypt. In 332 BC they suddenly became colonists in a
country thousands of years older than their own city states and lands.
The Macedonian Greek rulers from 323-30 BC were known as the
Ptolemies, after Alexander's general and next ruler of Egypt Ptolemy
I Soter.
The Ptolemaic period has been regarded as decadent and, beyond a
few writers and scientists from Alexandria, worthy of little comment.
An attitude reflected in the 1980s BBC television series The
Cleopatras, which depicted the Ptolemies as murderous and sexobsessed (despite this, the series was a flop!). Exhibitions in
Amsterdam (Allard Pierson and Hermitage), in Madrid and Oxford
(Ashmolean Museum) in 2011 have reappraised the history of the
Macedonian Kingdom, Alexander the Great and his legacy, reflecting
more nuanced recent scholarship and interest in this area.
Written evidence, letters on papyrus for example, and visual culture
show incomplete but compelling stories of the impact of historical
events on peoples, both Greek and Egyptian, rather than formal
histories. This trail concentrates on objects in the Petrie Museum that
highlight parts of the long relationship between Egypt, Egyptians and
their Hellenic neighbours, and Alexander the Great himself.
The images in this trail are either of objects in the collection not
normally on display in the museum or from relevant external sources.
Greeks in Egypt before Alexander
1 Mycenean IIIB1 stirrup vase of pottery found at Gurob.
UC16631. Period: Late Dynasty 18 (1550-1295BC).
Connections with the Bronze Age Greeks from Mycene have been
found through pottery and other products in Egypt. Fragments of
Mycenean pottery were found at the palace site of Gurob, where
foreign princesses who married into the Egyptian royal family
resided. 'IIIB1' is an archaeological term used to refer to different
periods of Mycenaean history.
2 A fragment of red figure attic ware pottery found at Naukratis.
UC19358. Period: Early Fifth Century BC.
Pottery Room Display Case PC34.
Black polished Attic-ware pottery sherd with laurel crowned head.
Page 3 of 12
Naukratis was the only Greek colony in Egypt, founded under the
26th Dynasty (664-525 BC) and acted as a trading post for the
Greeks in Egypt. There are many references to it in antiquity. The
Greek historian Herodotus refered to the town, mentioning that the
brother of the Greek poetess Sappho lived there and fell in love with
a courtesan. Petrie excavated the site in 1884-5.
See also 2b. Figurine in Case IC19, UC16469. This statuette shows
an 'archaic' style Greek statuette heavily influenced by Egyptian
sculpture and wearing an Egyptian type loincloth. Compare this to
some sculptures from the same period - these archaic sculptures
from Delphi in Greece.
Koros from the late
Sixth Century inDelphi
Museum, Greece.
3 Scales from Persian body armour.
UC74787. Dynasty 27 or First Persian period (525–404BC).
In Pottery Room, Display Case PC34.
Two thousand iron scales from body armour, found by Petrie in a
room by the court at the Palace of Apries at Memphis and dated by
him to the Achaemenid Period; other parts of the same find were
distributed to twelve other collections.
At the time when the Greek historian Herodotus visited in the fifth
century BC and when Alexander the Great conquered Egypt over
one hundred years later, the country was ruled by the Persians as
part of their huge empire.
Page 4 of 12
The Persians ruled in Egypt in two periods: 525-404 BC and 341-33
2BC. The Persians were unpopular rulers. Herodotus reports the
story of King Kambyses murdering the sacred Apis bull at Memphis.
However, this story has been discounted by some scholars and the
unpopularity was probably as much to do with brutality, high taxation
and the disregard for the ‘priest-class’ of Egypt as well as religious
differences.
There had been uprisings against the Persians across the Empire
from 420 BC onwards and in 404 BC Egypt regained independence
and retained it for 60 years. The Persian king Artaxerxes III restored
Egypt to the Empire, but Alexander the Great knew that the people of
Egypt were dissatisfied with Persian rule and likely to back his army
against the Persian King Darius III in 332BC.
UC16136. A blue and
white faience Persian
tile found at Koptos and
dating from Dynasty 27
or the first period of
Persian rule (525-404
BC). Not on display.
The Persians had their
own distinctive style.
The human headed
sphinx on this faience
tile was a popular motif
in monumental art and
often the head depicted
the Persian king.
Alexander the Great
Alexander the Great of Macedonia invaded and conquered Egypt in
332 BC and paid homage to the Egyptian gods at Heliopolis and at
Memphis, where he sacrificed to the Apis bull and held gymnastic
games. Through this sacrifice and games, he laid claim to the title of
Pharoah at Memphis (Thompson 1988, 106) and it is there that
Macedonian Greek rule and the satrap Kelomenes was first based,
despite the establishment of Alexandria in the north. After his death,
his friend and companion Ptolemy stole Alexander’s body and buried
him at Memphis in 332 BC.
4 Terracotta head possibly of Alexander the Great.
UC49881. Ptolemaic Period (323 – 30BC)
Main Room Display Case IC19 (at end of Stonework: Inscriptions
and Stonework Statuary).
Page 5 of 12
Fragment of a hollow man-made terracotta, manufactured in two
halves, the back is unmodelled. The subject is an identical portrait
type with shoulder length, wavy hair and possibly represents
Alexander the Great.
It is not definite that this terracotta head depicts Alexander. Although
the leonine hair, the eyes slightly heavenward, inclined neck, the soft
features and smooth chin are all key features of portraits of
Alexander the Great. Greek portraiture was both idealising and
realistic and, similarly to Egyptian portraiture, certain features were
emphasised to express permanent values (Stewart 1993, 66).
Alexander is always presented as an athletic and youthful man. This
image is based on one made by the Greek sculptor Lysippos in
Alexander’s lifetime. Lysippos is thought to have crafted Alexander’s
physical faults, a dropping neck for example, and unusual choices
about being clean shaven, unusual for a Greek man beyond his mid
20s, into an identifiable and charismatic portrait.
On the left a portrait of
Alexander found at his
birth place Pella in
Macedonia, Greece.
On the right a relief of
Alexander as Pharaoh
at Luxor.
Statuettes meant that sculptures could be copied and reach a ‘mass’
audience. Most of the statuettes of Alexander come from Egypt, but
we do not know their function. Stewart suggests that they may have
been used in private cults, emulating the official cults set up by the
Ptolemies after Alexander’s death. Or they may have been tourist
souvenirs or military talismans (Stewart 1993, 45).
5 Alexander as Heracles, plaster cast of relief from sard ring.
UC31942. Ptolemaic Period?In Display Case IC19 (see above).
Gems and cameos were another form of portraiture; showing profiles
similar to those used on coins. Wealthy people may have them on
rings or as amulets and as this tiny cast illustrates, the original is now
lost, the ring had intricate and skillful modelling.
Page 6 of 12
Alexander is shown wearing a lion skin in the style of Heracles, the
legendary ancestor of the Macedonian royal family. This image
symbolises more than dynastic power. Alexander is depicted as a
semi-divine hero who became immortal; the inference is that
Alexander shares the story of Heracles, not just his genes.
Another depiction of Alexander on coins and medals was with rams’
horns as Zeus Ammon. Alexander visited the oracle of the hybrid god
Zeus Ammon at Siwah in the western deserts of Egypt shortly before
his final major battle with the Persians and his journey into the
Eastern fringes of the Persian Empire and beyond. From this point
Alexander claimed a close relationship with the god, bordering on
declaring himself semi-divine.
On the left is a medal of
Alexander the Great
with the rams horns as
Zeus Ammon on
display in the Art
Institute, Chicago.
On the right is a
modern depiction of
Alexander as Zeus
Ammon in a water
fountain at Nea Pella,
Greece, near the site
where he was born.
How Greek were the Macedonians?
Just how Greek the Macedonians were at the time of Alexander and
before is a complex and controversial question. Many Greeks in the
Fifth and Fourth Centuries BC did not consider the Macedonians to
be truly Greek, due to cultural differences; for example not watering
down wine, different dialects and political reasons. The ostentatious
and glittering goods in the royal tombs of Vergina, seem to have
more in common with Tutankhamen than the tombstones or
cemetery urns of the Athenians.
However, much of the ancient Greek attitude towards the
Macedonians is derived from unfriendly speeches given by politicians
in Athens, such as Demosthenes. The Heracles to Alexander
exhibition at the Ashmolean in Oxford in 2011 explored how much the
Macedonian Kingdom was influenced by their southern Hellenic
neighboursin the centuries before Phillip II and Alexander in the
Fourth century BC.
Page 7 of 12
Alexander certainly considered himself to be Greek and had been
taught by leading Greek philosophers and historians, including
Aristotle at Mieza from 343 BC. He was known to carry a copy of the
Iliad annotated by Aristotle. Alexander emulated the Homeric ideal
and cast himself in the role of Achilles, not least in his relationship
with his boyhood friend, lover and partner Hephaestion. Alexander
framed his military campaign against the Persians as one of revenge
for their invasion of Greece over one hundred years earlier and a
cultural campaign of hellenisation.
Today, there is a northern province or region called Macedonia within
the modern state of Greece and a country known as the Former
Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, just to the north of this region of
Greece. What constitutes Greece and Macedonia, and vice versa, is
a live political issue not entirely resolved to this day.
A cult depiction of
Alexander’s companion
Hephaestion. When
Hephaestion died,
Alexander asked the
oracle at Siwah whether
he should worshipped
as a god or cult hero.
The oracle answered a
hero and a cult was
established.
Here Hephaestion
receives wine from a
young girl on a stele
from Pella, capital city of
Macedonia. The
inscription reads
‘Diogenes to
Hephaeston the hero’.
Cultural Changes: Life and Death
6 Two handled drinking cup.
UC19372.Ptolemaic Period (323-30BC)
In Pottery Room Display Case PC34.
The shape of this cup is Greek in style.
After Alexander died on 10/11 June 323 BC, his empire was split with
much bloodshed and acrimony between his Companions (elite group
of friends and military commanders). Ptolemy I Soter took control of
Egypt and Alexander’s body; bringing the dead ‘pharaoh’ to Memphis
as a sign of his legitimate claim to the throne. Ptolemy later
transferred Alexander’s body from Memphis to his capital Alexandria
in 306 BC.
Page 8 of 12
The life of the Macedonian Greeks amongst the Egyptians was at
first separate and there was a conscious preservation of cultural
identity and social status among the colonial elite.
7 Pottery ostracon (or sherds of pottery) listing names of
individuals and the quantities of materials issued to them
UC71101. Ptolemaic period.
Pottery Room Display Case PC35
This ostracon is in demotic – a cursive version of the Egyptian
language from the Greek word meaning ‘popular’ (demotikos). The
Greek language was the main language of colonial power and
administration in Macedonian ruled Egypt. Famously, Cleopatra VII,
the last pharaoh, was the only Greek ruler to speak Egyptian.
Fragments of letters and official documents on papyrus illustrate a
gradual assimilation of Greek with Egyptian culture, though the
aristocracy always preserved some cultural and linguistic distance.
8 Terracota medallion in shape of a Gorgon face.
Found at Memphis and from the Ptolemaic period (305-30BC).
Pottery Room Display Case PC 35
Terracotta medallion of a gorgon head; there are traces of white paint
on the surface. The facial features are sharply moulded and the hair
wavy with two entwined snakes at the top. Medusa heads were
popular evil averting devices in antiquity.
This medallion in the form of a gorgon, a woman with snakes for hair,
is likely to be from a coffin case. It is very similar to a gold medallion
of Medusa found in a tomb, likely to have been that of Philip II
(Alexander’s father), in Vergina (Aegae). The Gorgon has links to the
myths around Heracles and thus to the Macedonian royal family.
9 Cartonnage mask of papyrus base
UC45850 Ptolemaic period
Main Room Coffin Cases.
One of the greatest differences between the Greeks and Egyptians
was their attitude towards the treatment of the body after death.
The Egyptians believed in preserving the body through
mummification and retaining the identity of the person so that they
could enter the afterlife. The Greeks had a tradition of cremating their
dead, though personal identity could be maintained on stelai or other
markers. Urns containing ashes of bodies have been found in Egypt
but gradually Greek occupiers also practiced mummification and
buried the remains in a similar way to the Egyptians, as this
cartonnage mask illustrates.
Page 9 of 12
Difference or Assimilation?
Ptolemy I ruled Egypt and parts of eastern Libya after Alexander’s
death when a settlement was made between Alexander’s former
allies and commanders at Triparadeisos. Alexander’s empire had
been divided unofficially into separate regions – Egypt, Macedon,
‘Asia’ (Asia Minor and the old Persian centre) and India.
Ptolemy published his own history of the conquests in 320 BC, which
stressed his closeness to Alexander (Stewart 1993, 229) and
established the cult of Alexander in Egypt, particularly at Alexandria.
The removal of Alexander’s body to Egypt and from Memphis to
Alexandria was also used by Ptolemy to show that he was the true
heir within Egypt.
Silver Tetradrachm
showing the head of
Ptolemy I Soter
(UC39202) .
Ptolemy had the satrap of Egypt, Kleomenes, assassinated. There
was a fiscal crisis in 321-20 BC, prompted in part by this
assassination and Kleomenes’ extortion while in power. Ptolemy put
in a massive outlay of money to get currency produced. This coin
was produced posthumously, but is likely to indicate the use of silver
tetrachmins to pay Greek mercenaries as it is Athenian in type but
minted in Egypt (Lewis 2001, 21).
10 Loop handle of a lamp showing a bust of Serapis
UC54426. Roman Period
Room IC19 (Inscriptions Cases/Ptolemaic Display)
Page 10 of 12
The cult of Serapis was a Greek adaptation of an old Egyptian cult,
combining the bull cult of Apis with the Greek gods Zeus and
Dionysos (two gods also important in Macedonia and traditionally the
ancestors of Ptolemy’s family). Serapis was a healing god, god of the
underworld and greatest of the gods. Ptolemy I established this cult
to fuse Greek and Egyptian religious practice and combine elements
of religion popular with the Egyptians and those of the growing Greek
population in Egypt.
The image of Serapis was similar to Zeus and often, as on this lamp,
wore a modius, or measure of grain, decorated with a relief of olive
trees.The centre of the cult was the Sarapeion in Memphis, which
has been described as the centre for a life between two worlds:
Greek and Egyptian (Thompson 1988, 213).
Although the focus on the cult was in Egypt, the increased traffic of
people and goods between Greece and Egypt meant that other sites
dedicated to the god have been found across the Hellenic world. For
example, the sacred site of Dion, at the foot of Mount Olympos, and
Phillippoi, a major city in Macedonia, have shrines to and depictions
of Serapis as well as of Isis and other Egyptian gods and cults. The
cult continued in popularity during the Roman period and meant that
cult images were spread across the empire, even into Britain.
11 Daily life or religious votives?
Limestone figures UC35954, UC75914 and a terracotta 35953.
Main Room, Case WEC8, next to the Object by Site: Hawara Case.
UC35954: Limestone group composition of four figures consisting of
male figure with sidelock and pleated garment, head on pillow, and
lying on his back. On top of him a nude female figure, whose face,
now broken, in front view. At their feet a second male figure kneeling.
On reverse side, rectangular box supports left knee of woman, and to
left fourth figure of child with sidelock.
UC75914: Limestone figurine of naked woman, short hairstyle,
phallus tip visible towards vagina; remnants of pigment.
UC35953: Red terracotta plaque - male figure to left; female figure to
right with face in three-quarter view, nestling on his lap. She nurses
child standing on her left knee
These various figures may depict daily life and the traditions of
depicting every day scenes, including erotic ones, in Greek art and
crafts, such as those found on Greek vases from the Fifth and Fourth
Centuries BC. They may have been used as decorative objects in the
home. They probably also have a religious significance and may
have been used as votive offerings (Bailey 2008, 142 and 134).
Page 11 of 12
Sexual mores, or at least the depiction of them, changed in Greek
controlled Egypt. Dominic Montserrat has pointed out that a new
body culture and representation of the body (particularly the naked
body, both male and female) was established in Egypt under the
Ptolemies. Sexual behaviour was a result of individual choice as well
as established cultural practice (Montserrat 1996, 18).
The Greeks, and then the Romans, depicted sexual activity in a frank
manner. However, this does not mean that they did not have codes
about sex. The potential use of these objects in religious rituals or as
votives may be hard to comprehend. Sexual acts between people
may not change much over 2,000 years, but cultural attitudes and
representations always do!
12 Various figures and objects from Ptolemaic Egypt
Return to the IC19, the case at the end of the Stonework: Inscriptions
and Stonework: Statuary aisle. This display was put together by
Sally-Ann Ashton to illustrate important figures and styles from
Ptolemaic Egypt (Fitzwilliam, Cambridge). Alexander the Great and
his political successor Ptolemy I were the beginning of over 300
years of Greek Macedonian rule in Egypt; rule that had an impact on
Greece as well as on the people and culture of Egypt.
Bibliography
Allard Pierson Museum, Amsterdam (2010), Alexander the Great – Greeks in Egypt.
Exhibition Catalogue.
Ashmolean Museum, Oxford (2011), Heracles to Alexander the Great. Treasures
from the Royal Capital of Macedon. A Hellenic Kingdom in the Age of Democracy.
Donald M. Bailey (2008), Catalogue of Terracottas in the British Museum. Volume
IV. Ptolemaic and Roman Terracottas from Egypt
John Boardman (1980), The Greeks Overseas. Their Early Colonies and Trade
Paul Cartledge (2004), Alexander the Great. The Hunt for a New Past.
Robin Lane Fox, (2004 repr.), Alexander the Great
N. G. L. Hammond (1989), The Macedonian State: Origins, Institutions and History
Tom Holland (2005), Persian Fire. The First World Empire and the Battle for the
West
Hermitage Museum (2010), The Immortal Alexander the Great. The myth, the
reality, his journey, his legacy. Exhibition Catalogue.
Naphtali Lewis (2001), Greeks in Ptolemaic Egypt. Case Studies in the Social
History of the Hellenic World
Dominic Montserrat (1996), Sex and Society in Graeco-Roman Egypt.
Claude Mossé (2001), Alexander. Destiny and Myth
Andrew Stewart (1993), Faces of Power. Alexander’s Image and Hellenistic Politics
Dorothy J. Thompson (1988), Memphis under the Ptolemies
Julia Vokotopoulou (ed.) (1993), Greek Civilization. Macedonia Kingdom of
Alexander the Great
Michael Wood (2004), In the Footsteps of Alexander the Great. A Journey from
Greece to India
Thanks to my own intrepid companions in Macedonia during January 2011 and John J.
Johnston and Carolyn Perry for their help.
Page 12 of 12