Briefly Noted

Portraits of the Ptolemies: Greek Kings as Egyptian Pharaohs

Paul Edmund Stanwick (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2003) 256 PP., $55

The power and wealth of the Greek Ptolemaic dynasty—which ruled Egypt from the death of Alexander in 323 B.C. to the suicide of Cleopatra in 30 B.C.—are apparent in the magnificent royal statues commissioned by Ptolemaic kings. The author of this scholarly text shows how to “read” various sculptural conventions as expressions of ideology. Ptolemaic kings, for example, are depicted with symbols of pharaonic rule (such as double-crown headdresses, which represent Upper and Lower Egypt), while they retain their Greek-style hair and facial features.

Greek Gold from Hellenistic Egypt