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A Token of Personal Religion brought to Cyrene c. 525 BC

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 March 2015

G. R. H. Wright
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Abstract

This paper reconsiders a scarab seal inscribed in the Cypriote syllabary and acquired at Cyrene in the mid-nineteenth century by the French consul Vattier de Bourville. The circumstances and period of its acquisition rule out the possibility of forgery, and the scarab is stylistically datable to the late sixth century BC. The flight of Queen Pheretima to Cyprus, and her subsequent return to Cyrene, are suggested as a possible context in which the seal may have arrived at Cyrene—perhaps as a token of personal religion of the queen herself. The seal shows Bes as Master of the Animals, reflecting a fusion of Levantine and Egyptian influences in Cypriote iconography.

Type
Articles
Information
Libyan Studies , Volume 33 , 2002 , pp. 21 - 28
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Libyan Studies 2002

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