Intriguing - thanks! I haven't seen this before, but then again, I've never been to the Cairo Museum. Logic says that some statues of Alexander
might have survived, and hopefully the continued excavations in the harbor of Alexandria and nearby at Heracleion will turn up more of them. Interesting that the museum statue doesn't have any attributes of a god though - I would have thought that any Egyptian depiction of Alexander would be wearing or carrying something that indicated he was a representative of a god on earth. This statue, however, doesn't bear any resemblance to the one in the movie credits which is much "prettier" and is wearing a tall hat or headdress on top of what the site calls the royal Nemset headdress. Unfortunately, the image is cropped at the top and one can't see the full headdress. Anyway, as I said, it's very pretty and for a while I suspected it might be Antinous except that I haven't seen this image credited to him either.
And by the way, if anyone in Europe has a prevailing interest in the Ptolemaic period, the artifacts recovered so far at Heracleion (which may or may not include representations of Alexander) are being shown until September 4 in an exhibition at the Martin-Gropius-Bau, a converted Kaiser-era palace near the former Berlin Wall. After that they will travel to Paris and London before being returned to Egypt. Hmmph GÇô once again those of us in the US are going to miss out!
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0, ... _1,00.html
marcus wrote:
Yes, the shrine in Luxor is sometimes called "Alexander's Sanctuary". I found it interesting, because the shrine is located in a fairly central position, fitting in to the architecture easily. It made me wonder whether the shrine had been there all the time (ie. for 1500 years or so before Alexander arrived) and he just re-dedicated it; or whether he had something else pulled down to make room for *his* shrine. I've never been able to find any information on the Temple that's detailed enough to give that sort of information.
Two seemingly reputable sites give slightly conflicting information:
The Temple Complex of Karnak in Thebes says that the present sanctuary was built by Arrihidaeus on the site of the earlier sanctuary built by Tuthmosis III, and it still contains blocks and inscriptions from the Tuthmosis sanctuary.
The Temple of Luxor says that the Sanctuary of ATG was rebuilt by Alexander who removed the four original columns and built a chapel that opened to the north and south.
And a note here to Athenas Owl: I still haven't found any Ghandharan statues resembling the one in the credits, but I think the following one is worth mentioning.
http://www.pitt.edu/~asian/week-5/2-5-buddha-G.jpg
The lips are so overly sensual that they're almost evil - a most unusual representation of the normally serene Buddha - and although this doesn't bear any real resemblance to Alexander, the large eyes, pronounced forehead, rounded cheeks, straight nose, strong jaw, and hair do make me wonder if the artist was drawing from earlier regional likenesses of Alexander. After all, Alexander came (saw, conquered) and left within such a very short period of time that even the earliest representative works in the area may not have born too close a resemblance to the man himself.
Best regards,
