Egyptian relief

[pam]

I seem to recall seeing a picture of an Egytian relief depicting Alexander as Pharaoh. Is this just my imagination? I can't seem to find it anywhere now. Thanks for the help. Pam

[amyntoros]

Jona has the picture on his website - I went there and copied the URL below. However, when checking the URL, which I always do before posting, I keep getting redirected to some completely unrelated page. Don't know if it is gremlins in my computer (most likely) or gremlins at Jona's site. The other photograph is from webshots.com - the image is pretty poor, however, if you click on "view full size" there is more detail to be seen.http://livius.org/aj-al/%20alexander/alexander08.html http://community.webshots.com/photo/236 ... KtepHABest regards,Amyntoros

[marcus]

I have a photo of the relief, although it's not a very good photo (at all - very poor light).Within the Temple of Luxor is a 'barque shrine', a sort of inner sanctum, which was dedicated to Alexander, and shows him as pharaoh, being presented to the god Min (I think, if I recall correctly).I believe that Alexander appears on the wall of the temple of Karnak, about a kilometre up the road, although I never saw that myself. There is also, I believe, a relief of Arrhidaeus at Karnak.All the bestMarcus

[amyntoros]

Ah, so there's *another" relief of Alexander as Pharaoh, this time at Karnak!-á That might explain why I've found two different images on Webshots. -á The one I previously posted is the same relief as Jona's photograph taken in the Luxor temple. -á However, there's this one as well, but it doesn't say where it was taken.http://community.webshots.com/photo/430 ... 2RYzGYKThe problem with using Webshots is that these are basically people's holiday photographs and they are not obliged to give details or authenticate information. -á That's why I've always ignored this particular photograph as I've never seen anything else on the web that supports this being an image of Alexander. -á Could it possibly be the carving in the temple at Karnak?Best regards,Amyntoros

[marcus]

I reckon that must be the Karnak one ... unless Alexander pops up elsewhere in Egypt, too (there are other Alexandrine dedications, usually way off the tourist paths). That one definitely isn't the Luxor Temple one (it's clearly in the open air, for starters).Having said that, I want to have another look at it, because I didn't immediately recognise any of the cartouches as Alexander's. I shall need to get out my own pics and do a comparison ...ATBMarcus

[ScottOden]

The pic shows Amun (far left) watching as Horus (or Re-Horakty) bestows life and prosperity on the King (not, as the caption suggests, giving him the key of life). The cartouche above the king is too damaged to make it out; there's another cartouche to the left of Amun; I can't make out the whole name, but the upper two characters seem to be 'maat-ra'. You can tell by the depth and general poor quality of the hieroglyphs that it's at least a Late Period carving (664 - 332 BC), so it very well could be Alexander-as-Pharaoh.Scott Oden (who is glad he could finally use those books on hieroglyphs)

[amyntoros]

Thanks Scott! It's good to know that it *may* be Alexander after all, especially as it's been one of the photos in my Alexander screensaver for at least a year. I always wondered if the person who took the photograph might have been misinformed (like all the people who have bought busts of Alexander on Ebay that are actually of Apollo!).Best regards,Amyntoros

[marcus]

Cool. Thanks, Scott. I shall have a proper look at the picture this weekend, re the cartouches (I had, of course, identified Horus).ATBMarcus