Un ritratto di tradizione tolemaica da Leptis Magna
Author: Luca Bianchi
In: Archeologia Classica: 58, 2007
Permalink: http://digital.casalini.it/2996191
In: Archeologia Classica: 58, 2007
Permalink: http://digital.casalini.it/2996191
A fine portrait from Leptis Magna has distinguishing Hellenistic flavour, reminiscent of late Ptolemaic royal portraits in the style of image and features: it is akin to those of the "Physkon" type (i.e. of Ptolemy VIII Euergetes, and possibly of his son Ptolemy X Alexander). It is hard to explain why such an unusual pattern was chosen, no doubt consciously, by a citizen of Leptis Magna in the Augustan age (the treatment of the hair points to this period). As the technical devices show, the piece was carved by an immigrant from Cyrenaica, following the Alexandrian sculptural tradition; but the workshop also produced civic portraits in the late republican style, more in keeping with the trends of the time.