Imagine walking through a bustling ancient city in the Faiyum, and you see this plaque mounted on a wall. What story does it tell?
This isn't just a rock with writing. It's a personal dedication from a citizen to their divine rulers, King Ptolemy VI and Queen Cleopatra II, calling them "the Mother-loving Gods."
This piece of stone connected an ordinary person to the cosmos, showing their loyalty to a royal family they worshipped as deities.
It's a tangible link to a time when Hellenistic Greece ruled Egypt, and culture, power, and religion were one and the same. Every mark on this stone tells a tale of devotion, power, and a world long past.
The stone plaque is a Hellenistic artifact from Ptolemaic Egypt, dating to the mid-2nd century BC.
It is a votive dedication commissioned by a private individual or family to honor King Ptolemy VI Philometor and his sister-wife, Queen Cleopatra II, reinforcing their divine status as "Mother-loving Gods.
This dedication dates from the Hellenistic period and probably comes from the Fayum region.
It must have appeared on a now-disappeared monument or altar offered by the sisters Asteria and Timarion to the the cat-goddess of Bubastis in the Eastern Delta, protector of pregnant women and children.
The two sisters were the daughters of a high-ranking official and provincial governor. Another document attests that Asteria had held the prestigious annual position of priestess of the dynastic cult a few years earlier.
📍: Found in the Faiyum area of Egypt.
What do you think was the story of the person who commissioned this? Share your thoughts below! 👇
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