Leiden University Student Repository

Water, Anouk van de (2016)

The Imperial Statues of Roman Egypt: Is there a connection between their style, placement and function?

Master thesis | Classics and Ancient Civilizations (MA)

The main focal point of this thesis are the imperial statues of Roman Egypt. Two distinct styles can be recognized in the sculptures: a traditional Egyptian style and a classical Roman style. The research question is dual: Are the stylistic differences of imperial statues from Egypt related to differences in provenance? And does a connection between style and function of imperial statues exist? After giving a general introduction to Roman Egypt and the changes that Roman rule brought forth on a political and military level, a corpus of 37 statues is discussed. The characteristics of each statue are described, with special attention to their provenance. In the fourth chapter contemporary archaeological and written sources are treated, as well as existing theories on the placement and functions of imperial statues. Afterwards the research results are presented and a clear conclusion is drawn.

Roman

Egypt

Imperial

Statues

Art

Emperor

Egyptian

Cult

Author

Water, Anouk van de

Faculty

Faculty of Humanities

Specialisation

Egyptology

Supervisors

Kaper, O.E.
Vliet, J. van der

ECTS Credits

20

Language

en