By Dr Maria Nilsson
QUEEN Arsinoë II Philadelphos has been a topic of scholarly discussion for many generations, primarily focusing on her socio-political role as the wife of Ptolemy II. The academic world is divided as one part argues for and the other against a prominent
role. In the recent doctoral thesis, The crown of Arsinoë II: the creation and development of an imagery of authority, one of the focal points concerned this discussion, and based on primarily a pictorial analysis of Ptolemaic reliefs, Arsinoë’s political role was suggested as Ptolemy’s co-regent, more exactly as the female king of Lower Egypt.
Among the 36 preserved relief scenes depicting the queen, six identify Arsinoë with the male royal title nswbit; bit (tAwy), King of Upper and Lower Egypt, alternatively King of Lower Egypt. While this title has been acknowledged previously, it has been
dismissed and instead suggested to be an honorary title given to the queen after her death based on the traditional dating of the relief scenes. However, based on the new analytical approach toward the material, using the pictorial reference as a comparison with the hieroglyphic titles, the thesis suggests that at least two of the six scenes can be redated to Arsinoë’s lifetime, thus placing the queen as a ruling pharaoh during her lifetime.
The first scene, divided into three fragments, today can be found in the Archaeological Institute of the University of Trier in Germany. It shows Arsinoë as an active benefactor, standing on the left side of the scene, presenting offerings to an unknown
deity suggestively placed on a podium in front of and facing the queen. The queen wears a characteristic crown that was created exclusively for her: a symbolic combination of the red crown of Lower Egypt, ram horns, a tall double feather plume, cow horns and a solar disc, all resting on top of the traditional queenly headdress of a vulture cap and a tripartite wig. While her figure is only partially preserved, the fragments show that she wore an elaborated (folded) sheath dress and traditional sandals on her feet.
with the local deities of Athribis. Photo by Ove Kaneberg.
The very fragmentary image of the deity, to which she presents offerings, is crowned with a crescent and a lunar disc (alternatively cow horns and a solar disc) according to previous scholars linking the figure to Thoth or Khonsu. Suggestively, such crown could also connect with the Apis bull. The bull is generally depicted with shorter bovine horns, smoothly following the outlines of a solar disc. An identification with Apis would not be farfetched, as Arsinoë occasionally is textually described as “Mother of Hep (Hep =Apis)”.
There are no indications in this somewhat fragmentary relief that Arsinoë was accompanied by her husband-brother who, in accordance with the Egyptian principles, should have been placed in front of his sister-wife. Thus, Arsinoë is depicted as a singular benefactor and, as such, she represents the royal house, while upholding her religious responsibility as a living queen.
Her hieroglyphic titles, with a shorter Greek text, describe her as “Great of Sweetness, Great of Praise, King’s daughter, King’s wife, Great daughter, King’s sister, (the king) who loves her and she loves him, King’s great wife, King of Upper and Lower
Egypt, (Arsinoë Philadelphos), the Rightful”. These are all titles of a living person, and allude to the Hathoric erotic nature of queenship, the royal legitimacy, and most importantly include the male kingship title “King of Upper and Lower Egypt” followed by “the Rightful”. Not only does the scene show a living queen actively performing her religious duties in sacrificing to a deity, she is also described with royal titles that establish her as a female pharaoh. The Greek text adds another clue to the historical position of the queen, as it describes her as “Arsinoë the Divine brother-lover (Philadelphos)”.
Such a title suggests that Arsinoë indeed was deified in her own right already during her lifetime. The second scene, which has been re-dated, is depicted on an architrave today located in the Mediterranean Museum in Stockholm, Sweden. The scene is divided in two sections, each one showing the ruling royal couple Ptolemy II and Arsinoë with the local deities of Athribis. Again, Arsinoë is placed as an active benefactor, this time performing the religious (Hathoric) ceremony of rattling two sistra (the naos type on the left side and the looped type on the right). In contrast to the previous scene, these two relief sections show Arsinoë standing in a traditional queenly position behind her ruling husband who, on both occasions, presents the
ceremonial collar. Again, Arsinoë wears an elaborated sheath dress, sandals on her feet, and her characteristic persona
crown on her head.
Here, Arsinoë’s hieroglyphic title is short and clear, describing her in both sections as “King of Upper and Lower Egypt, Arsinoë”. Intriguingly, her husband-brother’s title does not define him with this traditional (male) royal title, but states instead “Lord of the Two Lands (“Powerful is the soul of Ra, Beloved of Amon) Lord of the crowns (Ptolemy)”, evidently emphasising his kingship, but simultaneously separating him from the queen. There should be no doubt that Arsinoë is depicted as a living
fi gure, in accordance with which her title should be understood as a co-ruling female pharaoh.
As a matter of comparison to the six scenes mentioned above, three scenes located in the Temple of Isis at Philae, all dating to the reign of Ptolemy II, describe Arsinoë with a hieroglyphic title created exclusively for her: HqAt aAt Kmt, “Ruler of Egypt”. Similarly, this title emphasises the queen’s prominent role during and after her lifetime.
When combining the pictorial representation of Arsinoë, taking into account each individual detail of the scene, with traditional hieroglyphic titles describing her, the Egyptian material suggests that this second Ptolemaic queen in fact was considered a female pharaoh, Ptolemy II’s coregent; ruling as King of Lower Egypt. As such she can be placed in history as
equivalent to the more famous female pharaohs Sobeknefru, Hatshepsut, Tawosret and her own dynastic descendant Cleopatra VII. Further, she can be described in similar terms as the queens who shared socio-political and religious responsibilities with their husbands as the God’s wives of Amun, such as Amenirdis, Shepenwepet and Nitocris.
In the new light on Egyptian relief scenes, the socio-political position of Queen Arsinoë II of the Ptolemaic Dynasty should indeed be reconsidered, possibly in a more prominent role as female pharaoh of Lower Egypt.
DR NILSSON obtained her PhD in classical archaeology/ancient history at Gothenburg University, Sweden, last year with a thesis on the crown of Arsinoë II. For the past four years she has been living in Luxor where she is working on the Sirius Project together with her life partner and colleague Dr John Ward. This project is an analysis of ancient symbolism and its migration from Ancient Egypt throughout the ages.
Their work includes documenting and building up a photographic library of the ancient monuments as they are preserved
today. The symbolism which they study incorporates everything from scratched marks in the form of graffi i (rock art as well as graffiti in the temples, tombs and more), those on amulets, but primarily masons’ marks in quarries and in temples.
Dr Nilsson has focused on analysing Ptolemaic relief scenes primarily as an iconographical study, but also including
hieroglyphic texts and titles and how image and text sometimes go hand in hand, but on other occasions counterpart each other in different media.