Finally, several terracottas from Delos portray a specific Ptolemaic queen: Arsinoe II. Two Delian figurines depict double cornucopiae, symbols of Arsinoe II, while two represent the portrait features of Arsinoe II. From a Greek perspective, ruler cult was a relatively new innovation—a fundamentally Hellenistic phenomenon, albeit one with roots in indigenous hero cults as well as foreign influences468 . Within Egypt, though, the veneration of the king and queen as earthly embodiments of divinity was one of the oldest and most basic elements of religious practice.
In Egyptian thought, the queen—as religious counterpart to the king—was an earthly manifestation of the goddess of the solar eye (see, e. g. , Troy 1986) . The queen’s symbolic role continued unabated under the Ptolemies, who paired queens with kings in temple reliefs that depicted traditional Egyptian religious scenes (Quaegebeur 1978) . Arsinoe II, in particular, was the focus of an intense Ptolemaic royal cult469. The cult devotions, sanctuaries, and festivals (i. e. , the Arsinoeia) dedicated to this queen in Egypt650 soon saw imitations throughout the Greek world651, and on Delos in particular, Arsinoe II’s cult achieved great popularity652 . Arsinoe herself made dedications to the Apollo sanctuary on Delos during her lifetime, as did other members of the Ptolemaic dynasty653 . After her death, the admiral Hermias, who commanded Ptolemy Il’s garrison in the Cyclades, set up a festival— the Philadelpheia—in her honor654 . Priestly accounts on Delos also associated with the queen as divine wife of Amun (Troy 1986: 126-128; cf. Bulte 2003: 17-18 on the Hathoric associations of the two-plumed crown; see also Dils 1998: 1305-1307 on the differing symbolism of ostrich versus falcon feathers, and see Quaegebeur 1978 for a general study of the development and antecedents of Ptolemaic queenly crowns). A two-plumed crown also characterizes queens in Meroitic Nubia (Torok 1997: 290); strong adherents of the Amun cult, the Meroitic rulers lent support to the Theban rebellion under Ptolemy IV and Ptolemy V (Welsby 1996: 67; Torok 1997: 426-429; Holbl 2001: 156-157; Veisse 2004: 84-95; see Burstein 1995: 105-123 for some general observations on the relationship of Meroe to the Hellenistic world; and on the Amun cult in Nubia, see Welsby 1996: 33, 74-75, 115-122; Darnell 2006. Cf. Manning 2010: 112 on Nubians resident in the Thebaid). Similarly, the vulture is sacred to Mut, the wife of Amun, and the vulture crown was traditionally associated with the queen’s role as ruler of Upper Egypt (Troy 1986: 116-119). The ram horns may also suggest Amun, who often manifested as a ram (e. g. , Gug-lielmi and Dittmar 1992). Dils argues for a connection with Khnum instead, as the horns are horizontal rather than curling around the figure’s ear (Dils 1998: 13081309). However, Amun can wear horizontal horns as well; see, for example, some images from the Festival Procession of Opet at Luxor Temple (The Epigraphic Survey 1994: pls. 3, 199). New Kingdom representations of deified kings sometimes give them ram’s horns to indicate their identification with the royal ka as a form of Amun; such depictions are certainly ancestral to the well-known repesentations of Alexander the Great with ram horns (Bell 1985: 269-270 [with extensive references], 1997: 170). Note that the inclusion of the Red Crown in Arsinoe Il’s coiffure may also evoke, not only the rulership of Lower Egypt, but also Amun’s female counterpart Amaunet, who often wears the Red Crown (e. g. Troy 1997b: 305-306).
650 E. g. , Thompson 1973: 117-124; Zabkar 1988: 12-15; Weber 1993: 171-172; Rowlandson, ed. 1998: 28; Chaniotis 2003: 436-437; Dunand 2007: 261-262; McKenzie 2007: 51-52.
651 E. g. , Bagnall 1976: 72; Mlynarczyk 1990: 116-120; Holbl 2001: 103-104; Stephens 2003: 153 n 93; Chaniotis 2003: 442
652 Deonna 1948: 135 n. 4; Bruneau 1970a: 543-545; Holbl 2001: 104. People on Delos also inscribed dedications to other members of the Ptolemaic dynasty; see Baslez (1977: 37, n. 9). Evidence for the private worship of Ptolemaic queens in Egypt comes from P. Petr. I, 1, a papyrus dated to 238/237 BCE, in which a man leaves his heirs a shrine dedicated to the deified queens Berenike (I or II) and Arsinoe II (Colin 1994).
653 Roussel 1916a: 241-242; Bruneau 1970a: 516-518.
654 Roussel 1916a: 242-243; Bruneau 1970a: 528-530; Holbl 2001: 104.
Mention a sanctuary of Arsinoe II, the Philadelpheion, which may or may not have been identical with the sanctuary of Agathe Tyche470 .
Particularly telling evidence for a household cult of Arsinoe II on Delos comes from a fragmentary altar, seemingly originating from a private house, which bears a dedication to Arsinoe Philadelphos471 . Similar domestic altars to Arsinoe II come from elsewhere in the Greek world as well472 . Given the queens’ identification with Isis, the Egyptian practice of dedicating domestic altars to Isis (e. g. Tran Tam Tinh 1973: 19) provides a precedent for these finds. The five terracotta figurines depicting the attributes or portrait features of Arsinoe II now provide further evidence for the existence of a popular cult of this deified Ptolemaic queen on Delos473 .
World History
