Ancient Man and His First Civilizations

Egypt-9

The Ptolemy Greek's

So now, Egypt is ruled by Greek kings, Alexander the Great has taken Egypt from the Persians, and made it a part of the Greek Empire. The arrival of the Greeks brought an unprecedented amount of change in Egypt, as they overlaid the existing society with that of their own. The Ptolemaic dynasty of the Greeks, would successfully rule Egypt by mingling Hellenic traditions with the legacy of the Pharaohs. The Greek kings, followed in the ancient Egyptian tradition of having themselves deified as gods, having temples built, and having statues made in their honor. Many of the statues, relief's, and funerary objects which are today, in museums around the world, are from this period.

There were many Greek kings, notable among them were..

Ptolemy I (Soter I)
323-285 B.C.
Upon the death of Alexander the Great in 323 B.C, the throne of Egypt fell to Ptolemy I. He was a veteran soldier and trusted commander who had served Alexander. He started the Ptolemaic Dynasty, which lasted about 300 years. He ran Egypt like a business, strictly for profit.

Ptolemy II (Philadelphus)
282-246 B.C.
Ptolemy II Philadelphus, which means 'Brother/Sister-loving', was the second ruler of the Ptolemaic Dynasty. He was married to his full sister Arsinoe II. His greatest contribution to the world is that it was he, who desiring to augment his library in Alexandria, Commissioned a translation of the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek.

Ptolemy wrote to the chief priest "Eleazar" in Jerusalem, and arranged for six translators from each of the twelve tribes of Israel to come to Alexandria. These translators were known as "The seventy-two" (altered in a few later versions to seventy or seventy-five). The reason for so many translators, was so that the many translations could be compared to each other for accuracy.

The translators are said to have arrived in Egypt to Ptolemy's gracious hospitality, and translated the Pentateuch: [The first five books of the Hebrew Scriptures], believed by some to have been written by Moses. The work was completed in seventy-two days? Although opinions differ, most agree on 282 B.C, as the time of completion. Thus the SEPTUAGINT, {the original Bible}, derived from the Latin word for "seventy", was written. Of course, all of this is Very Controversial, and opinions do vary.

Cleopatra VII

In the springtime of 51 B.C, Ptolemy Auletes died, and left his kingdom to his eighteen year old daughter Cleopatra, and her younger brother Ptolemy XIII, who was twelve at the time. Cleopatra was born in 69 B.C, in Alexandria Egypt. She had two older sisters, Cleopatra VI and Berenice IV, as well as a younger sister, Arsinoe IV. There was two younger brothers as well, Ptolemy XIII and Ptolemy XIV. It is thought that Cleopatra VI may have died as a child, and that Auletes had his daughter Berenice beheaded.

Also upon Ptolemy Auletes death, "Pompey" a Roman leader, was left in charge of the children. During the two centuries that preceded Auletes death, the Greek Ptolemies had been allied with the Romans. Now the Ptolemies' strength was failing, and the Roman Empire was rising. City after city was falling to Roman power, and the Ptolemies could do nothing but create a pacts with them.

Over time, the Romans gained more and more control over Egypt. Tributes had to be paid to keep them away. When Ptolemy Auletes died, the fall of the Dynasty appeared closer and closer. Thus begins the "well known" saga of Cleopatra, Caesar and Mark Antony.

For a chronological history of the Greek Occupation of Egypt, and the saga of Cleopatra, Caesar and Mark Antony, with associated pictures.  Click Here >>>

The Romans

With the death of Cleopatra, Egypt passed into Roman hands. And so now, Egypt has a Roman King. It is with the ascension of the Roman emperor Constantine, that a new era begins for Alexandria, as well as for the Empire as a whole. By defeating his co-ruler "Licinius" (Rome had begun the practice of having two rulers, one for the eastern half of the Empire, and one for the western half), Constantine now is sole ruler.

He established the eastern capital for the Empire in what is now modern Turkey, in a city called Byzantium, which he renamed Constantinople. (After this city is sacked and taken over by the Ottoman Turks in 1453, it would be renamed Istanbul). The Romans, as the Greeks had earlier done, assume Egyptian customs and regalia, and do their best to drain the country dry. As had happened when the Greeks took control of Egypt, now Romans and those under Roman hegemony have unfettered access to Egypt. Further eroding the population demographic.

Egyptians fared no better under Roman occupation than they had under the Greeks. It was just more of the same, which continues unto today, marginalization into obscurity. With the occupiers now claiming ethnic identity.

As would be expected, under Greek, and then Roman rule; Egypt would be a tale of three people. The White Greeks or Romans; The "Mixed-Race" Greeks and Romans; (it is unknown how many of these people CAME to Egypt as mixed race people, (Greece and Rome were both mixed race societies at this time); and how many were Egypt "Mixed"; and then the indigenous Black African Egyptians. There can be no doubt that the Black African Egyptians would be in the more difficult position. This is demonstrated by the relative quality of Black African Egyptian tombs, as compared to White and mixed-race tombs of the Graeco-Roman period.

Mummy Portraits and Masks From the Greek and Roman Occupation Periods of Egypt

The custom of preserving and immortalizing the deceased through painted art is very ancient, as attested to by ancient Egyptian and Etruscan tomb paintings. Caucasians upon entering Southern Europe and later Egypt, adapted painting as a medium of expression, and added a few wrinkles of their own.

No Egyptian tomb paintings are presented in these pages, because all of those available to the public have been repainted. Being ever mindful of the dishonest practices of restorers, it seemed pointless to present material for which there is no confidence.

The genre highlighted here, is mostly painted Mummy Portraits found on Mummies in Roman cemeteries, many from Fayum/Faiyum. They date from approximately 100 B.C. to 250 A.D. Mummy portraits were portraits painted on joined wooden planks, and were placed over the face of the Mummified corpse. The gold facemask of Egyptian tradition was also still used, as well as painted plaster masks and painted linen shrouds. The Christian Copts (Greeks) of Egypt, continued the tradition of painting on wood for many centuries more, but their subject matter was mostly of a religious nature.

There are about 900 Mummy Portraits excavated so far, of course, because they are two thousand years old, they were all in poor condition when recovered. They of course required the services of restorers to bring them back to a serviceable condition. As is always the case with restorations, some restorers are faithful to the original material, and some restorers are not, choosing instead to follow a personal or group agenda.

The portraits presented here, run the gambit from the crude to the very beautiful. Whether this represents a gradual mastery of painting by Europeans, the talent or lack of talent of individual artists, or simply restorers taking inappropriate liberties is unknown.

The people depicted in these paintings are Greeks and Romans as well as people of mixed Egyptian and Greek/Roman marriages. These people were the wealthy elite of Roman Egypt, as attested by the fact that they could afford lavish funerals, the common people could not afford mummies nor mummy portraits. Evidence seems to suggest that native Egyptians did not adopt the practice, simply because no Mummy Portraits of pureblood Blacks have so far surfaced, whether this is because there are none, or perhaps some other reason, is undetermined at this time.

Click Here for a Picture gallery of Roman Mummy Portraits. Click >>>