La stèle de Ptolémée VIII Évergète II à Héracléion

In this important book, Christophe Thiers presents the monumental bilingual stela (hieroglyphic egyptian and Greek) found in 2001 at the underwater site of Herakleion-Thonis off the Mediterranean coast of egypt near Canopus. The text and commentary of what is the longest surviving hieroglyphic inscription on a stela from the Ptolemaic period constitute the heart of this volume. Additional short interpretative essays put the document in its historical, religious, and political context during the reign of Ptolemy vIII with his two wives, Cleopatra II and Cleopatra III. The study begins with a brief introduction by Franck Goddio, summarising the discovery and the excavation context of the gigantic stela. Luc Tamborero then presents the purely technical data concerning the once monolithic gneiss stela, which is 617 cm high, 314 cm wide, and up to 38 cm deep, and broken into numerous parts. Altogether, seventeen fragments of the stela have been discovered, weighing around seventeen tons. Figure 4 on p. xii, and plate 1, present the re-assembled fragments. The lowest part of the stela, about 115–120 cm long, was intentionally left blank as it was embedded in the ground. Several parts of the monument are still missing, mainly from the lunette and the middle of the hieroglyphic text, but also from the uninscribed lower part. In addition, due to erosion underwater, the inscribed face is now quite deteriorated, so that the beginning of every hieroglyphic line has been lost. Of the Greek inscription, which followed the egyptian one, only a few letters remain. According to Goddio (p. xv) the stela had not been reused, but tumbled down from its original location. After the introduction (pp. ix–xxii), the volume is divided into six chapters, by Christophe Thiers. First is the general presentation of the stela (pp. 1–6), including the dating and the discussion of its lunette; second, the translation of the hieroglyphic text (pp. 7–24); third, the running commentary (pp. 25–37); fourth, the presentation of the almost entirely destroyed Greek inscription (p. 39); fifth, essays of interpretation (pp. 41–9); and sixth, the conclusion (pp. 51–5). Several useful tools are added: chapter seven presents a comprehensive overview of the hieroglyphic inscription and its translation as a running text (pp. 56–66). The volume concludes with extensive indices (Chapter 8, pp. 67–92), a wide-ranging bibliography (Chapter 9, pp. 93–105), as well as several plates of the stela—now in the Maritime Museum Alexandria (SCA 529)—and squeezes of it, which are now kept in Paris. Highly useful is the loose facsimile drawing inserted at the back cover. Altogether, the volume is well produced with fine plates and figures in clear print. The hieroglyphs are for the most part legibly printed, but occasionally they are partly cut, primarily in the notes (for example on pp. 15–16). After a general description, Thiers’ first chapter deals with the dating of the stela (pp. 2–3). Most of the stela’s right half is destroyed, as is the first part of line 1 and with it the year date. This date can be narrowed down, however, since Ptolemy vIII euergetes II is depicted with both his wives, his sister Cleopatra II and his niece Cleopatra III; the stela must therefore have been erected in the years after the wedding of Ptolemy vIII and his younger wife, Cleopatra III, either between 142 1 and 131, or 124 and 116. Following werner Huss, Thiers dates this event to the year 140/141 (p. 2 n. 8). A further indication of the stela’s terminus post quem is the presence of Ptolemy Neos Philopator as a royal ancestor on the left side of the lunette. He can be rather clearly identified by the only surviving word in his inscription (C 5, p. 7), Hnw (neos). Neos Philopator was the son of Ptolemy vIII and Cleopatra II and is first attested in the ruler cult and thus in the titles of the eponymous priests only after the amnesty edict in 118. This dates the stela to the years 118–116. The only problem with Neos Philopator’s identification in the lunette is his position on the right, after the second, third, and fourth Ptolemaic couple, which places him in a position that is — chronologically speaking — rather unexpected. Due to the poor state of preservation, the Ptolemaic ancestors depicted in the lunette are not easy to identify. In addition, no comparable stela with ancestors survives from the reign of Ptolemy vIII, but Thiers presents a nuanced analysis, in which he reconstructs the almost entirely lost right half of the lunette. There, only the last human figure survives more or less complete, easily recognised by her crown: Arsinoe II. She is thus depicted twice on this stela, on either side of the lunette, perhaps due to the fact that she was specifically venerated at Zephyrion, located close to