Un ritratto di Tolomeo III Evergete dal Museo Nazionale di Oslo: una nuova evidenza relativa al Basileus Ptolemaios

Giuseppe Pellino,

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Abstract

This paper describes the unpublished portrait of a young man from Asia Minor (?) at present in the collections of Oslo National Museum, and proposes its identification. According to many physiognomic elements, and a detailed care in the manufacturing of the eyes, mouth, etc., the head can be considered a real portrait more than an idealized figure. According to both coinage representations and Ptolemaic royal portraits tradition it should be identified as that of Ptolemy III Euergetes (246-222 BC). There are elements suggesting that the portrait was made during the third century BC in Alexandria as a part of Ptolemäergalerie, judging from the powerful character of the image. We can suggest that the Oslo head was part of a dynastic statuary group from a public or private unknown building in Asia Minor.