Egypt in Italy: Visions of Egypt in Roman Imperial Culture

272 Pages·2015·19.36 MB·English

Egypt in Italy
This book examines the appetite for Egyptian and Egyptian-looking artworks in Italy
during the century following Rome’s annexation of Aegyptus as a province. In the
early imperial period, Roman interest in Egyptian culture was widespread, as evi-
denced by works ranging from monumental obelisks, brought to the capital via the
Mediterranean Sea by the emperors, to locally made emulations of Egyptian arti-
facts found in private homes and in temples to Egyptian gods. Although the foreign
appearance of these artworks was central to their appeal, Molly Swetnam-Burland
situates them within their physical, social, political, and artistic contexts in Roman
Italy. She explores evidence for the artists who produced these exotic-looking art-
works and examines their relationship to the contemporary literature that informed
Roman perceptions of Egyptian history, customs, and myths.
Molly Swetnam-Burland is an associate professor in the department of Classical
Studies at The College of William & Mary. She has received fellowships from the
Getty Research Institute, the Archaeological Institute of America, the Deutsches
Archäologisches Institut in Berlin, the University of Cincinnati, and the National
Endowment for the Humanities. She has published articles in the American Journal
of Archaeology, The Art Bulletin, and several edited volumes.
Frontispiece. Visitors to the Temple of Isis in Pompeii (Jean-Louis Desprez 1779).
Photo credit: Gianni Dagli Orti / The Art Archive at Art Resource, NY.
E
gypt in Italy

Visions of Egypt in Roman Imperial Culture
Molly Swetnam-Burland
The College of William & Mary
32 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10013-2473, USA
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Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9781107040489
© Molly Swetnam-Burland 2015

This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception
and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements,
no reproduction of any part may take place without the written
permission of Cambridge University Press.
First published 2015
Printed in the United States of America
A catalog record for this publication is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Swetnam-Burland, Molly.
Egypt in Italy : visions of Egypt in Roman imperial culture / Molly Swetnam-Burland
(College of William & Mary).
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-107-04048-9 (hardback)
1. Rome – Relations–Egypt. 2. Egypt – Relations – Rome. 3. Egypt – Foreign public
opinion, Roman. 4. Rome – History – Empire, 30 B.C.–284 A.D. 5. Italy – History – To 476.
6. Art, Egyptian – Rome – History. 7. Architecture, Egyptian – Rome – History.
8. Egypt – Antiquities. 9. Rome – Intellectual life. 10. Rome – Civilization –
Egyptian influences. I. Title.
DG215.E3S83 2015
303.48∙237032–dc23 2014043438
ISBN 978-1-107-04048-9 Hardback
Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of
URLs for external or third-party Internet Web sites referred to in this publication
and does not guarantee that any content on such Web sites is, or will remain,
accurate or appropriate.
Publication of this book has been aided by a grant from the von Bothmer Publication Fund
of the Archaeological Institute of America.
Contents

List of Color Plates page vii
List of Illustrations viii
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction: From Egypt to Italy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Historical Context and Framework 2
Egypt in Italy: Reconsidering, Recontextualizing 5
Images of Egypt 14
1
Egyptian Objects, Roman Contexts: Appropriation
and Aesthetics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18
The Riches of Egypt: Trade, Production, and the “Egyptian” Aesthetic 19
Egyptian Imports in Italy 28
Egyptian Monuments, Made in Italy 41
Style and Substance: Egyptian Eclecticism 53
Egypt in the Empire 63
2
Aegyptus Redacta: Augustus’ Obelisks and the
Spoils of Egypt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .65
Augustus’ Egyptian Obelisks 68
Celebrating Conquest: Victory Monuments and the Spoils of Egypt 71
Kingly Monuments in the Roman City: The Tomb of Cestius and the
Egyptian Aesthetic 82
Educating Roman Eyes: Augustus’ Obelisks, Described in Rome 90
Augustus’ Obelisks in Rome: Circus Maximus and Campus Martius 97
3
The Sanctuary of Isis in Pompeii: Dedication and
Devotion, Myth and Ritual . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .105
Decoration and Function of the Sanctuary of Isis 106
Cult and Community: The Isiaci 112
Display and Redisplay, Dedication and Devotion 117
Text and Context: Io and Isis in the Ekklesiasterion 125
v
vi * Contents
Appendix 3.1. Marble Inscriptions from the Sanctuary of Isis 138
Appendix 3.2. Dipinti Near the Sanctuary of Isis 139
Appendix 3.3. Multiples and Adaptations: Io Panel Paintings 140
Appendix 3.4. Graffiti Quoting or Adapting Ovid from Pompeii 141
4
Images of Egypt: Land at the Limit of Belief . . . . . . . . . .142
Nilotica: The Land and People of Egypt in Roman Art 144
Egypt in the Empire: The Vatican Nile and Louvre Tiber 155
“Between Neighboring Ombi and Tentura”: The Geography of Egypt
in Juvenal 15 167
Appendix 4.1. Argument of Juvenal, Satire xv 181
Conclusion: The Afterlives of Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .182
Notes 187
Works Cited and Consulted 217
Index 247
Color Plates

I Panel painting depicting Egyptian ritual, Herculaneum
II Detail of the “black room,” Boscotrecase: Egyptian figure and
Sobek venerating an Apis bull
III Cameo glass flask: scenes of an Egyptian sanctuary
IV Paintings from the sacrarium of the sanctuary of Isis in
Pompeii: Isis on the Nile
V Painting from the ekklesiasterion, sanctuary of Isis in
Pompeii: Io, Argus, and Mercury
VI Painting from the ekklesiasterion, sanctuary of Isis in
Pompeii: Isis welcoming Io to Egypt
VII Battle scene with pygmies and nilotic animals,
House of the Doctor, Pompeii
VIII Nile Mosaic, Praeneste
Color plate section found at the end of the book.
vii
Illustrations

I.1 Bronze statuette of Isis-Fortuna page 3
I.2 Detail of the “Mensa Isiaca” 7
I.3 Hieroglyphic inscription of Semtawy-Tefnakte,
sanctuary of Isis, Pompeii 9
I.4 Fresco panel painting of Egyptian ritual, Herculaneum 13
1.1 Faience oinochoe or Queen’s Vase, Canosa 21
1.2a, b Alabaster vessel with inscriptions of Nebneteru and P. Claudius
Pulcher 26
1.3 Detail of shrine painting from the House of the Golden Cupids,
Pompeii 29
1.4 Detail of garden painting from the House of the Fruit Orchard,
Pompeii 29
1.5 Sphinx of Amasis II associated with the Iseum Campense 32
1.6 Ushabty of Paef-Hery-Hesu from the sanctuary of Isis, Pompeii 33
1.7a, b, c Composite Isis and details of head and body 35
1.8 Composite canopic jar associated with the Iseum Campense 36
1.9 Statue of pharaoh from the Syrian sanctuary on the Janiculum 37
1.10 Plan of the Syrian sanctuary on the Janiculum 38
1.11 Gilded “idol” of Osiris from the Syrian sanctuary on the Janiculum 39
1.12 Statue of Dionysus from the Syrian sanctuary on the Janiculum 40
1.13 Piazza Navona obelisk 42
1.14 Beneventum obelisk 44
1.15 Trinità dei Monti obelisk 50
1.16 Imported sculpture of Arsinoë II, Horti Sallustiani 51
1.17a, b Front and rear views, Roman statue of Arsinoë II, Horti Sallustiani 52
1.18 North wall of the Black Room, Boscotrecase 55
1.19 Cameo glass fragment with Egyptian-inspired tribute scene 56
1.20 Cameo glass vessel with scenes of an Egyptian sanctuary 57
1.21a, b Archaizing statue of Isis, sanctuary of Isis in Pompeii 59
1.22a, b Statue of baboon associated with the Iseum and
Serapaeum Campense 61
2.1 The Montecitorio obelisk 66
viii