Limestone statue of a female worshipper playing a lyre
Hellenistic Cypriot, about 300-280 BC
From Larnaca, Cyprus
Features based on those of Ptolemaic rulers
The female worshipper wears a chiton girded just below
her breast, and a himation draped around her lower body
and up over her head. This is the typical female dress of the
Ptolemaic period in Cyprus. Her hair is combed into segments and is
evidently put up in a bun at the back in the classical 'melon'
coiffure. Her features resemble those of Berenice I (about 340 BC
to before 275 BC), the wife of Ptolemy II, king (of Greek origin)
of Egypt and Cyprus (reigned 284-246 BC).
During the Hellenistic period, portraits became more fashionable
and a number of worshippers seem to have their facial features
based on those of their Ptolemaic rulers. The Ptolemies introduced
the dynastic cult (worship of the ruling Ptolemy and his
predecessors) as well as new cults of Egyptian deities like Serapis
and Isis, but they scarcely interfered with the Cypriots' religious
practices. Dedications continued in many of the open
sanctuaries.
V. Tatton-Brown, Ancient Cyprus, 2nd ed. (London, The British Museum Press, 1997)