Political ideas expressed by visual narratives: the case of the Ptolemaic Egyptian temples

Sales, José das Candeias

http://hdl.handle.net/10400.2/10213

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Authors

Sales, José das Candeias

Abstract(s)

The kings from the Ptolemaic dynasty are represented in the divine temples of Edfu, Philae and Kom Ombo by garments, emblems and traditional Egyptian symbols, doing the typical gestures established by the political tradition, with the clear goal of being accepted as legitimate kings in the line of the ancient Egyptian pharaohs. In fact, using the millennial artistic vocabulary available, the Ptolemies filled the columns, the walls and the pylons of the great temples with bas-reliefs and scenes of high symbolic codified value. These expressive visual narratives, often in areas of free access for the population, asserted the prestige of the kingship. There is then an intentional ideological and propaganda value linked to these representations that justify the designation of «visual ideological narratives», that is, scenes of political nature with an effective scenic effect. To understand the visual impact and the ideological meaning of these representations in sacred spaces is consequently to enter in the core of the Ptolemaic political thought, enlighten their motivations, know their practices, interpret their messages and decode their goals.