Nowo odkryty relief wotywny z Ptolemais (Libia)
Streszczenie
During the archaeological excavations conducted by the Institute of Archaeology of the
Warsaw University in Ptolemais (Libya) a very well preserved votive relief was discovered.
The relief displays an iconography typical for this group of objects. The main figure
— although not the founder of the ex-voto — is a hero depicted mounting an upraised horse.
Before him a young man, unproportionally smaller, is shown running. Facing the two male
figures stands a veiled woman holding in her hand a sacrifice vessel. As has been proven in
the case of several other similar, locally produced objects, the running figure portrays the
founder of the relief - a young boy taking part in some gymnastic activity.
The chronology of the object can only be established basing on stylistic elements - the
archaeological context is not an indicator as the relief was found in a destruction layer dated
to the mid Roman period and must have been displayed by the owner of the villa as an object
of art or of a cult.
The analysis of the facial features and hairstyle of the hero — the most distinctive elements
of the represented elements - in reference to numismatic portraiture seem to point to a Hellenistic
date - perhaps III“1 c. B.C.
The article also presents several analogous, previously published or unpublished reliefs
produced locally in Cirenaica.