by
Damien F. Mackey
ruler of rulers, chosen of Nun who loves
him')”.
For accompanying reading, see my articles:
Tiberius Claudius Nero
Tiberius Claudius Nero knew how to
bring the house down
(11)
Tiberius Claudius Nero knew how to bring the house down
Tiberius
Why Does
This Newly Discovered 2,000-Year-Old Stone Slab Depict a Roman Emperor as an
Egyptian Pharaoh?
The
sandstone monument shows Tiberius standing next to a family of local gods.
Archaeologists say the scene illustrates the ruler’s role as a leader who
upheld cosmic order in Egyptian society
Meilan Solly | Senior
Associate Digital Editor, History
April 15,
2026
This
stone slab shows Tiberius standing next to the Egyptian gods Amun, Khonsu
and Mut. © CFEETK / K. El-Dowi
Restoration
work at Karnak, an ancient temple
complex near Luxor, Egypt, has revealed a sandstone monument featuring an
intriguing image of the Roman emperor Tiberius, who ruled between 14 and
37 C.E.
Measuring
nearly two feet tall, the upright slab, known as a stela, shows Tiberius standing
next to a trio of Egyptian
gods:
Amun, Khonsu and Mut. As Abdelghaffar Wagdy, co-director of the
Franco-Egyptian Center for the Study of the Temples of Karnak, tells Live
Science’s Margherita Bassi, the scene was likely
intended to depict the emperor upholding maat, or cosmic order, by engaging with local
deities.
“To fulfill
this role, the ruler needed to be shown performing traditional rituals in a
form that the gods would recognize—namely, as a pharaoh,” Wagdy
says. Fittingly, Tiberius is shown wearing the double
crown donned
by ancient Egypt’s rulers, with its two halves representing the unification of
Upper and Lower Egypt.
The joint
French and Egyptian research team found the stela while restoring the gateway
of an enclosure wall dated to the reign of Ramses III, who ruled in the 12th
century B.C.E. during Egypt’s 20th
Dynasty.
Archaeologists dismantled the structure entirely, then reassembled
it atop
modern foundations. They discovered that some of the decorated blocks used to
build the gateway were far older than the others, dating to the reign of the
18th-Dynasty pharaoh Amenhotep III, some 200 years prior. As
Nevine El-Aref writes for Ahram Online, the find suggests “the
presence of an earlier gateway at the site” whose blocks were later reused.
The
gateway of the Ramses III enclosure wall after restoration
©
CFEETK / E. Saubestre
According to
a statement from Egypt’s
Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, experts uncovered the stela in a layer of
earth associated with mud-brick structures from the late Roman and Byzantine periods. Below the
carved images of Tiberius and the triad of three gods, five
lines of hieroglyphs record the restoration of an enclosure wall in a temple
dedicated to Amun, protector of the
pharaohs and the patron deity of Thebes.
This isn’t
the first time that archaeologists have unearthed artistic portrayals of Roman
emperors as Egyptian pharaohs. In 2014, experts announced that they’d discovered
a carving of Claudius wearing a crown adorned with ram
horns and three falcons. Hieroglyphs identified the emperor as the “Son of Ra,
Lord of the Crowns,” as well as the king of Upper and Lower Egypt.
Additionally, the Louvre houses a bust of a different Roman
ruler, perhaps Nero, donning a striped linen
headdress known as a nemes.
Other examples in Egyptian art include a relief of Trajan offering a sacrifice
to the goddess Hathor and a depiction of Augustus, Tiberius’ predecessor
and adoptive father, at the Kalabsha Temple near Aswan.
Per
the Global Egyptian Museum, a digital database of
Egyptian artifacts held by cultural institutions around the world, Roman
emperors were “considered to be pharaohs; they were depicted on temple walls
and wrote their names in hieroglyphs in a cartouche,” or oval frame. At the
same time, however, rulers like Tiberius took a largely hands-off
approach to
governing Egypt, which came under Roman control following the death of Cleopatra in 30 B.C.E. Roman
emperors appointed prefects to oversee Egypt in
their stead, rarely
visiting the
province in
person.
A
wall relief of Trajan (right) in pharaonic garb, offering a sacrifice to the
goddess Hathor and her son Ihy Saher.tarek via Wikimedia Commons under CC BY-SA 4.0
Per
the Global Egyptian Museum, a digital database of
Egyptian artifacts held by cultural institutions around the world, Roman
emperors were “considered to be pharaohs; they were depicted on temple walls
and wrote their names in hieroglyphs in a cartouche,” or oval frame. At the
same time, however, rulers like Tiberius took a largely hands-off
approach to
governing Egypt, which came under Roman control following the death of Cleopatra in 30 B.C.E. Roman
emperors appointed prefects to oversee Egypt in
their stead, rarely
visiting the
province in
person.
The newly
discovered slab “reflects a standard ideological and administrative system, in
which emperors were presented as pious builders and protectors of temples,
regardless of their actual level of involvement,” Wagdy tells Live
Science. “The monument expresses what a king should be in Egyptian terms
rather than documenting his personal achievements.”
Claudius
Roman Emperor Claudius
Dressed as Egyptian Pharaoh in Newfound Carving | Scientific American
March 27,
2014
Roman
Emperor Claudius Dressed as
Egyptian
Pharaoh in Newfound Carving
Roman
emperors were often depicted as pharaohs while Egypt was part of the Roman
empire
By Owen Jarus & LiveScience
An ancient
stone carving on the walls of an Egyptian temple depicts the Roman emperor
Claudius dressed as an Egyptian pharaoh, wearing an elaborate crown, a team of
researchers has discovered.
In the
carving, Emperor Claudius, who reigned from A.D. 41
to 54, is shown erecting a giant pole with a lunar crescent at the top. Eight
men, each wearing two feathers, are shown climbing the supporting poles, with
their legs dangling in midair.
Egyptian hieroglyphs in the carving call
Claudius the "Son of Ra, Lord of the Crowns," and say he is
"King of Upper and Lower Egypt, Lord of the Two Lands." The
hieroglyphs say he is raising the pole of the tent (or cult chapel) of Min (an
ancient Egyptian god of fertility and power) and notes a date indicating a
ritual like this took place around the summertime researchers say. It would
have taken place even though Claudius never visited Egypt. A cult chapel is a
place of worship and a tent could also be used for this purpose. ….
(Image
credit: Photo by Marleen De Meyer, line drawing by Troy Sagrillo.)
The
elaborate crown on Claudius consists of three rushes (plants) set on ram horns
with three falcons sitting on top. Three solar discs representing the sun (one
for each plant) are shown in front of the rushes. Egyptian rulers are shown wearing
crowns like this relatively late in ancient Egyptian history, mainly after 332
B.C., and they were worn only in Egypt. The Roman Empire took over Egypt in
30 B.C., and while the Roman emperors were not Egyptian, they were still
depicted as pharaohs Egyptologists have noted.
In the
recently discovered carving, the god Min is shown wearing his own crown and
has an erect penis, because Min was a god of fertility, the researchers said.
(Image
credit: Photo by Marleen De Meyer, line drawing by Troy Sagrillo.)
The
hieroglyphs describe Min as "the one who brings into control the
warhorses, whose fear is in the Two Lands." Min tells Claudius, "I
give you the (southern) foreign lands," which researchers say could be a
reference to the deserts surrounding the Nile River, where minerals could be
quarried.
The scene
was discovered on the western exterior wall of the Temple of Isis at Shanhur,
located on the east bank of the Nile River about 12 miles (20 kilometers) north
of Luxor. It is an Egyptian temple
built and decorated during the Roman occupation under Augustus (who reigned
from about 30 B.C. to A.D. 14) through to Trajan (who reigned from A.D. 98 to
117). The pole-raising scene was first found during the 2000-2001 excavation
season and was recorded in full during the 2010 epigraphic (recording) season.
The temple originally had 36 scenes on each of its eastern and western exterior
walls, and this new scene, protected for millennia by a layer of dirt, is one
of the best preserved.
Nero
Roman Times: Roman emperor
as pharaoh
Roman
emperor as pharaoh
A block that
originally formed part of a screen wall that connected the four front columns
and the sidewalls of the temple of Harendotes ("Horus the Avenger")
on the island of Philae represents the "Baptism of Pharaoh," a
purification ritual that was part of Egyptian coronation ceremonies. The gods
Horus (not preserved) and the ibis-headed Thoth, god of wisdom, pours water,
represented by streams of the hieroglyphs ankh (life) and was (dominion), over
the head of the king. The pharaoh whose head is partially preserved is a
Claudian emperor, most probably either Claudius or Nero as defined in the strip
of hieroglyphs along the top of the relief.
|
Cornice
Block with Relief Showing the Baptism of Pharaoh (either Claudius or Nero),
41–68 CE, from the Temple of Harendotes on the island of Philae, Egypt, Roman
Period at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. As Pharaoh
of Egypt, Nero adopted the royal titulary Autokrator Neron Heqaheqau
Meryasetptah Tjemaahuikhasut Wernakhtubaqet Heqaheqau Setepennenu Merur
('Emperor Nero, Ruler of rulers, chosen by Ptah, beloved of Isis, the
sturdy-armed one who struck the foreign lands, victorious for Egypt, ruler of
rulers, chosen of Nun who loves him'). At 16 years old, Nero was the
youngest sole emperor until Elagabalus who became emperor at the age of 14 in
218 CE. Perhaps this is reflected in the Egyptian relief depicting a young
man with soft mouth.
According
to Suetonius, at the end of his reign when his Praetorian Guard abandoned
him, Nero toyed with the idea of fleeing to Parthia, throwing himself upon
the mercy of Galba, or appealing to the people and begging them to pardon him
for his past offences "and if he could not soften their hearts, to
entreat them at least to allow him the prefecture of Egypt." Suetonius
reports that the text of a speech to this effect was later found in Nero's
writing desk, but that he dared not give it from fear of being torn to pieces
before he could reach the Forum. Finally, given
another article of mine: Domitian
- likenesses to Nero (11) Domitian -
likenesses to Nero is there
any possible connection here?: Lucius
Domitius Domitianus Lucius
Domitius Domitianus: Egypt’s Roman Savior By
Kenneth R. Kline Jr. 4595. Silvered
follis, RIC 20, C 1, VF/aVF, turquoise patina, some silvering, nicely
centered, 7.4g, 26.1mm, 0°, Alexandria mint, c. 295-296 A.D.; obverse IMP C L
DOMITIVS DOMITIANVS AVG, laureate head right; reverse GENIO POPVLI ROMANI,
Genius standing left, modius on head, holding patera and cornucopia, eagle at
feet; A
left, ALE in ex; rare. Lucius
Domitius Domitianus was, in some scholars’ opinions, one of the most
effective and steadfast Augusti to ever rule over a Roman domain, even if the
rule was simply for a period of months. Unfortunately, other than
several small references to him in papyri and contemporary writings of the
day, much of our knowledge of his existence is limited to the small amount of
coinage he produced. In the end, due to this lack of historical
certainty, Domitianus, and his role in the final days of the Egyptian revolt
of 297-298, has become somewhat of the enigma that scholars can only hope to
someday understand.
Stationed
in Egypt during the early years of Diocletian’s tetrarchy, Domitius
Domitianus may very well be one of the most under appreciated and
historically ignored emperors of the late Imperial time period. Rising to
power in a time when Egypt direly needed leadership the most, Domitian, as he
preferred himself to be called, held an eight month vigil against the
entirety of the Roman Empire in an attempt to correct many of the atrocities
that had been inflicted upon Egypt. Heavily
taxed and overburdened with political corruption, Egypt was but an empty
shell of its once former glory by the late third century. By 296 CE,
irrigation channels had been so ignored and had fallen into such disarray,
that Egypt’s agriculture was literally being strangled into oblivion.
Domitianus, well known for his keen ability to use logic in matters
concerning Egypt, understood that Rome had no plans to remedy the
situation. After several small uprisings in upper and lower Egypt, and
an outright open rebellion at Coptos, the knowledgeable leader saw his window
of opportunity open. Several references state that with such a keen
knowledge of Egypt’s troubles, Domitianus offered the disgruntled citizenship
a plan of systematic remedies. The remedies were so well conceived and
convincing that the people of the area offered him up as their leader. Upon
entering Alexandria, Domitianus took the title of Augustus and reportedly
swayed the Roman troops there to his cause as well. One can only
imagine the refined speaking and rhetorical skills this man must have
possessed to tame the normally fickle and unruly Alexandrian crowds of
the period. Here Domitius Domitianus would stay for the duration of eight
months. Issuing
edicts concerning taxation reform, Domitius became more and more loved by his
followers, and more and more despised by Diocletian who had to order
neutralizing counter-edicts. Within that short period of time, the de facto
ruler would stabilize agricultural projects, initialize impressive military
fronts, and, of most importance to the classical numismatist, attempt to
reform the outdated Alexandrian system of coinage. The
Coinage Of dire
importance in maintaining his base of power, Domitianus comprehended the
necessity for coinage reforms in Egypt. Allowed basically only the
tetradrachm as a common form of exchange, there was an absolute breakdown in
Egypt’s monetary system. To simplify the problem to its basic root,
Egypt literally had no system for "making change.” All matters of
monetary importance had to be waged with the tetradrachm, a denomination far
too large for most small, daily transactions. Noting this inadequacy, Domitianus
commissioned the creation of several new denominations in the Egyptian
economy. By late
296, the new octadrachm and didrachm were introduced to the Alexandrian
public. The octadrachm, set upon a value standard similar to the early Roman
antoninianus, averaged approximately 23-24 millimeters in diameter; the
tetradrachm remained its well-known 19-20 millimeter size; and the didrachm
was slightly smaller at a 17-18 millimeter diameter. Designs for each of the
coins were kept at a portrait obverse, but, ingeniously used as another
attempt to keep the people and legions happy, reverses featuring Serapis and
Nike were utilized. A final coinage reform would take place in the production
of a gold aureus featuring Victory and a bronze follis featuring the Roman
Genius. These two highly known Roman denominations were most likely used as a
source of payment for external trade, thus supporting the argument that
Domitianus had very long term plans in mind for Egypt. In the end,
these monetary reforms must have struck a chord with the populace because
Domitianus’ popularity was solidified even more resoundingly. The
End of the Dream Meanwhile,
as Domitianus stabilized himself more within the Egyptian culture, the full
wrath and fury of Rome was bearing down on him. Diocletian, who had
earlier sent Domitianus to Egypt in an attempt to stop the troublesome
rebellions, now found his former confidant leading the rebellion against
him. Showing his resolve in the affairs of Domitianus, Diocletian sent
Galerius, his Caesar, to deal with the Persian conflict in Syria, as he
personally took charge of the expedition into Egypt. However, victory
would not come easily for Diocletian. In a drawn out series of quick
skirmishes and forceful tactics, and with limited military resources,
Domitianus was actually able to withstand Diocletian’s relentless advances
for months on end. This infuriated the tetrarch to even greater
resolve. Finally, by late December 297 CE, Diocletian had regained control of
almost every area of Egypt. Alexandria, itself, had yet to capitulate. It is
here, at this point, where the numismatic, papyrological, and literary
histories become muddled and contradictory. In some literary
references, it is believed that Domitianus raised his "corrector” and
head official of Alexandria’s defense, Aurelius Achilleus, to the status of
co-Augustus in an attempt to divide between them much of the work that was
still required in Egypt. A second,
more whimsical belief, as suggested by the papyrological record, is that
"Achilleus” was simply a nickname given to Domitianus by the
Alexandrians, much like the nickname "Caracalla” being given to Marcus
Aurelius Antoninus a century earlier. Currently, however, most
historians, in an attempt to unify the contradicting records, believe that
Domitianus died, or was killed, in December of 297 or January of 298 CE, and
that he was simply succeeded by Achilleus as ruler. By any measure, it
is well known that Diocletian, at last, succeeded in putting down the revolt
by March of 298 CE. It is also
very well understood that Diocletian was so infuriated with the resistance of
Domitianus, or Achilleus, or both, that he uncharacteristically permitted
general proscription and massacre in Alexandria once it had fallen. As
a result, Egypt would plummet even more harshly into the darkness of an
Empire that would soon crumble itself. Epilogue In several
texts concerning ancient coinage, the name Domitius Domitianus is synonymous
with the title of usurper and rebel… very little else is written or known
about him. To say the very least, perhaps more attention should be
placed squarely upon what Domitianus was able to accomplish in his short span
of power. In eight months time, Domitianus miraculously outmaneuvered
the most powerful military force the world had ever known, while also
invoking positive reforms in the government, agriculture, and finance of
Egypt. As authoritatively written by James W. Curtis, "…Domitianus
emerges as one of the few potentially great men, who might, under other
conditions, have arrested indefinitely the gradual decay of the erstwhile
granary of the eastern Mediterranean, Egypt.” In accomplishing so much for
Egypt in a matter of months, had his usurpation gone unchecked, one wonders
what he or his officials may have been able to do if given the span of years.
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