Roads of Arabia

18bis Arabie US p318-363.qxd 23/06/10 22:12 Page 334
ROADS OF ARABIA
Qaryat al-Faw
154. Statuette of Harpocrates
2nd–3rd century AD
Bronze
12.4 x 6.1 cm
Qaryat al-Faw
Department of Archaeology Museum, King Saud University, Riyadh, 248 F 6
155. Statuette of Heracles
1st–3rd century AD
Bronze
H. 25.3 cm
Qaryat al-Faw
Department of Archaeology Museum, King Saud University, Riyadh, 214 F 7
Bibliography: Al-Ansari 1982, p. 104; Parlasca 1989, pl. 11; ‘Aqil and Antonini
2007, p. 150, no. I Ac4/.
Harpocrates or “Horus the Child” is an Egyptian deity already
adopted by the Greeks in the Ptolemaic period, then popularized
and widely diffused in Roman times. At this time he was generally
represented as a naked child with his finger at his mouth, wearing
a vegetal crown and an Egyptian pschent (the double Egyptian
crown), which are reminiscences of his Egyptian iconography. In
addition to all these traditional attributes, the al-Faw statuette features
a cornucopia, a pair of wings and a bulla around his neck,
characteristic of Roman children. M. C.
The hero Heracles is identified by the lion skin and the club resting
on his left arm. The expression of his face is accentuated by the
inlays of his eyes and his partly open mouth. Initially, he held in his
right hand a drinking vessel, presently lost. This image of Heracles
nude, bearded and holding the drinking vessel won him the name
Hercules-Bibax, “the Drinker”; an iconography associating him
with Dionysus and also illustrating his participation in the banquets
of the gods and therefore his immortality. This type of
Heracles, fashioned after the canons established by the Greek sculptor
Polykleitos, was highly popular in Hellenistic and Roman times
and the diffusion of his cult transcended the boundaries of the
Greek world. M. C.
156. Statuette of Harpocrates
1st–3rd century AD
H. 32 cm; Max. w. 9.2 cm
Bronze
Qaryat al-Faw
Department of Archaeology Museum, King Saud University, Riyadh, 209 F 7
On the plinth of this statuette probably representing a deity (lunar?), we can make
out the name of person. Only a few letters can be deciphered in the visible part:
Hdrt bn (Z)‘[
Hidhdhārat son of (Z)‘…
(transcription C. R.)
This figurine differs from the traditional iconography of Harpocrates
(cat. no. 154) by the number of attributes. The Egyptian Child-God
is associated with a small horned bovine and a small figure with raised
arms wearing a loincloth. The scene is set on an inscribed cylindrical
base on which a winged gorgon’s face is applied. Hidhdharat, the
dedicator, may have had himself represented in the guise of the little
figure with uplifted arms ready to perform a sacrifice in the context
of a Graeco-Roman pagan cult. M. C.
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