By Jacqueline Engel
The head with its distinctive features confirms that this statue represents the Roman Emperor Caracalla.
He is known for granting Roman citizenship to all free inhabitants of the Empire, including Egypt.
His furrowed eyebrows, high cheekbones, and short moustache are easily recognisable. His curly locks and short and equally curly beard are typical of Caracalla’s time.
The body is sculpted in traditional pharaonic fashion. Both arms are pinned to the body and each hand contains a cylindrical object. Caracalla is wearing a shendyt kilt and a nemes headdress.
Unlike ordinary citizens, emperors were allowed to have their images in public and military places, as a means of propaganda or to stand in for the emperor to encourage loyalty.
Cult statues, such as this one, were placed in temples to emphasise the emperor’s divinity.
Roman, reign of Caracalla
AD 211-217,
Quartsite
Mendes, inside the temple enclosure of Banebdjedet.
CG 702 Egyptian Museum Cairo
LA CIVILTA' EGIZIA 