#apries amphora

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The Apries Amphora

Amphora with cartouche

Cartouches with hieroglyphs spelling out Wahibre and Haaibre, the names of Apries, encircle the neck. Below two boxers face each other over a cauldron. The cartouches and the boxers loin cloths are Egyptian features, but the shape and style of the vase are Greek.

It was probably made to order in Ionia for a customer in Egypt.

Made in north Ionia, about 550 BC. Found in Thebes, Egypt.

On loan from the collection of Herbert Cahn (HC1175) and the Petrie Museum (UC30035-ab)

British Museum

Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/24729615@N00/7689958022

Detail of the Apries Amphora with the cartouches of Apries

Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/antiquitiesproject/21222466542

Very interesting artifact! But I think that the production date for this amphora is perhaps some decades earlier than the date given above, because by 550 BCE ordering an amphora with the cartouches of Apries would be rather dangerous for an Egyptian: Apries, who had ascended the throne in 589 BCE, was overthrown in 570 BCE by a revolt of his Egyptian troops led by general Amasis and, according to contemporary Egyptian sources, he was killed in 567 BCE during an attempt to reclaim the throne with Babylonian help. Afterward Amasis ruled unperturbed as Pharaoh till his death in 526 BCE. It is difficult for me to imagine that even an Apries loyalist would dare to defy openly Amasis’ power by ordering and possessing an amphora with the cartouches of Apries that Amasis had overthrown and killed, given also that most Egyptians disliked, as it seems, Apries. The fall and death of Apries as a result of a revolt of the Egyptian troops and the rise of Amasis to the throne are narrated by Herodotus in Book II of Histories, although without mention of a Babylonian intervention in favor of Apries.

#ancient egypt #greco-egyptian interactions #apries amphora #herodotus #ancient greek pottery