Alexander the Great (356–323 BC) was particuarly revered in Alexandria, the town he founded and his last resting place. His successor in Egypt, Ptolemy I, had managed to waylay Alexander’s mortal remains as they were returning from Babylon for burial in Macedon. A cult to a deified Alexander emerged around 290 BC. This statuette, one of a small group of Egyptian figures made for domestic worship, probably reproduces the cult statue erected near Alexander’s tomb. He wears the aegis, the goat-skin breatsplate worn by Zeus, identifying him with the god who had recognized him as his son at the Siwa oasis in Egypt.

Former Fouquet collection Purchased in 1922

Department of Greek, Etruscan, and Roman Antiquities