A iconografia de Petosíris no túmulo de Tuna el-Guebel

Abstract

From an artistic and architectonic perspective, the luxurious tomb of Petosiris, at Tuna el-Gebel is one of the most interesting monuments from the beginning of the Ptolemaic period. The tomb was built and decorated by the high priest of Thoth at the end of his life, in Hermopolis, probably circa 300 BC, and it expresses the characteristic cultural-artistic juxtaposition, a feature of Hellenism. For the first time, we see emerging in an Egyptian monument (in this case, a tomb) a decorative grammar with other style and technique influences, different from everything that had been seen before in Egyptian art. The bas-reliefs in the facade, in the pronaos and in the naos of the tomb, present the biography of Petosiris, or his auto-presentation in visual form, expressed in dual style. In a deliberated convergence and conciliation of traditions, we see an iconographic treatment that borrows both from the pharaonic and the Greek style. In this text, we will address the various iconographic representations of Petosiris in his tomb, at Tuna el-Gebel, aiming to understand its typology, functions and distribution among the three rooms of the building