A Ptolemaic Stamped Amphora from Patara: Some Notes on Stamp Attribution and its Likely Implications

Abstract

Located in ancient Lycia at the southwest corner of Asia Minor, excavations at the important port city of Patara shed new light on the city’s relations with Ptolemaic Egypt. The most significant finds concerning Patara’s connection with the Ptolemaic Dynasty have emerged from ongoing fieldwork at the Tepecik settlement, located on a natural hill just east of the ancient inner harbour. During excavations conducted there in 2019, an ancient dump of pottery was identified in the İ-20 trench. The focus of this study concerns a unique stamped Egyptian amphora found in this dump. The stamp records the name Ptolemaios alongside a regnal year, thus indicating that the amphora represents royal production during the third century BC. In this study, I suggest that the name on the stamp should be attributed to King Ptolemy III Euergetes (246–222 BC) and explore the likely implications of royal production. [Formula: see text]