The Tomb from Tigrane Pasha Street and the Iconography of Death in Roman Alexandria

Abstract

In this article the author argues that a tomb from Tigrane Pasha Street in Alexandria, which is dated by the architectural conceit of its decorated central dome to the Hadrianic period, is a tangible consequence of the interwoven strands of social and cultural ideologies that shaped Roman Alexandria. It is furthermore proposed that the Classical, Egyptian, and notably Alexandrian elements that the tomb incorporates in its decorative program have their basis in a social construct specific to Roman Alexandria and that these elements can be interpreted to illuminate aspects of the religious life of the city in the second century A.D. The Tigrane Tomb, which was uncovered in 1952 and initially published by Achille Adriani, presents a program contradictory in both style and iconography: on the one hand, the figures and narrative scenes on the walls of the triclinium-shaped chamber depict Egyptianized figures that assume an Egyptianizing style; on the other hand, the domed ceiling shows a central gorgoneion set amid foliage and agile animals treated in a Classical manner. It is here argued that these iconographic and stylistic differences denote ideological choices rather than merely dissimilar workshops. Moreover, it is proposed that the tomb stands as a monument to the cult of Isis and, because of its unified program and triclinium format, it is further conjectured that the Tigrane Tomb was the burial place for members of an Isiac dining guild.