A Study of an Unpublished Roman Statue of a Muse from the Bahnasa Museum Storehouse within the Scope of the Hellenistic Artistic School of Rhodes

Abstract

This study offers an analysis of an unpublished limestone sculpture depicting a headless female figure (Inv. F420), currently stored in the Bahnasa Museum storehouse. While the Alexandrian school traditionally dominated the sculptural tradition of Ptolemaic and early Roman Egypt, the statue at hand indicates the assessment of the Hellenistic Rhodian artistic school. The figure, distinguished by a refined contrapposto stance and layered Roman attire comprising a stola and palla, is identified here as a Roman-period reinterpretation of the renowned Muse group attributed to the 3rd-century BC sculptor Philiskos of Rhodes. Through analyses of sculptural methodology and aspect ratio, the study examines the statue’s arm-sling, drapery, and its distinctive fusion of the Herculaneum and Ceres archetypes. Comparative morphological analysis with specimens from Rhodes, Cairo, and Miletus confirms that the statue is a manifestation of Rhodian realistic techniques, specifically the use of transparent drapery to deify the feminine form and the abolishment of nudity. By re-categorising this figure as a Muse rather than a generic intellectual woman or a funerary monument. This study clarifies the reach of Rhodian stylistic immunity into provincial Egypt, providing critical evidence for the spread of Hellenistic-Rhodian traditions through Roman cultural transmission during the first three centuries AD.