Experts identified ancient Egyptian iconography in a Roman-era bathhouse in Sagalassos, Turkey, marking what some have described as the first-known instance of this imagery used outside Egypt for ornamental purposes.
Depicted on the lintel of the bathhouse doorway is the sphinx god Tutu, who symbolized protection, while two human figures wearing the crowns of Upper and Lower Egypt are shown flanking either side of the doorway. All this imagery was meant to show how Tutu guarded over the entire kingdom of Egypt.
On the finely engraved marble panel are several ancient Egyptian deities, among them Horus, who was known as the falcon-headed god of the sky, war, and kingship, and Sobek, the crocodile-headed god of the Nile, fertility, and protection.
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The panel, which dates to the reign of Roman Emperor Augustus between 27 BCE and 14 CE, was found during ongoing excavations in the frigidarium, or cold room, at the bathhouse. An analysis of the marble revealed that the slab came from more than 124 miles away from the Afyonkarahisar region of Turkey.
“The scene we reexamined last year, engraved on Afyon marble, offers a unique insight into the decorative programs of sanctuaries dedicated to Egyptian deities outside the Nile region,” Peter Talloen, the excavation director and archaeology department head of Bilkent University, told Anadolu Agency.
He added, “No other example of this iconography is known outside Egypt. The Sagalassians did not worship Egyptian gods; they only used them for decorative purposes.”
Sagalassos has a rich history of more than 12,000 years of human habitation and started as a settlement along the slopes of Mount Akdağ. Dubbed the “First City of the Province” under Roman Emperor Hadrian, Sagalassos was the foremost urban center of Pisidia in its heyday. The site is on UNESCO’s World Heritage Tentative List, with a number of artifacts having been unearthed since excavations started in 1989.