During our trip to Rome, I was struck by the number of Egyptian artefacts. It seemed that almost every major piazza had an obelisk in its centre, albeit 'Romanised' with the Christian cross on top of it (later additions because mainly it was the ancient Romans who grabbed them). Apparently, there are eight obelisks in Rome, and the first was shipped over in 10 BC.
The Vatican Museums had rooms of Egyptian artefacts, including several burial masks and a mummy. The Egyptians have made no secret of the fact that they want their stuff back. Somehow, I don't think the Vatican is going to give it up.
Some of the ancient Romans really went head first for Egyptian style. The Vatican Museums house several Roman sculptures that fused Roman and Egyptian art. The picture below shows a marble sculpture with the head of Anubis, the Egyptian God of the Underworld, dressed in a Roman toga.
Egypt and Italy aren't usually mentioned in the same breath these days - their cultures are very different - but seeing these signs of Egypt in Rome, it reminded me that this was not always the case. When Augustus defeated Marc Antony and Cleopatra, Egypt became a province of the Roman Empire. Wouldn't Egypt be a different place if it was still ruled by the Italians... or even more interesting if Cleopatra had managed to pull off a reverse conquest.
Egypt has really turned its back on Europe since the revolution of 1952, and 62 years later the gulf is bigger than it has been in centuries. The veneer of European influence that grew here with the Brits for around 150 years has most certainly worn off.
No comments:
Post a Comment