Unusual in many respects, this bronze bust represents Ptolemy of Mauretania, last of his name and the very last Hellenistic ruler who could track his lineage back to Alexander the Great’s general. This lineage was through his maternal grandmother, Kleopatra VII of Egypt.
It is tempting to read the boy’s concerned, rather pinched expression as an indication of the prince’s somewhat tenuous status. As the heir of Juba II and his noble consort Kleopatra Selene (both parents were raised in the Roman household of Octavia…captives by another name), he grew up in the vassal kingdom of Mauretania – vastly cultured but under Augustus’ thumb and liable to be squashed at his pleasure.
But the prince’s cultural displacement can’t compete with his bust’s peripatetics: it was found during the mid-19th century buried in Uppsala’s central square – apparently brought back by an intrepid Scandinavian grand tourer (or Viking? Can we start this theory!?) then lost or discarded.
It measures a scant 19 cm tall, an early example of the format at small scale, and perhaps an indication that it was displayed in a private context, the object of some loyal Hellenist’s devotion.
