La regina nel vaso : un frammento di oinochoe 'creto-alessandrina' da Festòs e le interazioni con il regno tolemaico

The Queen in the Vase: a fragment of a 'Creto-Alexandrian' Oinochoe from Phaistos and its interactions with the Ptolemaic kingdom.Between 2015 and 2018, Ca' Foscari University of Venice conducted archaeological research in the area west of the Hellenistic ramp of Phaistos, under the direction of Prof. F.M. Carinci, in collaboration with the University of Catania and under the sponsorship of the Italian Archaeological School at Athens. The investigations aimed to define the extent, chronology, and road network of the Hellenistic settlement. During the 2017 excavation campaign, a large rectangular pit was uncovered, containing ceramic materials from the Minoan, Geometric-Archaic, and Hellenistic periods, including a fragment of an oinochoe with a plastic decoration depictinga female head.

The fragment belongs to a trilobed vase of Cretan production, inspired by the so-called Alexandrian "queen's jugs",characterized by applied plastic decorations and a visual language linked to the cult of the Ptolemaic rulers. The stylistic features of the head, particularly the central-parted hairstyle (Melonenfrisur), allow the fragment to be dated between the late 3rd century BCEand the first half of the 2nd century BCE, corresponding to the floruit of trilobed oinochoe production in central Crete. The fragment expands the documentation of Cretan ceramics with plastic decoration and testifies to the cultural and artistic interactions between Crete and the Ptolemaic kingdom. Phaistos emerges as a significant node within these networks, involved not only in trade routes between the Aegean and the Nile Delta but also in cultural, political, and religious exchanges with Hellenistic Egypt [Publisher's Text].

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