The Ancient Egyptian Cameo of Ptolemy

Ptolemaeer-Cameo

The Ptolemaeus cameo, also known as the Ptolemaeer Cameo

Pictured is the Ptolemaeus cameo, also known as the Ptolemaeer Cameo. Vienna (Ptolemy, Ptrolemaer-kameo) Cameo
Sardonyx (11 layers).

Also identified as Ptolemy II Philadelphos and Arsinoe, but has been argued as Claudian and Severan. Evidence that it may have switched identities with the Gonzaga cameo during history only further complicates the scholarship but most feel comfortable identifying it as a product of Alexandria under the Ptolemies.

The Habsburgs also described this as the “Gonzaga cameo”, probably on assumption that it had not been stolen by the Swedes in 1648. The original Gonzaga Cameo is shown at The Hermitage Museum, Russia. This results in considerable confusion between the two.

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