Julia Sabina visiting Egyptian antiquities at Thebes

A Roman visitor to the Egyptian tombs - one of the earliest of a long line of Egyptian tourists before the colossal statues of Memnon in the early years of the Christian era. Julia Sabina, wife of the Emperor Hadrian, paying a visit to Thebes, borne in an Egyptian palanquin carried by four men. At her side is an attendant who job was to bear a parasol made of thin leather stretched on a light frame and richly painted. The duty of this attendant was to change his position according to the direction of the sun in order to keep a constant shadow on the person sitting in the palanquin. The Empress is escorted by the Egyptian authorities and Roman colonial soldiers in their light, leather armour, the centurion and the signifier carrying the lupa (the emblem of Rome). On the left of the drawing are the Shairetana of the Guard, a corps devoted to the kings of Egypt, and composed of foreign prisoners. The giant statues both represent the King Amenophis III

Antiquities Apr16 Colossal Memnon Palanquin Sabina Thebes Tombs

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