The Severan commemorative relief at Cyrene : the portraiture

Abstract

On the author's first visit to Cyrene in summer 1972, he was so intrigued by the figurative relief standing on the south side of the so-called Valley Street, immediately to the east of the modern village of Shahat, that the author decided to include it in his doctoral thesis. Dr Bonanno visited the site in the distinguished company of the late Prof. D. E. Strong, who was then his research supervisor, and Mr. Philip Kenrick. They spent together some hours in front of this fascinating monument discussing a number of points concerning the architecture of the building to which it belonged, the identification of the figures, the iconography of the then hypothetical portraits, and the reading of the inscription. A full description and discussion of the monument were given by Professor Strong in a lecture delivered at the British Museum on the occasion of the opening of the Exhibition of Libyan Antiquities on 14th June, 1973, and later published in the Society for Libyan Studies Report. The author returned to Cyrene in summer 1973 in order to make a more thorough examination of the relief and to produce a number of detailed photographs of the heads. The contents of this article are the result of these observations and the stimulating discussions he had with Professor Strong on the subject.