engleski

Ancient Egyptian collection of the Franciscan Monastery at the island of Košljun: A case study of the possible evidence of the earlier penetration of the Ancient Egyptian artefacts in Illyricum

The Archaeological collection of the Franciscan monastery at the island of Košljun house ten Ancient Egyptian artefacts. Five of them can be considered as evidence of the earlier penetration of the Egyptian cultic elements at the island of Krk. The small Egyptian collection housed in Košljun includes shabti, pseudoshabti, three scarabs and five amulets of cats which were discovered during the unsystematic diggings of the ancient necropolis in the backyard of the house Šinigoj in the town Krk. These artefacts were discovered from the second half of the 19th century onwards. The story about the history of these artefacts was written in some documents in the monastery and was also told by the late Franciscan monk Mavro Velnić, who lived at the island of Košljun to the colleague Ranko Starac. According to these data it seems that shabti of queen Mehyt-weskhet, pseudoshabti and three scarabs supposed to be discovered in the late Hellenistic graves which could be dated in the late Hellenistic period, or the early Roman Principate. The five amulets of the cats supposed to be found in the graves from the 2nd and the 3rd century A.D. According to the archaeological context of these graves and the surrounding findings five Egyptian artefacts (shabti, pseudoshabti, and the three scarabs) the arrival of these objects to Krk can be dated during the period of the Civil war between Pompey and Caesar in the early second half of the First century B.C. or in the period of the early Principate. In this article author will review Mavro Velnić story about the excavations and the archaeological context of these findings and their importance. He will also try to proof that some of these artefacts could be the evidence of the earlier penetration of the Ancient Egyptian cultic material in Illyricum during the late Hellenistic period and early Roman Principate.

Archaeological collection of the Franciscan monastery at the island Košljun, Ancient Egyptian artefacts, shabtis, pseudoshabti

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