“Discovering a Roman-era Buddha Statue in Bereniki, Egypt: Evidence of Indian Influence on Ancient Egyptian Culture”

The Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities said that the Polish-American archaeological mission has been operating in Brnicki since 1994, under the supervision of the Supreme Council of Antiquities.

According to the head of the mission from the Polish side, Mariusz Goyazda:

• The discovered statue is made of stone that may have been extracted from the south of Istanbul, or it may have been carved locally in Bereniki and dedicated to the temple by one or more wealthy merchants from India.

• The height of the statue is 71 centimeters, and it depicts the Buddha standing and carrying part of his clothes in his left hand.

• There is a halo around the head of the statue with the rays of the sun indicating his radiant mind, and next to him there is a lotus flower.

Other discoveries

The head of the mission from the American side, Stephen Sidbotham, also said that the mission also succeeded, during its work in the temple, in revealing:

• An inscription in the ancient Indian language (Sanskrit), dating back to the Roman Emperor Philip the Arab (Marcus Julius Phelps) (244 to 249 AD).

• It seems that this inscription is not from the same date as the statue, which may be much older, as the other inscriptions in the same temple were in Greek, dating back to the early first century AD.

• Two coins from the second century AD were also found, from the central Indian kingdom of Satavahana.

Influenced by the Egyptian civilization

Commenting on this, Jamal Al-Samatawi, Director of Central Egypt Antiquities, told Sky News Arabia that the discovery of a statue of Buddha as well as Indian inscriptions and coins “suggests and even demonstrates that the Indians who came to Egypt at this time were influenced by the Egyptian culture and civilization, which was concerned with sculpture, documentation and history.” On the walls of temples, and through statues and inscriptions.

Al-Samstawy continued, “Everyone who came to Egypt was affected by its civilization, and the ancient Egyptian artist always presented sculptural and other works that blended Egyptian culture with other cultures, such as mixing ancient Greek and Egyptian art in many tombs and archaeological sites.”

historical relations

On the other hand, the Secretary of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities, Mostafa Waziri, said that the current excavation season of the Polish-American mission in Brnicki city “has witnessed many important evidence of the existence of trade links between Egypt and India during the Roman era.”

He explained that “Egypt is centrally located on the trade route that linked the Roman Empire to many regions of the ancient world, including India.”

He continued: “There were many ports during the Roman era on the Red Sea coast in Egypt participating in this trade, the most important of which was Berenice, as ships arrived from India loaded with products such as pepper, semi-precious stones, textiles and ivory, where they were unloaded and transported on camels across the desert to Nile, and then other ships would carry the goods to Alexandria and from there to the rest of the Roman Empire.