Ancient Roman-era Buddha statue discovered in Egypt

Archaeologists have unearthed an ancient Buddha statue made of stone in the Egyptian Red Sea port city of Berenike. The find made from Mediterranean marble, said to be the first of its kind west of Afghanistan, sheds new light on trade and contact between Egypt and India.

The find has “important indications over the presence of trade ties between Egypt and India during the Roman era”, the head of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) Mostafa Al-Waziri was quoted as saying.

✨Spectacular✨ discovery at the Red Sea #port of #Berenike #Egypt – a #Buddha statue in the forecourt of the Isis temple, 2nd-3rd c. CE. Important new evidence of exchange of religious beliefs as part of the sea trade between India & Roman Egypt!https://t.co/uOvQwqIbgV

— Ilona Regulski (@ilonareg) April 26, 2023

A statement issued by the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities last week confirmed that a Polish-US team discovered the statue “dating back to the Roman era while digging at the ancient temple in Berenice” and mentioned that the two-foot-tall statue, believed to date back to the second century CE has a halo around the statue’s head and is covered with rays of sun, “which indicates his radiant mind.” A symbolic lotus flower is also depicted by its side.

The ministry added that the discovery will help shed light on the unique role played by Egypt, which was “centrally located on the trade route that connected the Roman Empire to many parts of the ancient world.”

The discovery was first reported last week by William Dalrymple in the New York Review, noting that the recovered statue was carved from “the finest Mediterranean marble in a part Indian-Gandharan, part Romano-Egyptian style.”

Additionally, the researchers found another artefact at the excavation containing an inscription in Sanskrit that has been dated to the middle of the third century CE, during the reign of Marcus Julius Philippus, known as Philip the Arab. Two coins from the middle Indian Kingdom of Satavahana dating to the second century CE were also unearthed at the site.

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