55 – Torso of Harchebi

Torso of Harchebi (Archibios); Ptolemaic, 170-116 BCE. Harchebi was an Egyptian priest who served as dioiketes (finance minister) during the reign of Ptolemy VIII (170-116 BCE). He wears a traditional three-part kilt and holds both arms tightly at his sides, clenching rolls of cloth, a sign of status. The relief scene at the top of the inscribed back pillar shows him making offerings to the gods of Mendes, in the eastern Nile Delta: Harpokrates, the Ram of Mendes, and Hatmehyt. The hieroglyphic inscription on his belt provides his Egyptian name as well as its Greek form, Archibios. As a high official in the Ptolemaic administration, he used both names in performing his duties within a bilingual society.

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