Block with cartouche of Alexander the Great or his son Alexander IV of Macedon
Description
Limestone
AI image analysis GPT-5.4-nano
Machine-generated from the object's image on Jul 2026. Not curatorial; treat deities, names, and signs below as the model's best reading, not authority.
A limestone block bearing an incised oval cartouche-like frame filled with hieroglyphic-style lines.
The object is a roughly rectangular stone block, shown in three-quarter view. The front face contains a large, vertically oriented oval/cartouche frame with an inner field filled by incised, hieroglyphic-like signs arranged in rows. Below the cartouche area there are two shallow, rounded cavities or holes, possibly modern losses or intended drill points, but their function is unclear from the image. No readable Greek, Coptic, or Arabic text is visible. No clear figural deities or royal portraits are present; the decoration is confined to the cartouche inscription area. Overall surface wear and chipping around edges suggest age-related erosion; tool marks are visible on the carved signs.
Connections
About this record's data
- From the source institution — accession, description, dimensions, and dating are as catalogued by Metropolitan Museum of Art — Egyptian Art (Open Access).
- AI-inferred — the image-analysis panel (deities, names, signs) is machine-generated and may be wrong.
- Approximate location — most map points are plotted at the site centroid, not the exact findspot.
- Inferred links — cross-references marked with a match method other than explicit-source-field were matched by us, not stated by the source.