Art That’s Fit for a Queen

In the ancient Greek pitcher above, a woman with long flowing locks hugs a cornucopia to her body and offers a libation to the gods. While beautifully crafted, this oinochoe (pitcher) would have represented much more than just a serving vessel to its owner.

It starts with the subject depicted: Berenike II, queen of Egypt, who was worshipped as a goddess and whose cult followers would have used the jug during religious festivals in her honor.

For a royal woman living in the ancient Greek empire, a pitcher, temple, or golden crown could serve a double purpose: as an admirable work of art, and also as a powerful political tool.

In her upcoming book The Art of Queenship in the Hellenistic World, art historian Patricia Eunji Kim dives into the fascinating world of ancient Greek queens and how artists portrayed them—and what political purposes this art served. Focusing on the Hellenistic period (from the fourth to second centuries BCE) and defining “queens” as women who were members of royal and dynastic families, Kim explores how ancient royalty used art to their advantage. On March 3, 2025, in honor of International Women’s Day, Kim will explore the art of queendom in her online talk “Portraying Power: Representations of Hellenistic Queens.”

In between her teaching and research duties as assistant professor of art history at New York University, Kim recently shared what we can learn about ancient queens and dynasties from examining their art, and what this art tells us about the dynasties’ expectations for women (which may seem familiar to us today).

How did royal women participate in the arts?

We have examples of queens as patrons of art and architecture. For instance, the queen Apollonis of the Attalid kingdom refurbished and supported the expansion of the Temple of Demeter. What’s really cool about Apollonis’s patronage is that we think the Temple of Demeter was particularly important to women and girls who would participate in cultic activities there.

We have queens as inspiration for artistic innovation. For instance, Pliny the Elder writes that King Ptolemy II worked with or had plans to work with the architect Timocrates to create an innovative new portrait of his sister (also wife), Queen Arsinoe II—in which she would appear to be floating in space—by using lodestone, which is a magnetic material, and her portrait, which would have been made of iron. Although this story might be apocryphal, it speaks to the innovative thinking and creative practices around representing queens in the Hellenistic period.

Queens are also represented in the arts via queen cults. Queens and kings during the Hellenistic period had their own cults in which they were worshipped. Sometimes queens were also synced with important goddesses like Aphrodite, and scholars are stumped whether to identify a figure as a representation of a goddess or representation of a queen, because a lot of times the features are shared.

Did art representing queens have any qualities, materials, or styles in common?

The Hellenistic period is famous for cultural and artistic “mixing.” A good example of this at the Getty Villa Museum is the faience oinochoe (shown above). This vessel is typically Greek in shape but made out of faience, a material affiliated with Egyptian art, and depicts a Ptolemaic queen in Egypt. We see a lot of experimentation happening thanks to cross-cultural and political contact. Of course, cross-cultural encounters through art are not unique to the Hellenistic period. But that’s one of the things that I love about the Hellenistic period and one of the things that Hellenistic art is famous for.

Art representing queens in the Hellenistic period did not have one single material or style. Despite the visual and material diversity, there were particular themes of queenship shared across Hellenistic dynasties and kingdoms. For instance, themes around the importance of motherhood, sisterhood, and being a good wife—a lot of themes that have to do with kinship—abounded in both representations of queens and in the kinds of art and architecture queens supported.

What political purpose did art serve for queens?

If a queen was a patron of a work of art or cultic space, that was often a way for the entire dynasty to signal that it cared about its subjects. Any power holder who decided to create something on behalf of the public was trying to signal a sense of caring, perhaps paternalism, and to create a sense of reciprocity. Sometimes the inclusion of queens in public art and monuments helped symbolize dynastic and political stability, especially since the concept of the dynastic family became so important in the Hellenistic period.

Power is not a neutral, static thing—power is very fragile. And leaders in the Hellenistic world were vying for power all the time. Using dynastic women to help convey and communicate stability, legitimacy, and continuity was part of an important ideological and political project to maintain power.

Who is your favorite queen that you write about in your book?

I really enjoyed the Seleucid Queen Laodice III, who was responsible for acting as a patron and benefactor for women and girls across western Anatolia. When she died in around 193 BCE, her husband, Antiochus III, ordered that a pan-imperial cult on her behalf be set up. The Seleucid dynasty elected other dynastic women—for example, the daughters of important dynasts and rulers that they had made alliances with—and sent these women to serve as priestesses on behalf of Laodice III’s cult. These priestesses were directed to wear golden crowns with the portrait of Laodice III emblazoned on them, activating her presence by wearing her portrait as a costume. I love this example because it demonstrates that we have to be creative in looking for queens in the art historical record—beyond just extant portraits. It also illuminates the importance of kinship and family relations and the different ways in which dynastic women could participate in political projects; in this case, as priestesses of an important imperial cult.

What does Hellenistic art of queens reveal about expectations for women at that time?

The responsibility of fertility and reproducing on behalf of the kingdom was a huge expectation that we see across many different dynasties. Even today in our own contemporary society, a lot of women are pressured to marry and to reproduce. We see power holders placing specific expectations and responsibilities onto the bodies of women.

But then you have other examples in which women are represented as caring for their community of women, or queens supporting women who may not have had the economic means to get married. Laodice III is one queen reported to have done this and was honored in public for her generosity. Of course, these acts of generosity served a political purpose. What’s fascinating is that sisterhood was rhetorically important for queenship. Laodice was not only called a sister to her king (who was actually her cousin) but also conceived as a sister to the subjects of the empire.

Sign up here to attend Kim’s free talk Portraying Power: Representations of Hellenistic Queens.