Lot Essay
It has been suggested that this cameo represents the Ptolemaic minister Sosibius in the guise of Hercules. As advisor to both Ptolemy IV and V he held great power at court for over thirty years. For a similar intaglio see M.-L. Vollenweider, Camées et intailles, I, Les portraits grecs du Cabinet des Médailles. Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, 1995, p. 91, nos 75 and 75a.