In Assassin's Creed Origins, set in the Ptolemaic period, i came across some statues of angels on a stronghold (Pharos Garrison, which i believe is the Lighthouse of Alexandria). Is this accurate? Did ancient egyptians believed in angels? I thought angels (as depicted by the statues) were a "christian" thing and that hebrews were some scattered tribes at the time and didnt have enough importance as to have statues built and erected on monuments
Picture of statue in AC origins: https://i.imgur.com/QIPrn8d.jpg video: https://youtu.be/GkXHLRrDH0o
That's not an angel (angels don't even look like that in the Jewish tradition), it's a Nike. Unless we want to get really silly and maintain that since Nike is an ἄγγελος for the gods that makes her an angel. In particular it's the Winged Victory of Samothrace, or a possible restoration of her. Her arms and head are now missing, but it's often thought that her right hand was either holding a wreath or tooting a trumpet, based on the evidence of coins. Also from coins comes the staff in her left hand, but for some reason it's been changed to a weird trident thing instead of the crossed staff (I believe it's supposed to be a ship's mast) she's usually seen carrying on coins of this type. She's also of course missing her paint, which would still have been extant in antiquity, and the Winged Victory of Samothrace was probably originally on a pedestal shaped like the prow of a ship, on which she was alighting to place the wreath of victory (or toot the horn)
As the previous commenter said, that’s not an angel. According to multiple sources, there were statues of the Greek god Triton on the four corners of the Lighthouse of Alexandria. Triton carried a trident so that would explain the trident that the statue is carrying. However, I’m not sure why Triton would have wings. My guess is that the developers of AC Origins took some liberties when designing the Lighthouse. That said, it could be a mix between Triton and a Nike.
To answer your question about angels during that period: angels in a modern “Christian” sense didn’t really exist. Since the Ptolemies had control of Egypt, there was a large Greek influence. The word for angel does come from the Greeks, but it means “messenger”. It’s very much different from the modern image of angels. Even in the Ancient Egyptian religion, I don’t believe there were angels. So basically: no, they didn’t.
Thank you both for your replies. I though it was really strange to see an angel statue there, I am now enlightened and your replies makes way more sense (due to my lack of knowledge I immediately associated that statue to one of an angel). Cheers!
