Statue of Buddha unearthed at temple in Berenice

In a remarkable discovery that underscores the far-reaching connections of the ancient world, archaeologists unearthed a marble statue of the Buddha at the ancient seaport of Berenice on Egypt’s Red Sea coast. Found within the forecourt of a Roman-era temple dedicated to the goddess Isis, the statue reveals tangible evidence of contact between Egypt and India during the Roman Empire.

The find was announced by Dr Mostafa Waziri, Secretary General of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, who emphasised Egypt’s pivotal role in ancient maritime trade. During the early centuries A.D., Egypt served as a central hub linking the Roman world to distant lands, including India, through a sophisticated network of Red Sea ports, the most prominent of which was Berenice.

Excavations at Berenice have been conducted since 1994 by a joint American-Polish archaeological mission under the auspices of the Supreme Council of Antiquities. The current season’s findings provide compelling evidence of extensive Indo-Roman trade during the early imperial period. Goods from India; pepper, ivory, semi-precious stones, fine textiles, were shipped across the Indian Ocean to Berenice, where they were unloaded and carried by camel caravans across the Eastern Desert to the Nile. From there, the cargo was transported to Alexandria and distributed throughout the Roman Empire.

The marble Buddha, standing 71 centimetres tall (approximately 28 inches), depicts the Enlightened One standing serenely, draped in classical robes, with his left hand gently holding the edge of his garment. Behind his head is a halo adorned with radiating sun rays; symbolic of spiritual illumination. A lotus flower, sacred in both Indian and Egyptian iconography, stands beside him. Mariusz Gwiazda, director of the Polish team, described the workmanship as “exquisite”, noting that the statue was carved from stone likely quarried in what is now north-western Turkey, and sculpted locally (perhaps in Berenice itself) for a wealthy Indian merchant.

The piece draws heavily upon Greco-Roman artistic conventions. The solar crown evokes the imagery of Apollo or Helios, while the use of lotus and marble links Egyptian, Hellenistic, and Indian religious traditions. It is believed that the statue was commissioned for placement within the Isis Temple, indicative of the temple’s role as a shared space of worship. In this cosmopolitan setting, the Buddha would have stood alongside the deities of Egypt, Greece, and even the deified rulers of the Ptolemaic line, such as Alexander the Great.

Scottish historian and art critic William Dalrymple commented on the statue, saying: “There is growing evidence of contact between Buddhist India and the Roman world in the early centuries A.D. This image of the Buddha, probably sculpted in a workshop in Alexandria, was recently found at the Egyptian Red Sea port of Berenice.”

Inscriptions discovered at the site offer further insight. Among them is a Sanskrit inscription dating to the reign of the Roman emperor Philip the Arab (A.D. 244–249), likely unconnected to the Buddha statue but nonetheless affirming the presence of Indian cultural elements in Egypt. Additional Greek inscriptions from the same temple span the early first century A.D. to A.D. 305, attesting to the long duration of the temple’s use.

Equally significant is the discovery of two coins from the Satavahana dynasty of central India, dating to the second century A.D. These coins, found within the temple precincts, reinforce the enduring commercial and cultural exchanges between the Indian subcontinent and Roman Egypt.

According to The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt by Ian Shaw, the Ptolemaic dynasty had already fostered trade relations with Indian kingdoms via Red Sea ports, a system later expanded under Roman rule. With the infrastructure inherited from the Ptolemies, the Romans continued and greatly intensified this Indo-Mediterranean exchange.

The Berenice Buddha thus stands as a graceful testament to the global networks that flourished in antiquity—networks which not only carried spices and silks across continents, but also deities, ideas, and artistic traditions.