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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 09 November 2018
For centuries after the death of Alexander the cult of the Egyptian gods, and of Isis in particular, was widespread in the Mediterranean. The fact is of considerable importance in the history of religious ideas; yet it has not received much special attention. Perhaps this is not altogether surprising. The range of the search is wide and the task daunting. The subject of Isis–Hellas is unclaimed by Egyptology. For its proper exploration the classical scholar must delve into many fields. Besides the epigraphical and numismatic evidence many literary texts have to be read. Sculpture, painting, magical amulets and papyri can all be turned to account. Some fresh approach may suddenly throw the Isiac faith into a strange light as when Merkelbach four years ago found links between its mysteries and the romantic tales by such writers as Achilles Tatius and Heliodorus. Abundant proof for the existence of the Egyptian cult on the Greek mainland and in the Aegean and Asia Minor has been brought forward by Rusch, Brady and Magie. Yet we have to bear in mind how strong it also became during the Imperial Age in Italy, as was shown years ago by Lafaye and more recendy by the Dane Alfoldi and the Vietnamese Tran Tam Tinh. No wonder then that a comprehensive and definitive work on Isis in all her countless guises (Isis Myrionymos) has still to be written.
page 48 note 1 Fontes Historiae Religionis Aegyptiacae, collected by Theodore Hopfner (1922–5) and still indispensable, is cited as Fh.
page 48 note 2 Roman und Mysterium in der Antike.
page 48 note 3 Rusch, De Sarapide et Iside in Graecia Cultis; Brady, , The Reception of the Egyptian Cults by the Greeks (Univ. Missouri Stud, x, 1)Google Scholar; Magie, , Egyptian Deities in Asia Minor (AJA, 1953)Google Scholar.
page 48 note 4 At the time of delivering this paper I had still to acquire copies of Vidman's Isis- und Sarapisverehrung im 3. Jahrhundert u. Z. (1965) and of Achmet El-Samman's ΑΙ Αἰγνπτιακαὶ Λατρεἴαι ἐv Ἑλλάδι (1965). Dr Gwyn Griffiths informs me he is planning an edition (with commentary) of Apuleius, , Metam. XI Google Scholar.
page 48 note 5 Fh 220, 8; 253, 35.
page 48 note 6 Jerem. xliv. 19 suggests to me Isis-Astarte.
page 49 note 1 Nilsson, Picard and Schefold have shown perception of this.
page 49 note 2 Fh 105, 18; PG v, 662 (the parallel was pointed out by Leipoldt).
page 49 note 3 See Morenz, Geschichte v. Joseph dem Zimmermann, 57, with citation of Pap. Brit. Mus. 10188.
page 49 note 4 Brugsch, Rel. u. Myth. 646. Cf. Fh 344, 7: Isis is φύσις αἰῶνος.
page 49 note 5 Isis herself was so called: Pap. Ox. 1380, 97.101.
page 49 note 6 Cf. Kerenyi, , Die Göttin Diana in Pannonien, 20 Google Scholar.
page 50 note 1 Cf. Άρχ. Έφ. 1898, 31 for ‘Grave of Isis’. Three years ago Orlandos found there a composite (2nd cent. A.D.) figure of Isis—Demeter.
page 50 note 2 Christian parallels are easy: the Magnificat, the Te Deum, the Akathist hymn, the Regina caeli and the Ave maris stella (cf. the Isiac Te superi colunt in Apul. 286, 28 Helm).
page 50 note 3 ‘Humilitas’ was expected of Isiac worshippers in the 3rd cent. A.D. (Fh 441, 35).
page 50 note 4 For example, Proclus links Isis with ἴσος (Fh 683, 19). Plutarch harks back to Plato's Ισία (ibid. 250, 30): and the Ionic form Ἔσιος ( JHS XXIV, 337 Google Scholar) may be mentioned. (Servius is wrong (Fh 615, 18) when he declares ‘Isis lingua Aegyptiorum est terra’.)
page 50 note 5 Cf. the πράξεις ἔναρεῖς of Diod. Sic. (Fh 105, 7) and El-Samman, op. cit. 96 and 103.
page 51 note 1 Fh 227, 33. As Drexler points out this can hardly have been a Greek invention. From Plutarch we also learn that a festival was celebrated on the 8th of the month Tubi in Egypt with the name ‘The Advent of Isis from Phoenicia’ (Fh 244, 33).
page 51 note 2 See El-Samman, op. cit. 78.
page 51 note 3 Moret holds that this was done for military reasons. Cf. Tinh, Tran Tam, Le Culte d'Isis à Pompéi, 19, n. 1Google Scholar.
page 51 note 4 Fh 106, 22.
page 51 note 5 Built by the Pharaoh of the XXVI Dynasty and visited by Herodotus.
page 51 note 6 So Nock, Conversion, 40.
page 52 note 1 The invocation of Isis at the beginning of the Andros hymn as ‘Queen of Egypt’ is followed by σειστροφόρος Βούβαστος.
page 52 note 2 Isis could also be identified with Artemis through the Babylonian fertility goddess Nanai (Pap. Ox. 1380, 106).
page 52 note 3 This name is surely due to paronomasia: Harpofoates (identical with Horos—Eros). The name Anthea has also divine overtones: Hera, Aphrodite, Artemis, Isis.
page 52 note 4 Nock well compares Lourdes, (Conversion, 140)Google Scholar.
page 52 note 5 With Acts, loc. cit., Bonner, (Mag. Amul. 172)Google Scholar compares (‘as a religious acclamation’) Ή Ή Κυρία Εἴσις ἁγνή and Μεγάλη Νέμεση ἡ Κυρία.
page 53 note 1 In the Museo Nazionale at Naples.
page 53 note 2 Strabo uses the old name, Josephus the new (its first inhabitants according to him being Syrians and Greeks): so the invocation may belong to the very early ist cent. a.d.
page 53 note 3 See Montet, , Fouilles de Byblos, 287 Google Scholar. Baethgen, , Byblos, 31 Google Scholar.
page 53 note 4 See Levi's, D. article ‘Mors voluntaria’ in Berytus, 1942, 19–55 Google Scholar.
page 53 note 5 SEG VIII, 548, 18.
page 53 note 6 QDAP, 1935, 62; PEFQS, 1932, 132, 141; 1927, 75, 81; 1921, 82 (surely Isis!); 1932, 17.
page 53 note 7 Caesarea, birthplace of Eusebius, Basil and Procopius and temporary home of Origen (known to have used the Caesarean text of Mark), was also the scene of three Church Councils.
page 53 note 8 Stephen in Jerusalem, speaking from the ‘Hellenist’ standpoint, appeals to ‘Egyptian wisdom’ (Acts vii. 22).
page 53 note 9 Gal. i presents a different one.
page 54 note 1 So Howell, E. B., Greece and Rome, March 64 Google Scholar.
page 54 note 2 See Barker, W. B., Lares et Penates, 191 Google Scholar.
page 54 note 3 Fh 271, 24.
page 54 note 4 The authenticity of some is disputed.
page 54 note 5 Paul himself (Acts xiii. 10) treated Elymas as Isis might have a foe of hers: εἔχθρὲ πάσης δικαιοσύνης.
page 54 note 6 Acts xvi. 9. Cf. xviii. 9; δι' ὁράματος and the κατ' ὄναρ of Matt. i. 20; ii. 13, 19.
page 54 note 7 Fh 719, 27. Cf. ibid. 219, 4; 281, 22; 441, 17. Commodus was keen enough as an Isiac to shave his head: ibid. 556, 36.
page 54 note 8 See Wiedemann, , Herod II, 192 Google Scholar (locus class.).
page 54 note 9 This Hellenistic identification is as old as Hecataeus Abderita, ibid. 60, 22. Cf. also Wessely, (Neue gr. Zauberpap. 1893, 498 Google Scholar). See Wittmann, , Isisbuch, 17 Google Scholar. Isis—Selene is important for Isis—Artemis.
page 55 note 1 The Athenians dedicated an Iseum there in 150 B.C. (Tran Tam Tinh, op. cit. 18) but they used none of the classical Egyptian architecture ( Roussel, , Les cultes ég. 68 Google Scholar).
page 55 note 2 Artemis is πρωτόθρονος in Callimachus.
page 55 note 3 Plutarch (Aet. Rom. 264 c) states that the horns of oxen were hung in a temple of Artemis on the Aventine Hill.
page 55 note 4 See El-Samman, op. cit. 68, n. 3.
page 55 note 5 Fh 320.
page 55 note 6 See Wittmann, op. cit. 19.
page 55 note 7 Cf. Roscher, Lexikon, s.v. As to the Hellenic treatment of Isis, Cumont (Rcl. Or.4 , 72) finds that she combines in her sweet meditative face, gracious and maternal, the ideals imagined for Hera and Aphrodite (which would suit Anthea in Xenophon's Ephesiaca). Cf. p. 52, n. 3 above.
page 56 note 1 The Isis—Aphrodite equation had been facilitated by the Isis—Hathor (e.g. at Aphroditopolis). See also P.O. 8, 22, 35, 38, 45, 67.
page 56 note 3 Roussel states (op. cit. 162) the name is not older than 107/6 b.c. This, however, is argumentum e silentio. Aphrodite is so called, CIG 4443.
page 56 note 3 Her epithets are ἐὐφορία, ἐνοδία, ἐφοδία.
page 56 note 5 Cf. Fh 320, 13. Jesus is recorded to have impressed his disciples by making the winds and sea obey him (Matt. viii. 27).
page 57 note 1 The closeness of the link is shown by the coin alliance (Magie, loc. cit. 173, n. 99).
page 57 note 2 I.e. the Nereids, whose father's peculiar haunts are the depths of the waters there.
page 57 note 3 Δεσμῶν δ' άέκουσαν ἀνάγκαν άνλύω. See also ll. 55–6 of Aretal. Cym.
page 58 note 1 See Tran Tam Tinh, op. cit. 19.
page 58 note 2 See Kaibel, Epig. Gr. 984, 4.
page 58 note 3 Fh 12, 16.
page 58 note 4 Ibid. 104, 33.
page 58 note 5 The Isis-Minerva association is commemorated in the name of the Roman church Maria sopra Minerva.
page 58 note 6 In the Ethnikon Mouseion at Athens is a statue of an Isiac priestess with the significant name Σοφία Ἀγαττητοῦ (ἐκ Κηραἰδων), depicted by Leipoldt, who points out that she becomes the goddess through her raiment and compares Gal. iii. 27.
page 58 note 7 Sap. III, 80.
page 58 note 8 Beauty and youth are ascribed to her in P.O. 30, 54, 59, 85, 90, 100.
page 58 note 9 Ibid. 185.
page 58 note 10 Fh 95, 35.
page 58 note 11 Kore appears as a name of the Panaghia in the Akathist Hymn, 48.
page 59 note 1 Fh 267, 18.
page 59 note 2 CIL vi, 1780.
page 59 note 3 P.O. 72 and 105; ibid. 540, 17; 470, 37.
page 59 note 4 CIL II, 3386.
page 59 note 5 Pascher points out that Isis was venerated as patroness of threatened chastity.
page 59 note 6 See Roschers Lexikon, s.v. Nemesis.
page 59 note 7 Gk. Pap. B.M. CXXI, 502–4.Google Scholar
page 59 note 8 P.O. 112.
page 59 note 9 JHS XXIV, 337 Google Scholar.
page 59 note 10 Plato had spent long years in Egypt.
page 59 note 11 In Xenophon's Ephesiaca Anthea is dedicated to Isis until the day of her wedding. Isis was the goddess of betrothal (Fh 461, 31).
page 60 note 1 See El-Samman, op. cit. 74.
page 60 note 2 P.O. 107.
page 60 note 3 See Nock, op. cit. 55.
page 60 note 4 Fh 542, 26.
page 60 note 5 In the Troad there was found a medallion portraying Isis-Athena wearing the lotus.
page 60 note 6 ‘Dispeller of assaults.’
page 60 note 7 A translation of the Apuleian, Dictynna Diana, Fh 320, 4Google Scholar.
page 61 note 1 Acts xiii. 46; xviii. 6.
page 61 note 2 Fh 253, 35: Ἴσιν δὲ καὶ τοὺς περὶ αὐτήν θεοὺς ἔχουσι καὶ γιγνώσκουσιν ἄπαντες. For the cult of Isis in the home cf. Tran Tam Tinh, op. cit. 103 ff.
page 61 note 3 See Rev. Hist. Relig. 1922, 172 Google Scholar.
page 61 note 4 BCH, 1929, 86.
page 61 note 5 In Harv. Theol. Rev. 1937, 231 Google Scholar. Cf. also Wilcken (UPZ I, 29) and Leclant, (Bull. Fac. Lett. Strasb. March 1959, 306 Google Scholar) for the growing ascendancy of Isis over Sarapis throughout the Empire.
page 62 note 1 Tran Tam Tinh (op. cit. 115) discusses the view that the Romans received Isis as a purely Hellenic deity.
page 62 note 2 Which seems plausible enough, as Africa had first produced this religion. In the Isiac ceremony depicted on the fresco at Herculaneum the dancing figure is sometimes regarded as a negro. But it may be a priest disguised to represent the god Bes (cf. Tran Tam Tinh, op. cit. 102).
page 62 note 3 P.O. 214.
page 62 note 4 Fh 230, 13 where Aeschylus is quoted: ἄποπτύσαι δεῖ καἰ καθήρασθαι στόμα.
page 63 note 1 Fh 470, 37.
page 63 note 2 Ibid. 511, 20.
page 63 note 3 Lafaye, (Hist. du culte des div. d'Alex. 132 ff.Google Scholar) discusses the priestly nomenclature. The Prophet is also styled High Priest (Ἀρχιερεύς) in Greek, and in Latin sacerdos maximus (summus, primarius, praecipuus). A priest may be called pater as in Mithraism and in the Orthodox Church.
page 64 note 1 Fh 717. He had actually seen these statues.
page 64 note 2 As any visitor to the Byzantine Museum in Athens can see. The thesis of P. Saintyves that St Christopher was the successor of Anubis has been attacked by Klauser as well as by Schwartz, J. in Muséon, 1954, 97 Google Scholar, but there is room for further debate.
page 64 note 3 According to P.O. 91 and 113 Isis was worshipped in Asia Minor (and more specifically in Caria) as Hekate (Trioditis).
page 64 note 4 Miss Toynbee (Hadr. Sch. 12) for convenience calls the figure ‘Africa’. To me it seems to portray Imperial Isis.
page 64 note 5 There are also a dolphin, lion, female panther, and eagle; as well as the lyre of Apollo, the serpent staff of Asklepios, the pincers of Hephaistos and the sword of Ares.
page 64 note 6 This was particularly true of Athens, as is pointed out by Sterling Dow. P.O. 84. The link is with Artemis—Hekate.
page 65 note 1 There it was that last year I heard the priest invoke Δέσποινα τοῦ κόσμου during the Liturgy referred to below, p. 66, n. 2, in front of the iconostasis behind which is the stele (upside down as I afterwards found out) inscribed with the Isis Aretahgy in which occurs the well-known τύραννος πάσης χώρας.
page 65 note 2 Lafaye suggests (correctly, I think) it is a replica of the ancient ex-voto ship commemorating the Navigium Isidis.
page 65 note 3 So Zarpello, , Verona e l'agro veronese (1954), 57.Google Scholar
page 65 note 4 See Schaafhausen's, article, Bonner Jahrb. 38 Google Scholar.
page 65 note 5 On this see Tran Tam Tinh, 111–12, with his allusion to the chicken bones.
page 65 note 6 See the Eccl. Hist., of Socrates (Fh 659, 13), followed by Sozomenus (ibid. 662, 30): the ankh had some resemblance to the cross and signified ‘life to come’.
page 65 note 7 Non-Christian names are Isidotus, Isidikos and Isias. Pauly-Wissowa lists 33 Isidores.
page 65 note 8 Migne, , PL 49, 245 Google Scholar.
page 65 note 9 So Merkelbach, op. cit. 23, 5.
page 65 note 10 Cf. Magie, loc. cit. 87.
page 65 note 11 Chaeremon (Fh 181) states that the Egyptian priests would go ‘42 days, less or more’ without animal food.
page 65 note 12 For mors voluntaria see Levi's, D. article in Berytus, VII, 19 Google Scholar.
page 66 note 1 Fh 441, 31.
page 66 note 2 Cf. the appeal to Panaghia in such an Orthodox liturgy as the Μικρὸς Παρακλητικὸς Κανών where the γένου μείτρια = the patrocinium of Apuleius, 278, 12 Helm.
page 66 note 3 Fh 178, 14. Cf. JRS XXVII, 165 Google Scholar, for the clay statue called Arousat-el-Nil thrown into the river.
page 66 note 4 Fh 156, 15; 216, 41.
page 66 note 5 Ibid. 352, 11. For δύναμις in the cult of Isis and Sarapis, cf. ibid. 662, 9. The phrase of Apuleius (276, 13, Helm), numinis potentia, translates δύναμις, not ἀρετή, as Merkelbach holds (op. cit. 112, n. 1).
page 66 note 6 Ibid. 462, 19.
page 66 note 7 Cited by Leipoldt-Morenz, , Heilige Schriften, 187 Google Scholar. For Isis feeding ‘Isu’ see Boll, , Sphaera, 512–13Google Scholar.
page 67 note 1 Cf. some words from his speech to his troops before the Batde of Actium: ‘Who will not be grieved to hear and see Antony bowing down to worship that woman as if she were Isis or the Moon?’ (Fh 374, 32). The whole passage is a bitter tirade against the religion of Egypt.
page 67 note 2 De Symb. IV, 1. The topic is fully dealt with by Lucius, , Anfänge des Heiligenkults, 444 Google Scholar.
page 67 note 3 Reff, are to be found in Mascall-Box, Blessed Virgin Mary, Appendix ‘The Woman of Revelation 12’. There the words of C. C. Martindale are cited: ‘The immediate appearance of Mary as the Second Eve in patristic literature must surely be due in part to this passage’ The chapter is also important for the Holy Grail legend ( Hagen, Paul, Der Gral, 70 Google Scholar).
page 67 note 4 Anubis had the special function of guarding the dead. Cf. the four Anubis gods mentioned by Kees (Göttergl.) as keeping vigil by the bier of Osiris.
page 67 note 5 Cf. the words of the Akathist hymn: ἡ μοχλοὺς καὶ πύλας Ἅιδου Δέσποινα τῷ τόκῷ σου συντρίψασα.
page 68 note 1 Cf. Andros hymn 36–9, 39–41, and Cyme hymn 27 and 30.
page 68 note 2 So Campbell Bonner, op. cit. 221.
page 68 note 3 Harnack, however (in Mission u. Aushr. Christ. ed. 4, II, 727 Google Scholar), suggests that her cult though long since meaningless was maintained up to the end of the 5 th century.
page 68 note 4 In the Akathist hymn: Δάμαλις τὸν μόσχον ἥ τεκοῆσα.
page 68 note 5 We may recall that Lucius wins his redemption at the end of a story which has as its key an unashamedly sexual episode.
page 68 note 6 Cf. Fh 102, 24; 229, 21; 238, 23. The thought of Osiris as possessing a power which is ἁγνὴ καὶ ἄχραντος is expressed by Iamblichus, Fh 500, 37.
page 69 note 1 Some of the topics discussed in this paper are touched on in an article due to be published in Studia Patristica (Akademie-Verlag), vol. VIII, Section vi, Histórica.