Isis

Aphrodite is often assimilated to the Egyptian goddesses Hathor or Isis. The latter played a fundamental role in the religious life of Alexandria. It is quite plausible that her temple was founded by Alexander. At this point, Isis was already known to the Greeks: it is in 333/2 BC, the very year of Alexandria’s foundation, that her temple in the Piraeus is first mentioned, in a decree of the Athenian council (Vidman 1969:1). And, notably, her cult had expanded considerably in Egypt in the first millennium BC (Dunand 2000). Herodotus was right to state that ‘‘all Egyptians worship them [Isis and Osiris]’’ (2.42). Isis had several temples in Alexandria, one on Cape Lochias, another on the Pharos island, and she certainly had a cult space inside the great temple of Sarapis. Several coastal towns close to Alexandria, also had temples dedicated to her, notably Menuthis, near Canopus, where her cult is attested until a very late period (fifth century AD). The little Isiac sanctuary at Ras el-Soda, to the east of Alexandria, was built in the second century AD by a rich individual, one Isidorus. Injured in a chariot accident, he dedicated this temple to thank the goddess for healing him. The monumental statue discovered there represents one of the most typical images of Alexandrian Isis, treated in the most classical ‘‘Greco-Roman’’ styles.

What was actually new about the Isiac cult, as it functioned at Alexandria, was that it was expressed through imagery quite different to that which the Egyptian tradition had developed. It was not just her figurative image that changed; so did, in part at least, the mental image of her. The traditional representation of her continued to thrive in the great temples built in the Ptolemaic and Roman periods, Philae, Dendera, and Kalabsha. But new images appeared, probably developed in an Alexandrian context. The goddess began to sport a very specific hairstyle and clothing, which henceforth would constitute her identifying characteristics, and those too of he devotees: neck-length hair in ringlets and a fringed cloak tied over the chest. She was also given new attributes, the cornucopia and the situla, a small jar of milk with a pointed base. Terracotta figurines, found in large numbers in Alexandria and in the chora, display the goddess in varying forms that often reinterpret ancient models, as in the case of the motif of Isis suckling Harpocrates. It is more surprising to find a nude image of Isis, identifiable by her crown with horns and disk atop a large pile of flowers and leaves. Nudity was excluded from the traditional representation of goddesses in Egypt (Dunand 1990). A completely new aspect is that of ‘‘Lady of the Sea,’’ protectress of sailors. These images accordingly represent Isis resting on a rudder and holding the cornucopia that is the attribute of Tyche. On intaglios and coins she is shown standing opposite the Alexandrian Pharos. These images were probably developed outside priestly control, which was focused on temple decoration. The terracotta figurines, whether they represent Egyptian gods or Greek ones, were made in the same workshops that manufactured common crockery (Mysliwiec 1996); they are hardly ever found in temple contexts, but rather in houses (or tombs). These were the devotional objects one kept with oneself.

Do the new images of Isis represent a ‘‘hellenization’’ of the goddess? The concept hardly seems to be applicable (Dunand 1999, 2000). Some of the images express well-known and ancient aspects of the goddess but conform with new modes of representation. Others attribute to her aspects that were not formerly hers. All these coexisted, but we cannot know for which clientele they were destined. The frequency of a motif allows us at best to estimate the ‘‘popularity’’ of this or that aspect of the goddess. Isis Aphrodite, the nude goddess, and the ‘‘divine mother’’ Isis, suckling Harpocrates, are particularly widespread, and perhaps reflect the preferences of a female clientele.