At least eight, and probably more, Egyptianizing terracottas actually are themselves vessels or parts of vessels: plastic vases or vessel appliques. The first of these depicts a Bes-Silenos figure, as discussed above; another depicts a Sothic dog; and the other six examples of Egyptianizing plastic vases or vessel attachments represent Nubians1092 . Of these eight objects, seven are clearly plastic vases or plastic vessel attachments1093 .
The Nubian face B5738 is somewhat different; rather than taking the form of a plastic vase per se, this face appears to be a broken-off applique from a larger pottery vessel. B5738 may in fact be a later piece, probably Roman in date1094 . B5738 was found in the synagogue on Delos (Hatzidakis 2004a: 387), and although the object’s exact stratigraphic context is unclear, the building was used into the Roman period1095 . The Nubian head B18996=F146 may also be an applique pant in a festival procession (published in Schurmann 1989: no. 1067, though Schur-mann does not identify the figure as a Nubian; for figurines of priests carrying divine statues in festival processions, see below, n. 1731, 1733). Another Nubian figurine from Egypt stands upon an overturned, presumably emptied, jug while sticking his tongue out like Bes and wearing the lotus buds of Harpocrates (published in Schurmann 1989: no. 1115, though again without reference to the figure’s Nubian characteristics). This assumption of divine attributes recalls the practice of priests wearing the masks of Egyptian deities during festival appearances (see n. 1017).
1092 Bes-Silenos: B584 (Figs. D36, D37). Sothic dog: B545 (Figs. D36, D37). Nubians: B5818 (Figs. D69, D70), B5834 (Fig. D75), B6790 (Fig. D71), B7491 (Fig. D72), B5738 (Fig. D73), and B18996=F146 (Fig. D74). For information on the previous publications of these plastic vases, see Chapters 4. 2.3, 4.5, and 4.6 .1.3 .
1093 In the cases of B584, B5818, and B6790, a sufficient amount of the vase is preserved that one can clearly see its full form. Only the top of B5834 is preserved, but that is enough to see that it comes from a plastic vase of the same type as B6790. B7491 is yet more fragmentary, but the presence of black slip on both the outside and the inside surface of this sherd indicates that it came from a functioning vessel rather than a hollow terracotta figurine (whose inner surface could not have been slipped, as there would have been no way to reach inside the closed, finished figurine to slip it)
1094 The matte red slip is reminiscent of certain Roman red slip wares (cf. Hayes 1972: 8), and the style of the piece, as well as its best parallels, are Roman (Hatzidakis 2004a: 387). A similar red-slipped vessel applique, also depicting an Egyptianizing theme (Isis, in this case), comes from Sagalassos, where it appears on a Sagalassos Red Slip Ware skyphos from a late 2nd-3rd century CE tomb (Talloen 2001: 298).
1095 Trumper 2004: 565-568. Note, though, that the building’s final phase—which is difficult to date precisely—involved reuse in a non-religious manner, as evidenced from a larger vessel, although the lack of archaeological context for this piece complicates the effort to date it securely. In the absence of the larger vessels to which such appliques were attached, it is difficult to draw conclusions about their function, but most Hellenistic and Roman ceramics with appliques were fine drinking vessels or tableware
A number of the other Egyptianizing terracottas from Delos also appear in Hatzidakis’ catalog of plastic vases from Delos1096, but in many of these cases, the objects’ classification as plastic vases is questionable. The ithyphallic Harpocrates figurine, MM 184 (Figs. F11, D49), certainly cannot be a plastic vase, as the open underside of the figurine makes any use as a vessel impossible1097 . B5876—a figurine of a reclining Nubian (Fig. D67)—does have a closed underside, but the object shows no sign of a spout, neck, or other attachment to allow for its use as a vessel1098 . Hatzidakis’ classification of three other terracottas1099 as plastic vases appears to be based on their black-slipped surface treatment and gray fabric1100 It is true that the combination of this fabric and surface treatment is very strongly correlated with plastic vases on Delos1101, but B5876 (Fig. D67)—another gray fabric with by the lime kiln erected in the middle of the synagogue (Trumper 2004: 556, 568569, 592).
1096 Included in Hatzidakis’ list of plastic vases from Delos are B2880, B7457, B5876, B5738, B5836, and MM 184 (Hatzidakis 2004a: nos.008.B, 054.B, 057.B, 075 .B, 094. H, 107 .X).
1097 This feature also suggests that the object cannot be a plastic lamp, although it probably does come from a derivative mold cast from such a lamp; see above, n. 708.
1098 Although the back side of the figurine is missing, one would expect some trace of such an attachment to be visible on the front as well, based on the construction of other plastic vases on Delos.
1099 B7457 (Fig. D66), B5836 (Fig. D68), and B2880 (Fig. D6). On B2880, a head of Isis or a Ptolemaic queen (Fig. D6), see Chapter 4. 2 .1.4. Hatzidakis (2004a: 384, no. 054. B) identifies this vessel as a plastic vase, apparently because of its gray fabric and black slip. However, the figurine is too fragmentary to determine for sure whether it was or was not a plastic vase, and there are at least some terracottas with the same fabric and surface treatment that seem to be figurines rather than plastic vases (see Chapter 2.5.4, with Table 9). However, whether or not this particular terracotta was a plastic vase, the Delian inventories do attest to the presence of bowls and other offerings that bore representations of the faces of Sarapis and Isis (Baslez 1977: 45). These items, whose material is unknown, were offered by an Alexandrian at some time prior to 156 bce (Baslez 1977: 45).
1100 The form of B2880 also has a parallel in two plastic vessels of “Magenta Ware” (Higgins 1976: 15, 26, cat. nos. 69, 72), a fact which makes B2880’s identification as a plastic vase more likely, but still not necessarily certain.
1101 See Chapter 2.5.4, as well as Barrett 2009a: 189-193.
Black slip, but probably not a plastic vase1102—suggests that exceptions existed. Egyptian craftsmen made both plastic vases and figurines in Memphis Black Ware, which also has a gray-black fabric and black slip1103, so it may be risky to assume that a similar-looking ware on Delos necessarily contained plastic vases alone.
Of the eight Egyptianizing terracottas that come from plastic vases or take the form of a vessel applique, seven represent Nubians and/or Bes-figures1104. Although the broader category of plastic vases on Delos includes many other non-Egyptianizing subjects (Hatzidakis 2004a), it is striking that among Egyptianizing plastic vessels, Bes-figures and Nubians so dominate the assemblage1105 . This pattern is particularly notable because there are so few images of Bes in the Delian coroplastic corpus1106. The plastic vases B584, B6790, and B5834 thus account for more than half of the Bes images on Delos1107 .
1102 See discussion in Chapter 4. 7 .1.
1103 See above, n. 191.
1104 B584 represents Bes-Silenos (Fig. D77); B6790 and B5834 depict Nubians in the hands-on-hips posture associated with Bes (Figs. D71, D75). (Note that the body of B5834 is not preserved, but the surviving upper part indicates that it comes from a vase of the same type as B6790; see Chapter 4. 5 .1. ) B5818, B5738, and B18996=F146 represent Nubian heads, with no body attached (Figs. D69, D70, D73, D74); and B7491 comes from the face of a Nubian (Fig. D72), but the piece is too fragmentary to teb whether he had a body and, if so, how he was posing. For more detailed discussion of the above types, see Chapters 4. 5, 4. 6 (esp. 4. 6.1.3).
1105 The lone exception is B545, a Sothic dog (Figs. D36, D37). See chapter 4. 2.3 .
1106 See above, Chapter 4.6 .1. Aside from the Bes-Silenos and the two Bes-like Nubians, the only other terracotta depictions of Bes are A3657 (Fig. D76) and the syncretic ithyphallic figure, MM 184 (Fig. D49), which incorporates certain aspects of Bes’ iconography.
1107 A number of other plastic vases may have a connection to Egyptian imagery, but the evidence here is more equivocal. B3629, B3750, B4631, B4730, B5875, B3486, and B21759 all represent fragmentary plastic vases whose bases closely resemble those of the squatting Nubian or Bes plastic vases. However, similar bases also characterize many plastic vases of satyrs (Hatzidakis 2004a), and from the bases alone, it is not possible to tell which iconographic type these vases represent. Such depictions of squatting satyrs go back to the Corinthian squatting comast vases, some of which go back to the late seventh century (Biers 1992: 230). There may well be, in fact, a link between these early squatting comast vases and the squatting pose of Bes; Bes vases were widespread across the Mediterranean at this point (see below), and the Greeks of the late seventh century may well have come into contact with Syro-Pales-tinian or Cypriot versions of the type (although note that Bes vases typically show only the face, not the legs, of the god). Dasen (2000) convincingly traces the image of the squatting comast or satyr to its origins in Egyptian images of squatting dwarf-gods (or, as the case may be, Syro-Palestinian or Cypriot reinterpretations thereof). By the Hellenistic period, though, the type of the squatting comast or satyr had become so much a part of Greek iconography that even if such plastic vases had originally incorporated a reinterpretation of Egyptian imagery, a Hellenistic coro-
An obvious Egyptian precedent for ceramic vessels shaped like Bes is the New Kingdom through Late Period phenomenon of “Bes vases”: pots with faces of Bes roughly modeled on the body or shoulder of the vessel1108 . As early as the Late Bronze Age and as late as the Persian period, this vessel type is attested outside Egypt as far as Syria-Palestine1109 and Cyprus1110. In the Greco-Roman period, plastic vessels of Bes and Nubians are among the most common subjects in the corpus of Memphis Black Ware1111, whose gray fabric and black slip closely resemble the fabric and slip of many of the Delian plastic vases1112. Like Bes, Nubians could form part of the retinue of the solar eye goddess during her return from the far south regions1113, and it is perhaps significant that both B6790 and B5834 seem to syncretize Nubian figures with Bes
It is unclear what liquid the majority of the plastic vessels from Delos would have held, although the existence of Egyptianizing figurines holding vessels of wine or water may make these fluids likely candidates1114 . Furthermore, the two-handled, almost kantharos-like form1115 of some vases, as well as the occasional presence of Dionysiac plast might no longer have been aware that this vase type was anything but indigenous. When a Hellenistic squatting figure not only pulls his knees up but also places his hands on his hips, however—as do B584, B6790, and presumably also the fragmentary B5834, which comes from a vase of the same type as B6790—this posture goes well beyond the typical pose of the squatting comast/satyr (on which, see Biers 1992: 229-230), and seems to reflect a more conscious effort on the part of the coro-plast to allude to Bes
1108 E. g. , Charvat 1980; Freed, ed. 1982: 94-95, 101; Aston 1996: 82; Willems and Clarysse, eds. 2000: no. 77; Hope 2001: 2, 4, 21, 45, 47.
1109 Stern 1976; James et al. 1993: 41-42, 167-168, 239, 243.
1110 Jacobsson 1994: 78.
1111 Perdrizet 1921: viii; cf. Ballet 1996: 117.
1112 See Chapter 2.5.4, and n. 191.
1113 See Chapters 4. 5, 4. 6.1.1.
1114 See above, Chapter 4.7 .1. Bruyere suggests that the Egyptian Bes vases were used for water libation (Bruyere 1937: 111; cf. James et al. 1993: 168; contrast Wilson 1975: 81 for a suggestion that the Levantine Bes-vases contained milk). It is also conceivable that the Delian plastic vases might have held perfume, as residue analysis of certain other plastic vase types (Greek in iconography and origin) suggests that they were originally put to this use (Biers et al 2004) See Chapter 4 7 2 2, below, for an argument that certain plastic vases with more specialized forms may have held perfumed oils, as well as a discussion of the role of perfume in Egyptian religion.
1115 See, e. g. , B584 and B6790, where the jutting arms form two handles on either side of the figure. B5834 comes from a vessel of the same form as B6790, though it is not as well preserved (see Chapter 4. 5 .1).
Imagery1116, supports an association with wine. Non-Egyptianizing plastic vases from Delos also show a heavy preponderance of Dionysiac imagery, including satyrs and Maenads (Hatzidakis 2004a) .
Both wine and water fit readily into an Inundation milieu. In a religious context, offerings of water could become manifestations of the Nile flood1117. Mortuary libations of “cool water”1118 represented the liquids seeping from the dead Osiris’ decaying body, an efflux of decay that was paradoxically equated with the regenerating Nile flood1119 .
Wine could also be identified with the floodwaters, as expressed in one of the New Kingdom “Love Poems”1120 . Because of this associa-
B584 combines a Bes-like figure with the bearded Silenos of Dionysos’ entourage
See Colin 2005 on reliefs depicting water offerings, equated to the Inundation waters, in barque shrines at Greco-Roman-period temples. On the king’s offering the first floodwaters to Amun at the Opet festival, see Bell (1997: 174). Note also the presentation of Nile water—mw n itrw, literally the “water of the river”—to Hathor at Dendara during the New Year ceremonies (Cauville 2001: 33, 400-401, 2002: 44). Hathor’s subsequent self-description as the one who causes the floodwater, h'py, to come m hnw. t=f, into its canals (Cauville 2001: 400) implies that she responds to this offering in kind, ensuring a favorable Inundation. On water offerings to the returning solar eye goddess, see most recently Richter 2010, esp. 162, 172-173. See also Koenig (2005: 101-102) on the role of water in the appeasement of Sakhmet, the angry and dangerous manifestation of the returning solar eye goddess.
1118 Delia 1992; Wild 1981: 155-158.
1119 See above, n. 429. The identification of Osiris’ efflux with the Nile inundation further explains the Greco-Roman depictions of “Osiris Hydreios” in the form of a water jar (see above, n. 426). In the Greco-Roman world, the numerous Isiac temples with installations for sacred water designed to be assimilated to the waters of the Nile (Wild 1981; see especially 153-160) demonstrate the continued importance of this religious concept. Compare also the role of funerary libations of cool water in the cult of Hathor of Dendara (Preys 2002b: 534-535). In addition to the common association between Osiris’ efflux and the Nile flood, a recently-published text from Dendara (Cauville 2002: 121-129, pls. 18-24, XXVIII-XXXIX) identifies the Inundation with the efflux of the (living) body of Sakhmet, the dangerous form of the returning solar eye goddess who requires appeasement in order to make her well-disposed. After a series of statements associating the rising flood, the North wind, and alcoholic beverages with Sakhmet’s breath and bodily emanations, the text explains: “pri rdw nb n. w h'=t r s'nh ntr. w rmt” (transcription based on Cauville 2002: 122); that is, “it is in order to cause gods and people to live that all the efflux of your body goes forth” (my translation).
1120 As the text, a passage from P. Harris 500 (Muller 1899: Taf. 4, line 7), states: pi ym sw m irp—that is, “As for the floodwater—it is wine” (my translation). In his forthcoming monograph (in preparation [b]) on the Egyptian Love Poems, John Darnell demonstrates that the word following pi is in fact not itrw, river (as read by most commenters, including Fox 1985: 12), but ym, a Semitic loanword which can mean either “sea” or “floodwaters of the Nile inundation.” For further textual references on the equation of the Nile waters with wine at the time of the Inundation, see Merkelbach 1963: 17 n. 25.
Tion, Egyptians viewed inebriation at the time of the New Year as a way for individuals to mirror the flooding effects of the Inundation in their own bodies1121 . Shortly after New Year’s Day (1 ?h. t 1) was the Festival of Inebriation (thy) on 1 ?h. t 201122. Additionally, festival processions in honor of the solar eye goddess’ return to Egypt wound up at the so-called s. t n th, or “place of inebriation,” at the entrance of the temple1123 . Archaeological evidence for such architectural features now dates back to the time of Hatshepsut, as indicated by an inscribed column which speaks of a “porch of drunkenness” in the Mut temple at Karnak1124 . A number of cultic drinking songs preserved on ostraca speak of drunkenness as a way to induce an epiphany of the returning solar eye goddess1125, and the second century ce pCarlsberg 69—whose text appears to be designed for ritual use during a religious festival— closely parallels these ostraca in its description of a drunken festival for the goddess Bastet1126 . In these songs1127 as well as in the “Love Poems,”1128 inebriation appears closely linked to the erotic themes that
"21 See above, n. 395.
1122 See above, n. 392.
1123 Darnell 1995: 59; cf. DePauw and Smith 2004: 89. Compare also Hathor’s epithet of “nb. t th,” or “mistress of drunkenness” (e. g. , at Dendara: Sternberg-El Hotabi 1992: 101, 112 n. 15; Cauville 2001: 38, 2002: 37, 38, 52). On the drunkenness of the returning solar eye goddess, see above, n. 396.
1124 Bryan 2005: 182-183; Fazzini 2010: 98-99.
1125 DePauw and Smith 2004: 70, 76, 85-86.
1126 See above, n. 694. On the evidence for ritual use of the papyrus, see Quack 2005: 15. In its prayer that Bastet herself may come to the hb thy, or Festival of Drunkenness (see the short excerpt transliterated and translated in Zauzich 1991: 7 n. 18), this text recalls the above-mentioned use of alcohol to produce an epiphany of the goddess. Some form of the Bubasteia was celebrated in Hyampolis, Boeotia, during the reign of Trajan, according to the dating formula on a manumission decree (IG 9.1.86; see Schachter 2007: 387).
1127 DePauw and Smith 2004: 80-82; see also above, n. 695, on pCarlsberg 69 .
1128 Darnell 2010a: 117, 122, and in preparation (b); see also above, n. 388. On the relationship between inebriation and erotic activity in these texts, see, for example, P. Harris 500, poem A4, in which a female speaker states, “Your drunkenness is sexual activity” (Mdller 1899: Taf. 4, line 2, my translation; compare also the translation of Fox 1985: 10). As Darnell discusses (in preparation [b]), one can read the depiction of a nude woman straddling an emptied wine amphora in the Turin Erotic Papyrus (Omlin 1973: 33-34, pls. 1, 5, 11, 13, 17, 19) as a fairly literal iconographic equivalent to this passage. Another close parallel, in terracotta and from the Greco-Roman period, is a figurine in the Gayer-Anderson Museum in Cairo (labeled as no. 82 in the display window); this image, unpublished to the best of my knowledge, shows a nude female, wearing what appears to be either a Hathoric crown or a broken basileion, straddling a large vessel which lies on its side.
Also characterize Inundation festivals. Kessler1129 is thus absolutely correct to see a similar relationship between the New Year’s Festival and the scenes of alcohol consumption and sexuality in another New Kingdom text, the “Turin Erotic Papyrus,” which was originally seen (erroneously) as parodic or satirical1130 .
World History
