this black goddess became the face of woman
throughout the lands where Rome ruled. In
effect, Africa had seduced the Roman Empire
with the worship of Auset.
Apuleius was fascinated by her beauty, power,
and strength. Thus, in response to his interest
in African and Eastern religions, he wrote
Metamorphoses, which contains so many seeds of
mythological and romance tales of the Europeans
that one could almost claim that the source, for
example, of Cinderella, is the Cupid and Psyche
encounter inMetamorphoses. Yet it is in the con-
centration of the religion of Auset that Apuleius
makes his most important contribution.
In the book, the Egyptian deity appears to
Apuleius, claiming to be all goddesses. Her repre-
sentation to him is that she is the name of the
goddesses of the world. No goddess exists with-
out being Auset. She is the Queen of the Sky, and
she is the Queen of Queens, the Lady of all
Ladies, the one and all of all goddesses. He writes
that when he ended a prayer and told Auset what
he needed, he was exhausted and fell asleep.
Soon, however, there came to him the venerable
face of the goddess herself, coming out of the sea
and standing before him in full form. He tried
to describe what he was seeing. It was impossible
to make a complete description because his
eloquence was inadequate. Nevertheless, she was
a powerful figure with an abundance of hair,
probably a huge Afro style as one sees in the wig
room of the Cairo Museum, and many garlands
of flowers stuck into her hair.
Apuleius describes Auset as having a disk in the
shape of a small mirror on her head, and in one
hand she held the light of the moon and serpents
and, in the other, blades of corn. Her silk robe
shimmered with many colors. He is struck by the
complexity of this image of Auset because she
bears with her flowers and fruits, a timbrel of
brass, and a cup of gold. Furthermore, her mouth
held the serpent Aspis, and her sweet feet were
covered with shoes laced with palms.
Then, according to Auleius, the goddess Auset
spoke words to the effect that she had come to
him because of his weeping and prayers. She also
told him that she was called by many names, but
that she was the natural mother of all things, mis-
tress of all elements, governor of all progeny, chief
of all divine things, principal of gods, and light of
all goddesses. Establishing further her authority to
speak and to rule, Auset told him that she con-
trolled the planets in the air, winds of the sea, and
the silences of hell. He wrote inMetamorphoses
that the deity told him that her divinity was
adored in all the world in various manners and
different custom and by many people.
In fact, the Phrygians called her Pssinuntica, the
mother of the gods; the Athenians called her
Cecropian Artemis; the Cyprians called her Paphian
Aphrodite; the Candians called her Dictyanna;
the Sicilians called her Stygian Proserpine; and the
Eleusians called her Mother of the Corn. But
that was not all of the names by which she was
called. She said that some called her Juno, others
Bellona of the Battles, and still others Hecate.
However, the Ethiopians and the Egyptians called
her Auset.
Clearly, Apuleius is attesting to the strength, per-
vasiveness, and legitimacy of Queen Auset, the head
of one of the most heavily propagated religions of
the Roman Empire. His book, Metamorphoses,
remains one of the best accounts of how this African
deity was seen outside of Africa.Molefi Kete AsanteSee alsoAusetFurther Readings
Apuleius. (1885).The Marriage of Cupid and Psyche
(Translation by Walter Pater; Illustrated by Edmund
Dulac). Originally printed as part of the novelMarius
the Epicurean. London: Macmillan. (Reprinted:
Norwalk, CT: The Heritage Press, 1951)
Apuleius. (1932).The Golden Ass(Translation, notes,
and preface by Jack Lindsay; Illustrated by Percival
Goodman). New York: The Limited Editions Club.
Apuleius. (1998).The Golden Ass or Metamorphoses
(Translation, notes, and preface by E. J. Kenney).
Harmondsworth, UK: Penguin.
Apuleius. (2000 [1950]).The Transformations of Lucius,
Otherwise Known as The Golden Ass(Translation
and notes by Robert Graves). New York: Farrar,
Straus & Giroux.
Plutarch. (1936). “On Isis and Osiris.” InMoralia V
(pp. 34–39) (Translation, notes, and preface by
Frank C. Babbit). Cambridge, MA: Harvard
University Press.68 Apuleius