the god’s images and their familiarity to the Alexandrians (Dunand 1981). One chariot
carried his monumental statue, others paintings of episodes from Dionysus’ mytho-
logy: Semele’s love affair, the little god’s childhood in the grotto of the nymphs, his
triumphant return from India. Dionysus’ clergy took part in the procession, a priest at
their head, the poet Philiscus. There were also groups of men dressed as sileni and
satyrs, their bodies painted purple and red, and groups of women dressed as maenads,
their hair loose, garlanded with leaves and snakes: a simple charade, or the ritual
costumes of cultic associations dedicated to Dionysus? The most important and the
most ancient of these associations was that of the dramatic artists, the Technitai, whose
existence at Oxyrhynchus is still attested at the end of the third century AD.
Aphrodite
A third Greek deity, Aphrodite, enjoyed prominence in Alexandria, probably owing
to the patronage of the Lagid queens. Since she was associated with Arsinoe II,
Aphrodite must have had several temples in Alexandria and the surrounding area.
One, on Cape Zephyrion between Alexandria and Canopus, was dedicated to Arsinoe
Aphrodite Zephyritis. A remarkable statue has recently been discovered in the course
of the underwater excavations in the Canopus–Heraklion area, and can be seen in
the new Library of Alexandria Museum. It portrays the goddess’s birth as she rises
from the waters, with her wet drapery revealing the elegant shape of her body. The
festivals commemorating the annual return of Adonis were celebrated at Alexandria
on the initiative of Arsinoe II. The women of Alexandria went to the palace to view
the pictures of Aphrodite and Adonis set out on an extraordinarily luxurious couch,
surrounded by flowers and the ephemeral pots of plants known as the ‘‘gardens of
Adonis.’’ On the final day of the festival the women went at dawn to the seashore,
where they performed a ritual of mourning to mark Adonis’ departure as he returned
to the underworld, and to mark the grief of the goddess (Theocritus,Idylls15.96–
144). We know from a fragment of Callixenus (Athenaeus 203e–206c; Rice
1983:196) that there was a circular temple (tholoeide ̄s) dedicated to Aphrodite on
the sumptuous boat that Ptolemy IV built himself for cruising on the Nile. Inside was
a marble statue of the goddess. The cult was still favored by the royal family in the
second and first centuries BC: a temple was dedicated to Aphrodite Hathor at Philae
by Ptolemy VIII and the two Cleopatras (OGIS142). Cleopatra VII, in her turn,
took on the guise of the goddess when she staged her meeting with Mark Antony at
Tarsus (Plutarch,Antony26–7).
Evidence for private devotion to Aphrodite is rarer. However, a dedication from the
middle of the third century BC to Sarapis Dionysos and Isis Aphrodite, originating in
Alexandria, has been discovered at Abu el-Matamir (near lake Mariut;SB5863),
and in the second century BC there was a cult association dedicated to the goddess
at Alexandria. Furthermore, her image was widespread in the form of statuettes
modeled on fine statuary and in molded terracotta figurines (examples are very
numerous), which remained extremely popular until the Roman period (Dunand
1990). All these images must have belonged to the decoration of Alexandrian houses.
A statuette of Aphrodite is often mentioned in legal papyri as forming part of a young
woman’s dowry (Burkhalter 1990).
The Religious System at Alexandria 257