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 cloth-
ing, 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 thesitula, a small jar of milk with a
pointed base. Terracotta figurines, found in large numbers in Alexandria and in the
cho ̄ra, 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
258 Franc ̧oise Dunand