13

A Gleaming Ray:
Blessed Afterlife in the Mysteries

FREDERICK E. BRENK

Recently, looking at the "mysteries" with eschatological spectacles has

come in for something of a beating. Rather, stress has been on the cults'
concern to satisfy the less romantic and spectacular needs of mundane life.
The devil's advocate will now attempt to demonstrate that behind
apparently innocent iconography may lie preoccupations about a blessed

afterlife.
The Egyptians anticipated Plato in arriving at the true purpose of eros,
the vision of the Form of the Beautiful. At least that appears to be
Plutarch's opinion in his Erotikos, the dialogue on love. Fine, faint effluvia
(djioppoai) of the truth lie scattered about in Egyptian mythology, but it
takes a keen nose to track them down (762a). The Egyptians have three
Eros's,Pandemos (earthly), Ouranios (Heavenly), and a third Eros which is
the Sun (Helios). As the solar radiance gives nourishment, light, and
growth to all things, so the gleaming ray and warmth of love nourish and
enlighten the soul (764c). Plutarch apparently is speaking of the archaic
Egyptian religion and not of the Hellenistic and Roman mysteries of Isis.
Still, it is difficult to believe that, like a recent scholar, he did not keep

glancing over his shoulder at more contemporary religion.'

The reference in the Erotikos to Egyptian mythology might be
Plutarch's blowing his own horn for On Isis and Osiris. The treatise was
intended to serve the needs of a friend, Klea, a devotee of the Isiac
mysteries, who supposedly wanted "background information." Thespiai
and the nearby Valley of the Muses, the setting for the Erotikos, had a long
tradition of Isism, dating apparently from the refoundation of the festival of
the Muses (Mouseia) by Ptolemaios IV Philopator and Arsinoe III.^

'
At least that is the criticism of W. Burkert in M. W. Meyer, "Mysteries Divine," Numen 39
(1992) 235-38. R. A. Wild, "The Known Isis-Sarapis Sanctuaries from the Roman Period," in
ANRW 1739-1851, notes the enormous enthusiasm for Isis and Sarapis in the
II.17.4 (1984)
2nd 22 new foundations known (1834—36).
cent. A.D., with
^ See P. Roesch, "Les cultes egyptiens en Beotie," in L. Criscuolo and G. Geraci (eds.),

Egilto e sloria anlica (Bologna 1989) 621-29 (625>—contested somewhat by D. Knoepfler,

148 Illinois Classical Studies 18 (1993)

Moreover, Thespiai had a close relationship with the "Roman colony" of

Corinth, where Isism was very strong. In Apuleius' Metamorphoses, at
Kenchreai, the southern port of Corinth, Isis liberates the hero, Lucius, from
his asinine shape and un-Platonic comportment.^
At any rate, in the passage referred to from the Erotikos, Egyptian
mythology alludes to the Platonic similes of the cave and of the sun as the
phenomenal counterpart to the Good of the intelligible world. The goal
{telos) of the soul is the "beatific" or blessed vision of the Forms, and above
all, of the Form of the Beautiful (and Good). Plutarch might have startled

the shade of the sleeping, or, hopefully, contemplating, master, with his next
outplatonizing twist. The sun, in the Erotikos, diverts our vision to the
sensible world, away from the intelligible, which is our destiny. But his
next thought is quite Middle-Platonic: In thisworld we see only beautiful
mirror images of beautiful realities (eooTixpa KaA.cov KaXd 765b).'* It may
be surprising to learn that Egyptian religion coincided so nicely with the
thought of the Middle Academy. But On Isis and Osiris reveals how all
these mysterious, and at first sight barbarous, myths, rites, and symbols
conform to the principal tenets of Plutarch's Middle Platonism.^
Though
quite clear about the soul's destiny in Platonism, Plutarch's
treatiseremains rather murky about a person's ultimate fate in "Egyptian
mythology." He might have used sources in which Osiris and his devotees
eventually receive a blessed solar immortality. Such an eschatology would
coincide with Plutarch's own description of the sun as the visible symbol of
a God identified with Being and the Good, which is found at the conclusion

"Sepi annees de recherches sur I'epigraphie de la Beoiie (1985-91)," Chiron 22 (1992) 41 1-

503 (436-37).
^ See J. Leclanl, "Aegyptiaca el milieux isiaques: Recherches sur la diffusion du maieriel el
des idecs egypliennes," in ANRW 11.113 (1984) 1692-1709 (1703-04). The inilialions
described by Apuleius are full of problems. No inscriptions from ihe Hellenistic period clearly
indicate mysteries, and in Egypt there were no inilialions, but mysteries are alluded to in the
Andros Hymn 1 1-12, the Kyme Arelalogy 22, and the Maroneia Arelalogy 23; sec M. Totti,
Ausgewfdhlle Texte der Isis- und Sarapis-Religion (Hildesheim 1985) 2, 5, 61 However, ihey
.

seem to be attested for the Imperial period in Diodoros (1. 20) and Plutarch {Isis and Osiris
361 d). See L. Vidman, Isis und Sarapis bei den Griechen und Romern (Berlin 1970) 125-38;
and Sylloge Inscriptionum Religionis Isiacae et Sarapiacae (Berlin 1969) nos. 295, 326, 390,
758; M. Malaise. "Contenu et effets de 1' initiation isiaque," AC 50 (1981) 483-98 (486); C.
Froidefond, Plutarque. Oeuvres Morales V.2 (Paris 1988) 68-74.
M. Marcovich, "The Isis with Seven Robes," ZPE 64 (1986) 295-96, relates the seven robes
lo the seven heavens or planetary orbits. Apuleius describes his iniiialion rile al Rome (per
omnia ueclus elemenla remeaui 1. 23 [285]) as a trip through the "elements," viewing the sun
1

and the "lower and higher gods"; see J. Gwyn Griffiths, Apuleius of Madauros. The Isis-Book
(Metamorphoses, Book Xl\ EPRO 39 (Leiden 1975) 301-08. Graeco-Roman readers would
probably be influenced by Platonic eschalological voyages.
* R. Seaford, "I Corinthians Xni.l2."y7'A5 35 (1984) 1 17-20. citing On Isis 382a, relates

the mirror image to the mysteries.

^ Oclavian was less benign than Plutarch. "Accustomed to worship gods, not cattle," he
refused lo visit the Apis bull al Memphis (Kassios Dion 51. 16. 5; Suet. Aug. 93); see D. J.
Thompson, Memphis under the Ptolemies (Princeton 1988) 266.
 Frederick E. Brenk 149

of The E at Delphoi. This identification might create problenns, too, since

Osiris, like the mythological Apollo, or the visible sun, could only in a
remote way resemble the supreme god. But forcing Plato on Isis in a
Procrustean bed is not limited to Plutarch alone. The Platonic allegorization
of Egyptian religion may have begun in the Hellenistic period, possibly
among native priests. In Apuleius' Metamorphoses,
also, the trials of
Lucius and his ultimate release through Isis probably is a Platonic allegory
of the soul's entrapment in the world we love, its release through
appreciation of the intelligible realities, and its expectation, in the next life,
of the blessed vision of the Form.^
Recently the eschatological importance of the mysteries has been
seriously challenged.^ Cumont-like excess merits scepticism. But were the
mysteries largely concerned with the mundane cares of this life rather than
the more horrendous possibilities of the next? The newer methodology is
strongly archaeological, sociological, and minimalist, far removed from
Cumont's detection of symbolism everywhere and the use of later
afterlife
sources to interpret earlier phenomena.* But not even a metempsychosisist
dedicates an ex-voto for salvation received in the next life. Moreover,
should our civilization collapse, leaving little or no literature, one dreads
what interpretation future scholars would give the bare, ruined choirs of
Christianity and tumbled-down synagogues of Judaism.^
The "secularist" approach tends to put Isis in the shadows. But Early
Imperial people had sharper eyes than we. Effortlessly they recognized
astrological and eschatological allegory in famous authors, in architecture,
and in sculpture, where we remain unperceptive or perplexed. Third-
century Neoplatonists clearly had no difficulty in unearthing eschatological
allegory in Homer. However, evidence does exist for an earlier period. For
Plutarch —
if the attribution of a certain fragment is correct Kirke's —
bewitching of Odysseus' companions into swine signified metempsychosis
into this world; his swimming to land at Phaiakia, the soul's struggle toward
its otherworldly telos}^ More questionable is whether Vergil's gates of
ivory and horn at the end of the sixth book of the Aeneid might allude to

^ The Platonic framework with Osiris the First God, as in Plutarch, makes Apuleius' account
of Isism suspicious; N. Fick, "L'Isis des Metamorphoses d'Apulee," RBPh 65 (1987) 31-
cf.

51; and M. J. Edwards. "The Tale of Cupid and Psyche." ZPE 94 (1992) 77-94. esp. 83-86.
W. Burken, Ancient Mystery Cults (Cambridge, MA
1987) in general lends to downplay
this aspect. See the reviews by R. Beck. Phoenix 42 (1988) 266-70; R. Turcan, RHR 206
(1989) 291-95 and F. E. Brenk. Gnomon 61 (1989) 289-92.
^ Burkert (previous note) is somewhat inconsistent, minimizing eschatology at times, e.g. at

13-16. 23-24 ("the pagan evidence for resurrection symbolism is uncompclling at best" [23]),
but underscoring it in the Eleusinian and Dionysiac mysteries at 21-22. On Egypt and
mysteries see 40-41.
' See for example, J. D. Crossan, "Bias in Interpreting Earliest Christianity." Numen 39
(1992) 233-35.
'°So P. R. Hardie. "Plutarch and the Interpretation of Myth." in ANRW 0.33.6 (1992)
4743-87 (4774).
150 Illinois Classical Studies 18 (1993)

astrological-eschatological lore on souls entering and exiling this world

through the signs of Cancer and Capricorn.'^ As already noted, Apuleius,
though in the second century, could easily metamorphose a depressing
Greek novel into a magnificent allegory of the soul's escape from our
worldly prison and our bodily tomb.'^
In the realm of sculpture, two of the great Augustan monuments in the
Campus Martius, the Solarium and Ara Pacis, apparently underscored the
astrological implications of Augustus' conception under the sign of
Capricorn. ^^ Possibly, here, too, Capricorn functions as a soul "gate."
Recently the statuary of the Aedes Concordiae, another Augustan
monument, has been convincingly interpreted as an astrological expression
of cosmic harmony. ^'^ The decoration of Augustus' own mausoleum, the
obelisk of the Solarium, and —
at least for later beholders its proximity to —
the Iseum Campense suggest the ascent to the divine in Hellenistic Egypt.
Motifs associated with the pharaohs and, in particular, their assimilations to
Horos and Osiris, appear in the cella of the Mausoleum (atef crown with
—
uraei symbol of the kingdoms of Upper and Lower Egypt and a cornice —
with motifs similar to that below the funeral bed of Osiris in the Temple of
Dendera and in Ptolemaic friezes). Such motifs suggest that Octavian's
mausoleum was intended to do more than underscore a special relationship
with Egypt.'^ Especially in a mausoleum they evoke eschatological
aspirations.^^ In a new allegorical interpretation of the Tazza Farnese, the
figures interpreted as Isis, Horos, a sphinx, and the Nile are an expression of
creation according to the Hermetic tractate, Poimandres. The scene
symbolizes the soul's return to the sidereal realm and union with. God. In

'' F. E. Brenk, "The Gales of Dreams and an Image of Life: Consolation and Allegory al the

End of Vergil's Aeneid VI," in C. Deroux (ed.), Studies in Latin Literature and Roman History
VI, CoU. Lalomus 217 (Brussels 1992) 276-94 (286). However, Vergil might actually have
written (6. 894-96): "cornea, qu^falsis facilis dalur exitus umbris / . . . / sed vera ad caelum
mittunt insomnia Manes." See G. T. Cockbum, Phoenix 46 (1992) 362-64.
See, for example, Edwards (above, note 6).
'^ Or having the Moon in Capricorn as his natal sign; on the horoscope, see E. Buchner, Die

Sonnenuhr des Augustus (Mainz 1982) 35-38 (= MDAf[R] 87 [1980] 345-48); M. Schutz.
"Der Capricorn al Stemzeichen des Augustus," AA 37 (1991) 55-67; S. Berti, "Gli orologi
pubblici nel mondo antico: il caso di Atene e di Roma," in M. F. Santi (ed.), Archeologia e
astronomia (Rome 1991) 83-87 (85-87).
'* B. A. Kellum, "The City Adorned: Programmatic Display at the Aedes Concordiae

Augustae," in K. A. Raaflaub and M. Toher (eds.). Between Republic and Empire:

Interpretations of Augustus and his Principate (Berkeley 1990) 276-307, esp. 279-80, 294-96.
'^ See M. de Vos, U egittomania in pitlure e mosaici romano-campani delta prima eta

imperiale, EPRO 84 (Leiden 1980) 74; fronuspiece, lav. XU.

'^ See also J. PoUini,"Man or God: Divine Assimilation and Imitation in the Late Republic
and Early Principate," in Raaflaub and Toher (above, note 14) 334-63; P. Zanker, The Power
of Images in the Age of Augustus (Ann Arbor 1988)
230-38, 297-339; J. R. Fears, "Ruler
esp.
Worship," in M. Grant and R. Kitzinger (eds.). Civilization of the Ancient Mediterranean:
Greece and Rome H (New York 1988) 1009-25, esp. 1014-18.
 Frederick E. Brenk 151

another interpretation, the cup represents an astrological allegory of the

Augustan age.^^
Thus, symbolism neither entirely nor exclusively religious could
prepare the way for Isis.^^ Nero's Golden House, too, seems to be a
complex and magnificent symbol of cosmic and eschatological realities.''
Once again the tracks lead to Egypt, the land of living death, but also of
luxuriousness struggling against temporality. They lead to Antonius and
Kleopatra, to the divine Alexandros, and to the pharaohs haunting —
spectres, if not gods blazing light. The octagon room of the Domus Aurea
was perfectly illuminated at the equinoxes, with the unique orientation for
Rome of an east-west axis. Not only was Nero's great-grandfather, Cnaeus
Domitius Ahenobarbus, a friend of Antonius and Kleopatra, but Nero
himself was directly descended from the triumvir, as was his relative
Caligula, also not lacking in solar brilliance. The Egyptophilia of Nero's
grandfather, Germanicus, led him not only to Alexandria, in A.D. 19, but far
up the Nile to Elephantine.
Nero's own Egyptophilia, or Egyptomania as Seneca suspected, would
certainly have benefitted the practice of Isism among Roman upper society.
The Alexandrian Chairemon, a member of the Mouseion of Alexandria who
understood hieroglyphics and Egyptian religion, had been in the circle of
the young Nero. Ptolemaios, another Alexandrian, was the astrologer of
Nero's wife Poppaea, whose family had erected an Isiac sacellum at
Pompeii. Though Nero supposedly disliked cults, he apparently venerated
the memory of his ancestor, Marcus Antonius.^ Antonius almost certainly
must have portrayed himself as Osiris, since his queen, Kleopatra, had so
seriously assimilated herself to Isis. The sources present her own death as
an obsessively planned and passionately enacted assimilation to the
goddess. Unforgettably she passed to a better life from within the very
precinct of Isis, leaving upon her breast the marks of an attribute and form
of the divinity, the uraeus^^

'"^
E. J. Dwyer, "The Temporal AUegory of ihe Tazza Famese," AJA 96 (1992) 255-82 (271,
279); as an allegory of ihe Augusian Golden Age, consult J. PoUini, "The Tazza Famese:

Auguslo Imperatore 'Redeunt Saturnia RegnaV " ibid. 283-300.

Al Ephesos, cistophoric coinage (88-48 B.C.) depicting the headdress of Isis might have
played a similar role. R. E. Osier, "Ephesus as a Religious Center under the Principale, I:
Paganism before Consuntine," in ANRW n.18.3 (1990) 1662-1728 (1679-80) notes official
recognition, citing G. Holbl, Zeugnisse dgyplischer Religionsvorslellungenfur Ephesus, EPRO
73 (Leiden 1978)20,27.
'^ J.-L. Voisin, "Exorienle sole (Suetone, Ner. 6): D' Alexandria a la Domus Aurea," in

UUrbs: Espace urbain el hlsloire (ler siecle av. J.-C. -Ille siecle ap. J.-C), MEFRA Suppl.
98 (Paris and Rome 1987) 509-^3; D. Hemsoll, "The Architecture of Nero's Golden House,"
in M. Henig (ed.), Architecture and Architectural Sculpture in the Roman Empire (London
1990) 10-38.
Voisin (previous note) 522-30; Hemsoll (previous note) 26-33.
^' Treated by F. E. Brenk, "Antony-Osiris, Cleopalra-Isis: The End of Plutarch's Antony,"
in P. A. Stadler (ed.), Plutarch and the Historical Tradition (London and New York 1992)
152 Illinois Classical Studies 18 (1993)

The Flavian Emperors, loo, assisted the diffusion of Egyptian religious

symbolism. Domitian attempted to immortalize himself in the Egyptian
manner, though his divinization was linked with the exaltation of the
dynasty. The obelisk chosen for this purpose was erected next to the Iseum
Campense and the Serapeum, which he had added to the Iseum. He also
erected two obelisks before the tomb of Augustus, and allowed a local
citizen to erect two others within the precinct of Isis at Beneventum. The
inscriptions radiate Egyptian soteriology, on side II (6): ". the greatness . .

of his name reaches the height of the celestial vault and his glory extends to
the rays of the sun"; on side III (1-3) we learn that the soul of the divinized
Titus has flown off to heaven. Throughout, the names Horos, Re-Horakhty,
and Isis appear. 22
The close link between public ideology and private devotion to
Egyptian religion appears in a slightly later period, when the beloved, and
now divinized Antinoos, was honored by Hadrian with the "Serapeum" at
the Villa Hadriana near Tivoli.^^ Here, too, are powerful intimations of
Egyptian immortality.-^'* Like the Iseum Campense, which suggests to some
the Serapieion at Memphis, the Serapeum at Tivoli evokes the religious
atmosphere of Hellenistic Egypt.^^ The Serapeum not only sheltered eight
"colossal" statues of Antinoos, portrayed as Osiris, but also a colossal bust
of Isis-Sothis and in the center of the "bridge" the double bust of Osiris-
Apis (Sarapis) resting on a lotus base. The motif of "the god on the flower"
evoked the and awakening of the sun thus symbolizing the power of
birth —
rebirth of thegod as recipient of the cyclic energy of both Osiris and Apis.
There were also two colossal "Telemons" of Osirantinoos, probably in the
interior corners of the pavilions. -^^ Over the tomb of Antinoos now —
considered to have been located elsewhere, in Rome Hadrian erected an —
159-82; and "Plutarch's Life 'Markos Anlonios': A Literary and Cultural Study," in ANRW
n.33.6 (1992)4347^469 and 4895^915.
^^ J.-C. Grenier, "Les inscriptions hieroglyphiques de I'obelisque Pamphili: Un temoignage
meconnu sur Tavenement de Domitien." MEFRA 99 (1987) 937-61 (937-45. 959-61; 943, fig.
3).

death was not by drowning, though, as stated by J. Gwyn Griffiths, The Origins of
^^ Osiris'

Osirisand his Cull, EPRO 40 (Leiden 1980) 22, for Memphis. Cf. P. Vemus, "Le mythe d'un
mythe: La pretendue noyade d'Osiris. De la derive d'un corps a la derive du sens," Studi di
Egittologia e di Anlichita Puniche 9 (1991) 19-34.
^^ See J.-C. Grenier, "La decoration statuaire du 'Serapeum* du 'Canope' de la Villa
Adriana," MEFRA 101 (1989) 925-1019 (= idem. La decoration statuaire du "Serapeum" du
"Canope" de la Villa Adriana [Rome 1990]); and M. De Franceschini, Villa Adriana: Mosaici,
Pavimenti. Edifici (Rome 1991) 297-314.
^
The Memphitic connection of the Iseum Campense is suggested by A. RouUet, The
Egyptian and Egyptianizing Monuments of Imperial Rome, EPRO 20 (Leiden 1972) 24-25,
27-30, pi. Xn, figs. 18-19; figs. 347-52. On the Serapieion (sic) at Memphis, see Thompson
(above, note 5) 22-23, 212-65. However, Professor Grenier is sceptical of this connection.
^ FoUowing Grenier's reconstruction (above, note 24) 941, 955, fig. 6; 963, fig. 7; 970, fig.
8; 974, fig. 9; pis. XV-XVm, XXVD, XL; cf. pis. XD(, XXD(-XXXVL
 Frederick E. Brenk 153

obelisk, undoubtedly intended, by association with Osiris, to allude to

eternity and immortality .^^
Neither was Mithraism so occupied with bull-slaying as to be
unconcerned with soteriology. Some recent scholars see the religion at a
very early period concerned with "salvation" in the next life.^^ In this
interpretation the tauroctony itself depicts the soul's triumph over space and
time. In the later Empire, Uie Emperor Julian the Apostate claimed that the
scope of "this holiness" "is the ascent of the soul." Kelsos (Celsus), in the
mouth of Origen, speaks of the soul's flight "through the spheres of the
fixed stars and the planets. "^^ In this view, the Neoplatonist interpretation
of Mithraism is to be taken at face value. Thus, the ladder of the Mithraeum
of Felicissimus at Ostia is suggestive. So too is the solar ray which in some
tauroctonies appears in the path of apogenesis (rebirth), while Cancer and
Capricorn are the gates of the soul's entry and exit to and from this world.^^
An example is the solar ray in the Barberini fresco, which emanates from
Sol, passes through Capricorn (the place of the soul's ascent and return) and
—
through Cautes' torch who should be associated with the soul's ascent
—
from this world to Mithras.^^
Behind the Platonic allegories and the allusions of eternity and
divinization in religious-political architecture, however, is a whole strain of
Egyptian religion in which Osiris and those assimilated to him receive
immortality, in particular, celestial immortality.^^ Already in the Fifth and

2^ J.-C. Grenier and F. Coarelli, "La lombe d'Antinous a Rome." MEFRA 98 (1986) 217-
53. Coarelli (252, 253) understands Aniinoos as divine and assimilated to Apollo at the end of
the inscription. P. Derchain, "Un projet d'empereur," in D. Mendel and U. Claudi (eds.),
Agypten im afro-orienlalischen Kontext (Festschrift P. Behrens) (Cologne 1991) 109-24,
attempts to refute Grenier and Coarelli, who located the obelisk in Rome.
^ See R. Gordon, "Authority, Salvation and Mystery in the Mysteries of Mithras," in J.
Huskinson, M. Beard, and J. Reynolds (eds.), Image and Mystery in the Roman World
(Gloucester 1988) 45-80, esp. 56-58; R. Beck, Planetary Gods and Planetary Orders in the
Mysteries of Mithras, EPRO 109 (Leiden 1988) esp. 40-43, 92-99 and "The Mithras Cult as
Association," Studies in Religion/Sciences Religieuses 21 (1992) 3-13; R. Turcan, "Le
sacrifice mithriaque: Innovations de sens et de modalites," in J. Rudhardl and O. Reverdin
(eds.), Le sacrifice dans I'antiquile, Entretiens sur Tantiquile classique 27 (Vandocuvres-
Gencve 1981) 341-73 and Les culles orientaux dans le monde romain (Paris 1989) 193-241;
R. Mcrkelbach, Mithras (Konigstein 1984) 237-40; and D. Ulansey, The Origins of the
Mithraic Mysteries: Cosmology and Salvation in the Ancient World (New York and Oxford
1989) 60-62. For the iconography, see R. Vollkomer, "Mithras," in UMCVI. 1 (1992) 583-
626 and VI.2 (1992) 325-68.
^^ Origen, Against Kelsos 6.
22; cf. Beck, Planetary Gods (previous note) x.
'° See F. Cumont, Recherches sur le symbolisme
funeraire des Romains (Paris 1942) 35-42,
figs. 2, 3.
^^ Beck, Planetary Gods (above, note 28) 93-94; R. Turcan, "Salut mithriaque et
soteriologie neoplatonicienne," in U. Bianchi and M. J. Vermasercn (eds.). La soteriologia dei
culli orientali neirimpero Romano, EPRO 92 (Leiden 1982) 173-89 (183).
'2 Griffiths (above, note 23) esp. 8-13, 26-29, 38-40, 64-65, 98-107, 148-49, 156-57; and

W. Helck and W. Weslendorf (eds.), Lexikon der Agyplologie IV (Wiesbaden

"Osiris," in
1982) 623-33 (629-30); K. Spronk, Beatific Afterlife in Ancient Israel and in the Ancient Near
154 Illinois Classical Studies 18 (1993)

Sixth Dynasties (ca. 2500[or 2300]-2300[or 2100] B.C.), Osiris had solar
associations. Though nothing in the earlier myth of Osiris should put him in
orbit, he inherited the celestial hereafter and became associated with
Orion. 33 In traditional Egyptian theology the gods must be renewed each
day to retain their eternal youth. In many passages such rejuvenation or
resuscitation is the true meaning of a blessed death {Pyramid Text 1975): "O
Osiris, the King, you have gone, but you will return, you have slept [but you
will awake], you have died, but you will live.''^"* The soul as Ba,
represented as a small bird with the head and arms of the deceased, can
follow the Sun-God. But as a mummy it must await the Sun's return, and
call out his name, until the body is resuscitated. This cyclical concept
reflects the unending process of the body's life in death as though in sleep.
As Osiris is revived in sleep, so is the king, in this denial of death {Pyramid
Text 134): "O King, you have not departed dead, you have departed alive;
sit upon the throne of Osiris, your sceptre in your hand, that you may give

orders to the living ."^^ But there are different conceptions from this
. .

"corporeal" one. There is also transformation into another form, including

that of a star. Undoubtedly, Greeks and Romans would associate Egyptian
catasterism with more familiar types of the soul's divinization and
immortality. A compulsive tendency seems to have existed to sublimate
into a higher, Platonic form the traditional salvation of an Egyptian
eschatology threatened with chaos.
Like Greek and Roman religion, Egyptian beliefs were not exempt from
creeping democratization. In the Coffin Texts and The Book of the Dead,
Osiris secures triumph over death for all, kings and commoners, who
identify themselves with him. Osiris became a savior-god. His fate, which
led to final triumph after suffering and death, is a pattern which human

believers can achieve.^^ Osiris, though, could even take a very active role
3''
as a savior-god. The Oath of the Mystes powerfully expresses the
initiate's hopes for overcoming mortality:

East (Kevelaer 1986) 88-93; S. Cauville, Essai sur la theologie du Temple d'Horus a Edfou I
(Cairo 1987) esp. 239-42. F. Dunand, "Du sejour osirien des morts a i'au-dela chrelien:
Pratiques funeraires en figypte tardive," Ktema 1 1 (1986) 29-37, esp. 30-32, notes how Greek
and Egyptian salvation beliefs merge.
" Griffiths (above, note 23) 13, 65.
^'^
R. O. Faulkner, The Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts (Oxford 1969) 285; E. Homung,
Conceptions of God in Ancient Egypt: The One and the Many (Ithaca 1982; London 1983) (=
Der Eine und die Vielen: Agyptische Gollesvorstellungen [Darmstadt 1971]) 160; illustrations
(ca. 1500-1 100 B.C.) in R. WuUeman et al.. Passage to Eternity (Belgium 1989).
^^ Faulkner (previous note) 40; Griffiths (above, note 23) 67.
^^ Griffiths, "Osiris" (above, note 32) 629, without Pap. 10507. BM
" M. Smith, The Mortuary Texts of Papyrus BM 10507: Catalogue of Demotic Papyri in the
British Museum III (London 1987) col. VII, pp. 43^5; comment, pp. 101-02. and 129-31
(Pap. BM 10507 is late Ptolemaic in date); Homung 143^7; V.
(above, note 34) 143-96, esp.
A. Tobin, Theological Principles of Egyptian Religion (New York 1989) 103-24, 125-52.
 Frederick E. Brenk 155

and day from night

. . .

and sunrise from sunset, and [life

from] death, and birth from [corruption].

. . . Kalfmepav ek vo[kt6(;]
[koi d]vatoX,Tiv ctno Sioaecoq koi [^cotiv]
[dno] Oavdxov kqI yeveoiv a.n[b <p0opd<;]. (12-14)-^*

For Augustus and early Roman emperors Egyptian religion and

soteriology was literally and figuratively bathed in sunlight. Many Isis-
Osiris texts reflect the rays of the solar god, for example a line in the
Bremner-Rhind papyrus (312-11 B.C.):
To thee belongs sunlight, O thou who art equipped with rays. Thou
shinest at the left hand of Atum. Thou art seen in the place of Re. (10.
\39
6)^"

In The Hymn of Isidoros (at the latest first century B.C.), Isis mounts "the
chariot of the swift-driving Sun" (III 25).'*° The Isis of the Kyme Aretalogy
is not more modest: "I am she who rises in the Dog Star (9), . . . laid out the
paths of the stars, ... set the course for Sun and Moon (13-14), ... I am in
the rays of the sun." (44)"*'
More closely linking salvation and resurrection with the sun are Pap.
BM 10507:

I will live again when

I have looked upon your face, Osiris, foremost in

the West ... you will enter the darkness; it will become light for
(II 20);
you (XII 8); Osiris ... He will cause you to be rejuvenated eternally.
|They will favour you forever. They will cause you to be rejuvenated
eternally, Isis and NephthysJ (XH 21-22).'*2

Plutarch's On Isis and Osiris is faithful to the solar or stellar aspects of

Osiris, Isis, and other Egyptian deities, without in these passages

^^ Totti (above, note 3) 19.

^^ Col. 5. 10.
See R. O. Faulkner, "The Bremner-Rhind Papyrus, I," Journal of Egyptian
Archaeology 22 (1936) 121-40 (125), with other references to Re, the Solar Disk, and the
noclumal sun (cols. 10. 6; 10. 20; 16. 14-16, 27) 125. 128. 130-31. Similar, loo. is Pap. BM
10507 111. whUe Osiris' power is stressed in X 15. X 19; cf. Smith (above, note 37) 35, 49.
60,117-18.
""^
V. F. Vanderlip, The Four Greek Hymns oflsidorus and the Cull of Isis (Toronto 1972)
50-51.57.
"^ Tolli
(above, note 3) 5-10 (Andros Hymn), 79-80 (lU Hymn of Isidoros). The solar and
Sothis-Seirios aspects of Isis were represented on the fafade of the Iseum Campense (solar
disk, Isis on Dog Star): Roullet (above, note 25) 31-32. fig. 22; Turcan. Culles (above, note 28)
llO.pl. D(a.
"^ Smith (above, note 37) 37. 51-52; comment. 71-72. 125-26, 129 (double brackets
indicate Pap. Harkness parallels). In the Bremner-Rhind Papyrus: "Lie with thy sister Isis" (5.
25); "Raise thee up. O Osins" (17. 1) (Faulkner [above, note 39] 125. 132). In Pap. BM
10507, cf. n 22. IV 7. V 6. Vni 2, VIE 7. IX 7 (Smith [above, note 37] 38^0. 45. 47;
comment, 87-88, 102-03).
156 Illinois Classical Studies 18 (1993)

communicating the soteriological tone of the Egyptian texts. At birth

(355e) "the Lord of all advances into the light." Osiris is sprung from the
Sun (3550, while Isis is Sothis (the Dog Star) (359d, 375f-376a); again,
Horos (Osiris) is Orion (359e).''^ Or, the logoi of the gods reside in the
heaven and the stars (375b). Not exactly a savior figure, Osiris becomes,
rather, the Platonic form of the Good —
whose visible image in Platonic
philosophy, and elsewhere in Plutarch, is the sun (372c, 374d).
On Isis and Osiris incorporates aspects from the traditional Greek
mysteries, such as the Eleusinian and the Dionysiac, through allusions to the
"Orphic" myth."^ Such additions to traditional Egyptian religion suggest
the eschatological bent of Greeks who propagated the Hellenistic and
Roman worship of Isis. The phenomenon also appears in other cults, such
as that of the Ephesian Artemis.'*^ A torch on coins in the years 48-27 B.C.
suggests the introduction of nocturnal mystery rites.'*^ In the Salularis
procession (A.D. 104), even the golden Artemis carries a torch.'*'' Heroic
—
and divine cult of humans in the first century B.C. shortly to be followed
—
by the Imperial had encroached upon devotion to the goddess. One
wonders whether aspirations implicitly associated with heroization and
divinization did not cry out for fulfillment even in the ancient cult of
Artemis.'*^

Plutarch says "Horos," bul according lo Heliopolilan theology, Osiris; so J. Gwyn

Griffiths, Plutarch's De hide el Osiride (Swansea 1970) 353 6 and 371-72.
n.
'*''
Dionysos, 356b, 364d; Plouton, 361e, 382e; Persephone, 364e; Orphism, noted in
Griffiths (previous note) 419, 423, 478. See also M. Marcovich, "The Gold Leaf from
Hipponion Revisited," ZAnl 40 (1990) 73-78, esp. 76; C. Segal, "Dionysus and the Gold
Tablets from Pelinna," GRBS 31 (1990) 41 1-19, who cites the talk of F. Graf, "Dionysian and
Orphic Eschatology: New Texts and Old Questions," for the congress. Masks of Dionysos, but
see now F. Graf, "Textes orphiques et rituel bacchique: A propos des lamelles de Pelinna," in
P. Borgeaud (ed.). Orphisme el Orphee (Hommage J. Rudhardt) (Geneva 1991) 87-102; A.
Botlini, Archeologia della salvezza (Milano 1992) esp. 125-57; L. Zhmud, "Orphism and
Graffiti from Olbia," Hermes 120 (1992) 159-68, esp. 168; F. Graf, Eleusis und die orphische
Dichlung Alhens in vorhetlenislischer Zeil (Beriin 1974) 79-98; G. Casadio, "Dioniso e
Semele: Morte di un Dio e risurrezione di una donna," in F. Berti (ed.), Dionysos: Mito e
mislero (Fcrrara 1991) 361-77, esp. 368-69.
Note also K. Clinton, "The Eleusinian Mysteries: Roman Initiates and Benefactors, Second
Century B.C. to A.D. 267," in ANRW II.18.2 (1989) 1499-1539, esp. 1516-19; and "Hadrian's
Contribution to the Renaissance of Eleusis," in S. Walker and A. Cameron (eds.), The Greek
Renaissance in the Roman Empire, BICS Suppl. 55 (London 1989) 56-69, esp. 58. Also
valuable is A. Schachter, "Policy, Cult, and the Placing of the Greek Sanctuaries," in A.
Schachler (ed.), Le sanctuaire grec, Entretiens sur I'antiquite classique 37 (Vandoeuvres-
Geneve 1992) 1-57, esp. 6-7.
On \ivair\p\a for Artemis of Ephesos see Oster (above, note 18) 1711-13; G. H. R.
Horsley, New Documents Illustrating Early Christianity IV (North Ryde, Australia 1987) 94-
95; and S. R. Uewelyn and R. A. Kearisey, ibidem VI (1992) 196-202 (Kearsley).
*^ S. Karwiese, "Ephesos," RE Suppl. XH (Stuttgart 1970) 248-363 (31 1; see 284-87).
*^ G. M. Rogers, The Sacred Identity
of Ephesos: Foundation Myths of a Roman City
(London 1991) 111.
"* See, for example, Rogers (previous note) 113; Oster (above, note 18) 1728.
 Frederick E. Brenk 157

The between the soleriological aspects of Isism and women

relation
dressed as the goddess is not clear. But women's desire to be frozen forever

in marble assimilation to the goddess, especially in funerary monuments, is

impressive."*^ As the shades of death drew nigh, Kleopatra, with obssessive
passion, gradually transformed herself into Isis. Destiny, or the goddess,
admirably obliged. She was not alone. Numerous inscriptions suggest the
desire for Isis' protection in death as in life (dis manibus Hortensiae
sacerdoti Isidi) or even demand a fine to Isis (or Serapis) if the tomb is
broken into {habebit sacra Isidis illius quieta irata or habebit Isidem
iratam).^^
The Temple of Isis at Pompeii reveals the deceptiveness of "first
sight. "^' Here we can possibly reconstruct how worshippers were
successively drawn deeper and deeper into the profundities of Egyptian
religion and thus transformed. "Foreign" religions have an uncanny knack
of entering in sheep's clothing. Or do the wolves become sheep? The
temple precinct was not as suggestive of Egypt as was the Iseum at Rome,
where a long '"dromos" and hemicycle Serapeum might recall the
Sarapieion at Memphis.^^ However, the temple itself resembles other
Hellenistic temples of Isis, including that at Alexandria and the temple of
the Iseum Campense.^^ Like temples for other "oriental" cults, the Iscum at
Pompeii had a number of exotic rooms.^"* Thus, the external architeoture, at
first sight entirely Graeco-Roman, contains a number of "mystery"

*' RepresenUlions in E. J. Wallers, Allic Grave Reliefs that Represent Women in the Dress

of Isis, Hesperia Suppl. 22 (Princeton 1988); J. Eingartner. Isis und ihre Dienerinnen in der
Kunst der romischen Kaiserzeit (Leiden 1991).
5° Vidman, Sylloge (above, note 3) nos. 473; 52, 346 (to Serapis), 464-65.
^^
The new catalogue supersedes previous treatments: S. De Caro et al.. Alia ricerca di
pompeiano nel Museo di Napoli, Soprintendenza
Iside: Analisi, studi e restauri dell'Iseo
Archeologica per le Province di NapoLi e Caserta (Naples 1992) esp. 2-4. However, older
works will be cited here: O. Elia, Pompei III-IV: Le pitlure del Tempio di Iside, Monumenli
della pittura antica scoperti in Italia. Sezione lerza: La piltura ellenislico-romana (Rome 1941)
1-5. fig. 2; V. Tran Tarn Tinh. Essai sur le culle d'Isis a Pompei (Paris 1964) 30-39. pis. I. H;
M. Lyllleton, Baroque Architecture in Classical Antiquity (London 1974) 199-200; L.
Richardson, Pompeii: An Architectural History (Baltimore 1988) 80-85, fig. 4; Turcan. Cultes
(above, note 28) 105-09 (106. fig. 2); J.-M. Croisille, "Paysages et natures morles au temple
d'Isis a Pompei." in D. Porte and J. -P. Neraudau (eds.). Res Sacrae (Brussels 1988) pi. I. The
date of the earler temple is unknown, perhaps as late as 50 B.C. according to Richardson 82 n.
17.
^^Two reliefs depicting striking Egyptian and pseudo-Egyptian sculptures may represent the
Iseum fa9ade (Turcan Cultes [above, note 28] 110. pi. VII; RouUct [above, note 25) pi. XUI.
figs. 20-21). However, see note 25 above, with Grenier's reservations.
^^ Following the pattern of Greek funerary temples of the necropolis of Henmopolis Magna;

RouUet (above, note 25) 30-31. figs. 23, 24.

^ Little seems to be known about the Isieion (so spelled at Memphis); Thompson (above,
note 5) 22-23, 31, 168, 192.
 a

158 Illinois Classical Studies 18 (1993)

features. ^^ These are a so-called Megaron or Purgatorium with an

—
underground space in the form of a highly decorated aediculum —
Sacrarium (a kind of sacristy, or initiation hall), and the largest room, the
Telesterion, Curia Isiaca, School, or Ekklesiasterion (according to different
theories) — for presenting the initiates, sacred representations, ritual meals,
—
and meetings and the Pastophorion (rooms possibly for the residence of
the priests, and of the laity during the fasting period before initiation). The
use of the Purgatorium (or Megaron) and its underground room is very
uncertain. Possibly it stored "Nile water" and was used for ablutions, or,
according to another theory, was a kind of incubation oracle for receiving
prophecies.^^
The painting, like the architecture, innocently Graeco-Roman in
appearance, becomes more dangerously religious as one "zooms in" on a
world continually more mysterious and Egyptian in imagery and theme.
—
The Porticus like the Ekklesiasterion, in the Pompeian Fourth Style first —
attracts the viewer into the religious Isism of Hellenistic Egypt. In the
Porticus a kind of aediculum was decorated with a large painting (95 x 107
cm) depicting Harpokrates. The Praxitelean statue of the youthful god
incongruously receives worship from an Egyptian priest holding forth two
candelabra.^"^ A beautiful painted acanthus frieze forms the upper portion of
the panels. Here, fantastically woven into the tendrils, seed pods, and
flowers — —
along with various animals are a jackal, cobra, bull, cow,
hippopotamus, and even a baby Harpocrates on a lotus.^^
The numerous sacro-idyllic scenes, with their frequent funerary
monuments or shrines in either quadretti (small rectangle) or emblemata
(small inserts against the red decorated panels), begin to entice the viewer
deeper into the exotic piety of Hellenistic Egypt. Alternating emblemata
supposedly represent the solemn procession of the Pompa Isidis. But in fact
the statuary poses of the isolated personalities, depicted against a simulated
stone backdrop, suggest, rather, figures from a monument. They are
strikingly Egyptian in dress, with two exceptions. The zakoros and the
hierogrammateus, with ostrich feathers attached by a band to his head,
spondophoros, and hierodoulos are all sufficiently sympathetic. Only

^^ Actually the architecture is quite revolutionary. It includes a false arch in the pediment.
Eastern elements, and Isiac or Egyptian motifs —untypical of contemporary Roman style; cf.

LytUeton (above, note 51) 199-200.

^^ Tran Tam Tinh (above, note 51) 34; Elia (above, note 51)5.
" Catalogue 1.5 (40-^1. 116); EUa (above, note 51) 7-8. fig. 7; Tran Tam Tinh (above, note
51) 135. pi. V.
5^ Catalogue 1.31 (48,VID). 1.37 (50. tav. Vffl). 1.42 (50-51. 119). 1.49 (52-53). 1.54
tav.

(52-53). 1.55 (52. 54); other animals (some more than once) are lioness, female goat, goose
(?). wolf, galloping horse, lion, gazelle, leopard —
besides a pygmy. This type of frieze,
frequently religious, was studied by J. M. C. Toynbee and J. B. Ward Perkins, "Peopled
ScroUs: A HellenisUc Motif in Imperial Art." PBSR 18 (1950) 1^3. esp. 2. 8-9. 10 and pi.

VI. 1, 3 (Iseum); they omit the Harpokrates in VI. 1 and waeus in VI.2
 Frederick E. Brenk 159

Anubis gives one pause. Despite the artist's manful struggle, even this
congenial jackal resists syncretism's imperfect fits.^'

As one entered the Sacrarium a large painting evoked a familiar

Graeco-Roman lararium. Isis sat enthroned, with Osiris-Serapis-Horos
beside her, reclining on a rock.^^ Benign and approachable, they wear lotus
flowers on their heads, while "Osiris" is pictorially framed by two uraei,
also wearing the lotus headpiece. The majestic and self-confident poses
offer reassurance of the ultimate triumph of good over evil. The vision is a
comforting one of gods to be encountered, where evil exists no more and
every tear is dried. Scattered about the Sacrarium, as though to be
innocuous, are more disturbing smaller representations of Egyptian gods.
—
Re's symbol the dung beetle or scarab, Khe-pre crawled around Isis and —
Osiris enthroned. Other inhabitants lurking in the room were the enthroned
dwarf god Bes, the Apis bull, a baboon (the symbol of Thot, god of magic
and wisdom), Anubis as jackal, Khnum, the god of the cataracts, as a ram, a
vulture (symbol of Nekhbet, primordial god of Upper Egypt), an ichneumon
crouching toward the right (the symbol of Horos), and a cat (symbol of
Bast, the goddess of Bubastis in the Delta). Elsewhere were Toth as the
ibis, and Sakhmet represented as a coiled uraeus (the sacred serpent)

crowned with the lotus (symbol of Wadjet, the goddess of the Delta).^^
The Hellenistic sfumatura of another fresco in the Sacrarium, the
"Inuentio Osiridis," only scantily veils its radically Egyptian theme. Isis
stands erect in a barque, between two huge hoary heads dripping water,
which undoubtedly are personifications of the upper and lower Nile.^^
Behind her she tows yet another barque, the prow of which terminates in a
male head. Upon the barque rests the square coffin of Osiris, decorated with
the falcon. ^^ In the lower register, a kind of lararium, two huge snakes
writhing protectively around a cista mystica frame the mystic basket.^'*
Above, Isis returns upon the barque Sothis, accompanied by the cadaver of
Osiris, which she found through her arduous searching and reassembled

59 Catalogue 1.36
(49). uv. VH; Elia (above, note 51) 5-20; figs. 9-15. 161-21b. tav. V.l-
2;Tran Tarn Tinh (above, note 51) 136. pis. II-V.
^° Catalogue 1.71
(59); Elia (above, note 51) 20-21; fig. 25. Only the Serapis part survives;
Tran Tarn Tinh (above, note 51) 145. pi. Vffl.l (167 x 176.8 cm).
In general, the descriptions of the catalogue —
sometimes contradicting earlier authors
have been followed here: 1.71-79. 1.84 (58-60, 62). Cf. Elia (above, note 51) 22; Tran Tarn
Tinh (above, note 51) pis. VII. IX.2; Turcan. Cultes (above, note 28) 109.
"
V. Sampaolo, "La decorazione pittorica" (catalogue 60 n. 1), treats the distinguishing
crowns.
" Catalogue 1.74 (59-60, engraving. 85); EUa (above, note 51) 22, fig. 26; Tran Tarn Tinh
(above, note 51) 37. pi. X.l. Cf. Plutarch. On Isis 357f-58b (Griffiths (above, note 43] 339-

40).
Cf. Apul. Met. 11. 11: cLvta secrelorum . . . celans operla magnificae religionis.
160 IlUnois Classical Studies 18 (1993)

with her own hands.^^ The scene probably recalled the procession of the
sacred water, symbol of the regenerated Osiris in the Isiac ceremonies.^
The unfamiliar scene is somewhat unfamiliarly portrayed. Isis'
protection, so it beyond the ordinary concerns of this life
intimates, extends
to the unexperienced voyage hereafter.^^ The enormous serpents evoke Isis'
own uraeus form, in her special role as goddess of the dead.^^ One might
recall a striking room at Pompeii. At the time of the restoration of the Villa
of the Mysteries in the early Augustan period, the tablinum next to the room
of Dionysiac scenes was redecorated with Egyptian motifs. These included
a pteroform Isis as protectress of the dead, with the uraeus as depicted in —
—
pharaonic crowns and decorations and with Seth.^^ The juxtaposition of
Dionysiac and Isiac scenes may not be coincidental. Nor, possibly, is it by
chance alone that precisely in this period Dionysos and his train apparently
Egyptian gods.
reu^eat before the exotic
most of all one begins to communicate with the
In the Ekklesiasterion
mysterious world of Hellenistic and Egyptian Isism. This time, the
"otherness" of foreign ideas and iconography does not rear an ugly head,
but rather the painting dazzles with the incredible beauty and mystery of
Hellenistic Egypt. Two large paintings, "lo, Argos, and Hermes" and "lo at
Kanopos," in spite of snake, sislrum, and situla in the latter, reflect the early
Greek statuary style of painting.''^ The double occurrence in the temple
precinct of the lo-theme, quite rare inGraeco-Roman painting, is su^iking,
Kanopos occupies a commanding position in the
particularly since the lo at
Ekklesiasterion. One picture suggests Hermes' freeing of lo from torment
and persecution by killing the spy, Argos. The second, through the horns

*^ The falcon painled on the box, according lo Tran Tam Tinh (above, nole 51) 65 n. 4,
represents Osiris, who from the barque Seklel to heaven; so T. G. H. Allen,
as a falcon flew
The Egyptian Book of the Dead (Chicago 1960) ch. 77.
^ So V. Sampaolo, "La decorazione pittorica" (catalogue 60).
^^ At the same lime possibly meant to allude lo the Ploiaphesia {Nauigium), the opening of

ihe sailing season, and success on the sea. See M. Malaise, Invenlaire preliminaire des
documents egyptiens decouverts en Italie, EPRO 81 (Leiden 1972) 279-80, no. 47, pi. 44; Tran
Tam Tinh (above, nole 51) 99-100, pi. X.l; P. Bruneau, "Isis Pelagia a Delos.
(Complements)," BCll 87 (1963) 301-08 (esp. 307); R. BriUiant, Pompeii AD 79: The
Treasure of Rediscovery (New York 1979) 95 (warships in the Iseum). Naumachiai appear
frequenUy in the Ponicus (catalogue 1.20. 1.23, 1.25. 1.29. L39, 1.41. 1.44. 1.47 [44. lav. V]).
Undoubtedly Isis sailed with the Ptolemaic fleet.
^^ F. Dunand, Le culle d'lsis dans le bassin oriental de la Mediterranee, EPRO 26 (Leiden

1973) I pis. XXVI-XXVm; III pi. XV; V. Tran Tam Tinh, "Etal des eludes iconographiques
relatives a Isis, Serapis el Sunnaoi Theoi," in ANRW II.17.3 (1984) 1710-38. pi. XI. Cf. E.
Homung, Agyptische Unterweltsbiicher (Zurich and Munich 1972; 2nd ed., 1984) 27-29, and
74-75.
^^ Dc Vos (above, note 15) 12, pis. ni-VB.
'O
Catalogue 1.69 (165.5 x 147 cm (57-58. lav. XIV]), 1.63 (150 » 137.5 cm (35. 55-56. Uv.
X. XVI]); cf. Elia (above, note 51) 27-30, lav. A, lav. B. R. Merkelbach. "Der Isiskult in
Pompci." Latomus 24 (1965) 144-49. sees "salvation" aspeas in Dionysos-Osiris associations
(146).
 Frederick E. Brenk 161

still remaining on lo, depicts the very moment at which Isis releases the
heroine from her beastly shape. The iconography thus foreshadows the
transformation in Apuleius' Isis-book, in which Lucius, through the
intervention of Isis, is restored from ass form back to human shape.
Platonic allegorical interpreters would not be stretched to find a true
meaning: The devotee, through the mercy of the all-powerful Isis, will be
liberated from immersion in the phenomena of this world and from the
necessity of perpetual metempsychosis in the next, and will view forever, in
the intelligible sphere, the perfect Good and Beautiful.
How different the sacro-idyllic scenes! In the Ekklesiasterion six or
seven very large tableaux exude a delicate, haunting, and mystical
Hellenistic style.'^' These paintings contrast strikingly with the Egyptian
representations of Isis and other divinities in the Villa Farnesina Romana.
Though the Farnesina frescoes are beautifully executed and mysteriously
serious, they are also playful and decorative, undermining the religious
tone.''^ In the emblemata of the Ekklesiasterion the landscape was arranged
around a sacred edifice such as a funerary monument, temple, or "sacred
portal" and usually set upon a rocky islet shaded by trees and surrounded by
water. Mountains and deep valleys faintly appear in a background sprinkled
with sparse vegetation and enhanced with the rare appearance of an isolated
animal or human being. The emblemata, as indicated by their modern
names, reflect the cult of Isis: "Sacred Portal of Neith," "Funerary
Monument of Isis-Hathor," "Tholos Temple of Hathor," "Funerary
Monument of Osiris," "syncretisl cult of Osiris-Adonis-Nile" (which was
celebrated at Kanopos).''^ The Nile seems to flow through the Heptanomide
of Upper Egypt, north of the Thebaid, coursing from mountain passes to
glide silently among numerous small sanctuaries.^"* Viewed with religious
awe, the magnificent sacral architecture and breathtaking nature of these

''^
Between 125 x 120 and 210 x 122 cm in size; e.g.. catalogue 1.62 (lav. IX), 1.66-68 (lav.
Xl-Xni), 1.70 (lav. XV). Possibly the seated divinity in 1.66 and 1.67 is Isis (Sampaoio,
catalogue 56, 57).
^^ See I. Bragantini and M. de Vos, Le decorazioni delta vitla romana delta Farnesina,

Museo Nazionale Romano: Le piilure 11. 1 (Rome 1982). The painted Isis candelabra of the
Villa (Bragantini, lav. 37-38, 45, 50, 95; esp. 50) contrast with ihe simplicity, more religious
pose, and characteristic Isis knol of their Pompeian sisters (catalogue 1.57-60 [54-55, Uv.

m]); EUa (above, note 51) 23, fig. 27.

" Catalogue 7.16 (82, 85); Hha (above, note 51) 12-13; lav. 1; Croisille (above, note 51)
124-43 (127).
''*
Elia (above, note 51) 30; Croisille (above, nole 51) 126. See also K. Schefold,
"Signification de la peinture pompeienne," in G. CeruUi Irelli et al. (eds.), La peinlure de
Pompei I (Paris 1993) 35-46, esp. 42-45, painting under Nero and Vespasian; and W. T.
Peters, "Le paysage dans la peinture murale de Campanie," ibid. 277-91, esp. 284 on the
Iseum.
162 Illinois Classical Studies 18 (1993)

frescoes intimate that the mysteries of life and of the goddess are ultimately
indistinguishable^^
The most astonishing scene again is a piece of initial deception.
Through the transparent veil of romantic Hellenism, suddenly an Egyptian
theme strikingly and irresistibly evokes death and a blessed afterlife. This
relatively large painting, "The Adoration of the Mummy of Osiris" or "The
Tomb (oopoq) of Osiris," in its own way is more strikingly Egyptian than
"The Finding of Osiris. ""^^ Like two colossal stelai, anthropoid mummy
cases form a sacred portal at the composition's center. Three steep steps
approaching them, typical of Egyptian sanctuaries, reach to the middle of
the "portal." Beneath the gate, a coffin or mummy case —
appears, erect. —
Upon it a phoenix perches, the bird of the Sun par excellence, sacred to
Osiris, and the symbol of rebirth.'^'' Below the case, a hierogrammateus,
whose head is decorated with ostrich plumes, extends a d^ay of offerings.''^
Beyond this unusual "sacellum," an ithyphallic god, either Min or Ptah, is

saucily propped up against a "ceppus." Ribbons are tied tightly around the
stelai, while those around the "coffin" seem already loosened as though
about to fly asunder. The central scene, bathed and highlighted with
sunshine, stands out against the misty background of the distant mountains.

'^ K. Schefold, La peinlure pompeienne: Essai sur revolution de sa signification (Brussels

1972) {- Pompej anise he Malerei: Sinn und Ideengeschichte (Basel 1952], with some revisions)
offered a strong eschatological interpretation: "above all, Isis promises eternal life" (87); F. Le
Corsu, "Un oratoire pompeien consacre a Dionysos-Osiris," RA (1967) 239-54, sees
prominent symbols of death and resurrection, and Isis linked with Dionysos (254). Other
scholars are more reserved.
''^
(1 1 1.5 x 188.8 cm [56-57. lav. Xffl]); cf. EUa (above, note 51) 33-34.
Catalogue 1.68
Uv. C; Tran Tarn Tinh (above, note 51) pi. X.l.
'^ For the interpretation see Sampaolo (caulogue 57), citing Merkelbach (above, note 70)

148^9; Tran Tam Tinh (above, note 51) 65 n. 4; and A. Tammisto. "PHOENIX. FELIX. ET.
TU: Remarks on the Representation of the Phoenix in Roman Art," Arctos 20 (1986) 171-225.
esp. 174-86, 180 n. 24.

The exact nature of the crown in the impressionistic "Adoration" fresco is difficult to
determine. Lunar crescent and sun disk, uraeus, hemhem crown, or simply some generic
fantasy? E. Vassilika, Ptolemaic Philae (Lou vain 1989) 293-325, reproduces the huge
assortment found at Philai. The crowns closest to the "Adoration" bird's are the rush and
hemhem crowns (301-04; cf. 84-95). Roman attitudes toward Egyptian crowns are discussed
by L. Kakosy, "Die Kronen im spaiagyptischen Totenglauben," in G. Grimm et al. (eds.). Das
romisch-byzantinische Agypten, Aegyptica Trevercnsia 2 (Mainz 1983) 57-60, esp. 57-58
(Taf. 1, 3; 2, 4), 59. Somewhat similar is the tiny crown on Arsinoe D in coins; see O.
2-3; 3,
M0rkholm Early Hellenistic Coinage (Cambridge 1991) pi. XVIII, 294-95. Something
el al..
similar appears in some iconography of Isis; cf. Tran Tam Tinh, "Isis," in LIMC V.l (1990)
761-96 and V.2 (1990) 501-26 Gsis 61, 96, 252b; on Isis in the "Inventio Osiridis" at Pompeii.
77). Also on a minister in the cult, see Dunand (above, note 68) EI pi. XI.2.
Elia (above, note 51) 34, unconvincingly, saw Isis as a "sparrow-hawk" about to resuscitate
Osiris. Pace Tran Tinh and Sampaolo, the outer mummy case is surely closed (tied with a
Tam
yellow ribbon), not open. Its generic rather than Egyptian look may be significant.
^^ Pluurch, On Isis 366e-f; EUa (above, note
51) 33-34; Malaise (above, note 67) 271, 280-
81, no. 45, and pi. 45; Tran Tam Tinh (above, note 51)65-66, pi. X.2.
 Frederick E. Brenk 163

In such an unreal atmosphere, a sudden, unexpected, and supernatural

transition from death to life seems to await Osiris and all who follow his
mysteries.^'
The temple, then, fits a pattern of religious imagery in the early
Imperial period. Seemingly innocent and innocuous iconography, veiled in
familiar garb, only gradually begins to reveal its deeper meaning. Isis, the
mystagogue attentive not to shock, gingerly guides the initiate into her
mysteries. ^^ Statuary and sacro-idyllic painting in Hellenistic form
establish a comforting distance between the viewer and the real Egypt, yet
tease with an exotic touch. In fact, they have much in common with the
Serapieion in Egypt: Apis bull, Bes, Anubis, Dionysos with panther,
Aphrodite, peacocks, lions. Ibis, Ptah, satyrs, marine lions and horses, uraei,
sphinxes, and lotus flowers.^' To establish even closer ties with ancient
and Ptolemaic Egypt the temple displayed an Egyptianized Dionysos, a
hieroglyphic plaque, an ushabii, a squatting male deity, and it put an ankh
into the hand of Isis.*^ Little by little, then, the architecture and painting
of the temple unfold an "Egyptian" experience in which existence
transcends ordinary life and ultimately death itself. In a sudden
illumination, conditioned perhaps by Greek philosophy and public ideology,
one might realize that good will ultimately triumph over evil, that the

^^ Except for last clause, Elia (above, note 51) 33-34: "a striking expression of the deepest
and most consoling meaning of the Isis religion . . . resurrection, redemption, and survival after

death in a better world."

*° For something similar see L. H. Kant, "Jewish Inscriptions in Greek and Latin," in ANRW
11.20. 2 (1987) 671-713, esp. 682-90; L. V. Rutgers, "Archaeological Evidence for the
Interaction of Jews and Non-Jews in Late Antiquity," AJA 96 (1992) 101-18.
*> See catalogue 77. and numbers 1.1, 1.12-13, 1.16-19, 1.32. 1.36, 1.51, 1.56, 1.62, 1.64,
1.68, 1.72. l.n-19, 1.81. 1.84.5.2,5.4,6.1,6.3. Missing are a Kcrberos, falcon with head of a
bearded man, mermaid, and a lion ndden by Dionysos. 3.4-6, portrait busts, apparently of
women members of the imperial family, correspond with the Ptolemaic statues and busts in the
Serapieion. Cf. Thompson (above, note 5) esp. 212-13.
^^ Dionysos, 3.9 (D. D'Errico. "Materiali di produzione egiziana." catalogue 77-79 [70]);

plaque, beginning of Ptolemaic period, probably from Herakleopolis, vindicating the rights of
the local god Herishef, and his native clergy (6.1 [78]) from last phase of pharaonic Egypt.
The ushabii of Paef-hery-hesu (mummiform figure, dating to 664-525 B.C.) (6.3 (791).
contains the formula (ch. 6 of The Book of I he Dead), "May Osiris shine forth. Known to Re,
Heard by (?) Ammon," and mentions Paef-hery-hesu. "jusufied" for the afterhfc. The male
deity (6.2 [10.3 x 14.2 x 14.2 cm], 79. tav. XVII) in blue faience wears the usekh necklace. The
Isis (3.2 [105 X 85 X 42 cm], 65, 68) contains Greek archaizing and Egyptian features. Among

the latter are: imitation of the usekh necklace, right fool rigidly pushed forward, lotus or Hathor
crown on head (so S. A. Muscetlola, "La decorazione architettonica e Tanrcdo," catalogue 63-
76 [68]). Note, too, the lotus cup candelabra (5.4. 74).
The papers given at the meeting. "Giomau di Studi: 'Alia ricerca di Isidc'," Naples, June 4,
1993. by S. De Caro. J.-P. Grenier. F. Zevi. V. Sampaolo. S. Adamo Musceitola. M. de Vos.
and F. Coarelli should be published soon.
164 Illinois Classical Studies 18 (1993)

devotion paid to these strange, yet comforting gods, could bring eternal
salvation and blessedness.*^

Pontifical Biblical Institute, Rome

^^ Professors Roger Beck of Erindale College, University of Toronto, Marietle de Vos of the
Universita di Trenlo, and Jean-Claude Grenier of the Universite Paul Valery, Montpellier III
generously read the manuscript and offered indispensable information, corrections, and
suggestions. Thanks are due as well to Mary Hopkins of Milwaukee for many improvements
with the text.