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The Cult of Isis at Ancient Messene
Petros Themelis
(Society of Messenian Archaeological Studies, Athens)
The location of a sanctuary dedicated to the cult of
Isis and Sarapis close to the theatre of ancient Messene is
reported by Pausanias (4.32.6), who wrote: “Not far from
the Theatre, there is a sanctuary of Sarapis and Isis” (τοῦ
θεάτρου δὲ οὐ πόρρω Σαράπιδός έστι καὶ Ἴσιδος ἱερόν).
Several artefacts connected with the Sarapis and Isis
sanctuary found in various parts of the archaeological
site of Messene but mainly in the area between the
theatre and the stadium are presented as follows:
a) Two almost identical mantle-clad herms made of
marble, found by villagers to the north of the stadium
and delivered to the Museum before the systematic
excavations began in 19861:
1. Inv. no. 54, herm of a young male made of fine
crystalline marble, preserved height 1.20 m. Below the
thighs, the figure takes the form of a stele (fig. 1a), but
the lower part of the shaft and the left arm are missing.
The head is broken above the forehead and the face is
badly weathered (fig. 1b). Despite this damage and the
fact that lips, nose and eyes are missing, the young male’s
fleshy, rounded cheeks and childish features are still
apparent. Wrapped tightly around the torso and both
arms is a mantle that also covers the head. Names of
Messenian ephebes who had trained in the Gymnasium
of the city for three years and were called trietirenes are
inscribed on the shaft and right shoulder of the figure2.
In their free time, the ephebes would sit on the steps
of the propylon, the main entrance to the west stoa of
the Gymnasium, and play at dice; they scratched their
names everywhere they could, especially on the statue
bases erected in the west stoa3. The main body of the
ephebic inscriptions found in the west stoa date to the
Augustan period. The ephebic names on this herm stele
1/  The new period of systematic excavations at ancient Messene
started in 1986 under the direction of the author: Themelis 1986;
Themelis 1987; Themelis 1988; Themelis 1989; Themelis 1990;
Themelis 1991; Themelis 1992; Themelis 1993; Themelis 1994; Themelis
1995; Themelis 1996; Themelis 1997; Themelis 1998; Themelis 1999;
Themelis 2000a; Themelis 2001a; Themelis 2002a; Themelis 2003;
Themelis 2004a; Themelis 2005; Themelis 2006.
2/  Themelis 1998-1999; Themelis 2001b.
3/  Themelis 2001b, 122.
Bibliotheca Isiaca, II, 2011, p. 97-109
from Messene date to the Augustan period as well, thus
providing a terminus ante quem for dating this mantle-clad
figure.
2. Inv. no. 260, mantle-clad herm of a young male
made of fine crystalline marble, preserved height 1.11 m.
Below the thighs, the lower part of the figure takes the
form of a stele (fig. 1c); the lower part of the stele and
the figure’s arms and head are missing. The torso and
both arms are tightly wrapped in the mantle. The entire
surface is badly worn because the statue lay in a stream
bed for many years. Traces of letters, probably belonging
to ephebes’ names, are visible on the front of the torso
below the chest.
On the evidence of similar herms from Delos dated
to the 1st century AD, the two examples from Messene
could be identified as Hellenized figures of Harpocrates,
the child Horos of the Egyptian pantheon, who played
an important role in popular religion as a benevolent
god and protector of the home4. The Harpocrates
herms5 from Delos hold the horn of plenty (cornucopia)
in the left hand. Harpocrates is notably considered to
be the Egyptian equivalent of the Greek Eros, and some
statues6 showing maybe Eros-Harpocrates have been
found at Thespiae in Boeotia associated with a sanctuary
of Eros mentioned by Pausanias (9.27.1). The type of
Eros-Harpocrates is known by some bronze statuettes,
in the Florence Museum for example7.
3. Inv. no. 13477, a marble statuette of Eros
(height 0.45 m, width 0.18 m), brought to light in the area
between the theatre and the stadium of Messene (fig.
2a-b)8. It shows the god in a rather unusual type, with a
mantle covering his right side and legs, but because the
head is missing we cannot identify him with certainty as
Eros-Harpocrates.
4/  Malaise 1991.
5/  Marcadé 1969, 434-436, pl. XVIII; Marcadé 1996, 174-175, no.
77.
6/  De Ridder 1922, 224-225, no. 12, fig. 4.
7/  Merkelbach 1995, 596, fig. 123; Malaise 2008b.
8/  Themelis 2003, pl. 28/b.
98 Petros Themelis

Fig. 1.
a. Herm with mantle-clad figure (inv. no. 54).
b. Herm with mantle-clad figure (inv. no. 54), detail of head.
c. Herm with headless figure (inv. no. 260).

Fig. 2.
a. Headless statue of Eros wearing mantle (inv. no. 13477), frontal view.
b. Headless statue of Eros (inv. no. 13477), detail of back.
 The Cult of Isis at Ancient Messene 99
b) Inv. no. 250, torso of a male reclining figure made
of Egyptian basalt (fig. 3a-b), preserved height 0.39 m.
The legs are broken below the thighs; the right hand
and the left forearm are missing. The preserved lower
part of the body and thighs is covered by a himation that
leaves the genitals free. The torso is depicted frontally
while the legs are turned to the figure’s right. The right
forearm rests on the slightly elevated right thigh; the
figure would have been leaning on a missing object with
his left arm slightly bent and left leg extended9.
The reclining figure is probably a representation of
the river god Nilus, as indicated by its imported material
(basalt from Egypt) and particularly by the posture of
the body, which is comparable to other reclining figures
of the river god10. The stylistic traits of this basalt torso
from Messene, in particular the dry modelling of the
body and the himation’s heavy folds, find parallels in
works of the Antonine period11. In view of the absence
Fig. 3.
a. Basalt torso of a river god (inv. no. 250), frontal view.
b. River god (inv. no. 250), rear view.
9/  Xagorari-Gleissner 2002, 78-80, figs. 9-10.
10/  Klementa 1993, 194-225.
11/  Stemmer 1978, 175; Xagorari-Gleissner 2002, 80.
of drill marks, however, the iconographic type of the
young river god supports a date in the 1st century AD.
c) Inv. no. 14170, a fragment of a large circular base
of local limestone (fig. 4) preserved height 0.23 m, width
0.51 m. When complete, the base is estimated to have
been about 1.50 m in diameter; two eight-pointed stars
with a crescent between them are incised on its torus
moulding.
This large low base could have been used to support
a large cylindrical altar in the form of a cista mystica or an
ex-voto such as a large column. The crescent is a symbol
of Isis-Selene, while the star is an allusion to Sirius
(Sothis in Egypt) the brightest star in the constellation
of Canis Major, which rises on 19 July during the period
when the Nile flooded and fertilized the thirsty valley
of Egypt12. The star-crescent motif occurs mainly as a
decoration on cistae mysticae, the cylindrical boxes used
to carry and store cult objects13.
d) Inv. no. 14613, a possible bronze statuette of Isis
standing on a low base (fig. 5), height 0.06 m. Found
in the fill of the cella of the Doric temple recently
uncovered in the agora of Messene, it was dedicated
to the cult of the goddess Messana, the deified first
mythical queen of the land. The figurine’s surface is worn,
so that the details of her facial traits are indistinct. The
right arm, which reached downwards, is broken below
the elbow. Her head crowned by a high kalathos, she is
clad in a long chiton covered by a himation and holds
the cornucopia in the crook of her left arm, becoming
maybe assimilated to Isis-Fortuna.
Fig. 4. Fragment of a circular stone base (inv. no. 14170).
12/  In the hymn from Aeolian Cyme, Isis speaks in the first person:
Ἐγὼ εἰμι ἡ ἐν τῷ τοῦ Κυνὸς ἄστρῳ ἐπιτέλλουσα (l. 9). Ἐγὼ ἐχώρισα γῆν
άπ’οὐρανοῦ. Ἐγὼ ἄστρων ὁδοὺς ἔδειξα. Ἐγὼ ἡλίου καὶ σελήνη[ς] πορέαν
συνεταξάμην (l. 12-14). See Müller 1961, 33-35 and 38-41; Engelmann
1976, 97-108, no. 41; RICIS, 302/0204.
13/  Merkelbach 1995, 507, fig. 26, 612, fig. 142, 674, fig. 214. A gold
seal ring with a depiction of a head surmounted by a star was found
in grave monument K3 at the Gymnasium of Messene: Themelis 1997,
106, pl. 61b; Themelis 2000b, 117-118.
 100 Petros Themelis
Fig. 5. Bronze statuette (inv. no. 14613).
The sculptural decoration of the theatre
A considerable number of mutilated marble statues
were brought to light during excavations of the
proscenium of the theatre at Messene. They belong to
the sculptural decoration of the Roman imperial period
three-storey stage building (scaenae frons). The theatre
and its stage building were abandoned in the early 4th
century AD and soon after used as a quarry by the city’s
now-Christian inhabitants, who carried off most of the
blocks from the stage building’s superstructure as well
as the stone steps and seats from the cavea to build
houses and a basilica nearby (fig. 6). Two colossal marble
torsos were found where they had fallen, in front of the
apsidal niche on the ground floor of the stage building: a
cuirassed statue of the emperor Trajan and a male figure
clad in a himation that probably represented the emperor
Hadrian. Valuable information about the identity of the
figures portrayed comes from a long inscription written
on a marble base. This inscription is a decree honouring a
well-known elite family from Messene, and in particular
Tiberius Claudius Saethidas Caelianus, who covered the
expenses for the reconstruction of the proscenium and
the sculptural decoration of the scaenae frons. The family
of the Saethidae maintained close links with the Roman
imperial house from the reign of Nero to that of Marcus
Aurelius14. The same Athenian workshops would appear
to have produced the statues both for the Nymphaeum
at Olympia, a benefaction by Herodes Atticus and his
wife Regilla, and for the theatre of Messene15.
Fragments of a male statue and of a headless female
statue of marble of the Large Herculaneum Woman type
were found near the left (eastern) rectangular niche. The
latter is thought to represent Claudia Frontina, wife of
the Saethidas mentioned above, who was active in the
second half of the 2nd century AD. Marble fragments
of two more statues, including a colossal portrait head
of Lucius Verus, were found in the rectangular niche at
the west end of the ground floor of the scene building16.
Another group of marble statues comes from the
sculptural decoration of the niches on the second and
third storeys of the scene building (fig. 7).
e) Inv. no. 12000, a statue of Isis holding the sail made
of coarse-grained marble (fig. 8a-d), height 1.70 m. The
goddess’ forearms and a small part of the tiara (diadem)
above her forehead are broken. Parts of the locks of
her hair and the edges of her garment are missing. As
well, most of the marble sail has broken off; only a small
fragment survives. The goddess stands on a plinth,
rounded at the back, that is integral with the statue.
Isis strides toward the right while the upper part of her
body, especially the head, is turned to her right, towards
the beholder. The head and neck were carved separately
and inserted into a deep cutting between the shoulders.
The wavy, wet-looking locks of hair that curl around
the goddess’s round, youthful face flow back loosely
to fall over her neck and shoulders (fig. 8b). There are
no incisions around the pupils of the eyes. Her left leg,
extended and slightly bent, rests on the beak of a ship’s
prow; the ship itself is not depicted, but is symbolized
by the special form and the fine workmanship of the
rounded plinth with the beak projecting from its front.
The goddess would have been grasping the billowing sail
in front of her (now broken off) with both outstreched
hands; remains of three fringed, wavy edges of the
missing sail and two of its large rectangular supports
are preserved on her left thigh, knee, and sandaled foot.
On her feet are plain, thin-soled thong sandals that
divide low on the foot, right where the first two toes
meet (fig. 9a-b)17. The goddess is clad in a long, high-girt,
V-necked chiton with sleeves fastened by a round fibula
on the right shoulder. The fringed mantle worn on top
of the chiton covers the left arm and shoulder as well as
the back, forming a thick curved mass of folds that runs
diagonally from the right thigh to the bent left arm. The
rich folds of the garments are pressed against the front
of the goddess’ body, while the mantle, its folds dense
and sharp at the edges (fig. 8a-b), flutters out behind
her back. The long garland of laurel leaves and flowers –
roses, to be precise – bound with a fillet (fig. 8a and 10) is
14/  Themelis 2010.
15/  Graindor 1930; Cain & Drager 1994.
16/  Themelis 2000, 80-81; Themelis 2001, 65-70, pl. 36-47;
Themelis 2005, 46-47, pl. 26-27.
17/  Morrow 1985, 91, fig. 11b (Pergamon figure 209, in Berlin).
 The Cult of Isis at Ancient Messene 101

Fig. 6. Orchestra and scaenae frons of the theatre from the north.
In the background, the Basilica and the Water Crypt.

Fig. 7. Marble statues and a herm as found in situ in the proscenium.

102 Petros Themelis

Fig. 8a-d. Marble statue of Isis Pelagia (inv. no. 12000), four views.

Fig. 10. Garland worn by Isis Pelagia

(inv. no. 12000), detail.

Fig. 9a-b. Isis Pelagia

(inv. no. 12000), details of feet.
 The Cult of Isis at Ancient Messene 103
a typical attribute of Isis, and especially of the initiates
in her cult; here, it is draped over her left shoulder and
reaches just below her right thigh, where it disappears
under the folds of her himation18.
In her role as a marine goddess, Isis was addressed
with the titles Pelagia, Pharia, and Euploia19. Several
reliefs depict the goddess of the open sea and navigation
in the type found at Messene, of which the most
complete, appealing, and best-known is the one from
Delos dated to the 1st century BC; another, from Thasos,
is dated to the 2nd century AD, and a third example, from
Pylaia near Thessaloniki, to the 2nd or 3rd century20. The
same Isis type is also depicted on a marble matrix from
the Athenian Agora dated to the 2nd century AD21. It
recurs down to the late Roman period on lamps, gems,
reliefs, and especially coinage from different sites22.
The most eloquent representations of Pelagia appear
on Alexandrian coins issued from Domitian until
Aurelian23. Isis Pelagia also appears on coins of the 2nd
and 3rd centuries AD issued at Amastris, Anchialos,
Aspendos, Byblos, Byzantium, Callatis, Corinth, Cyme,
Ephesos, Iasos, Nicaia, Nicomedia, Perinthos, Phocaia,
24
Philippopolis and Cleonai . The type is again used at
25
Rome in the 4th century AD on the Vota Publica coins .
The workmanship of this completely Hellenized
Isis Pelagia from Messene is of high quality. The statue
seems to be a copy of late Trajanic or early Hadrianic
date from a 2nd century BC Hellenistic original26. The
earliest known example of Isis holding the sail with
both hands, but without a mantle blowing out behind
her, appears on a coin of Byblos issued under Antiochos
IV (175-163 BC)27. Ellen Reeder Williams thought that
an image of a Nike of the 2nd century BC served as a
prototype for the Isis Pelagia on the marble matrix from
the Athenian Agora: according to her, this lost prototype
was “inspired either by the Nike of Samothrace or by a
type of late Hellenistic Nike derived from a work that
may be reflected in a coin struck at Salamis around
295 BC by Demetrios Poliorketes”28. This date coincides
with the date of the earliest surviving example of the
type, the above-mentioned coin of Antiochos IV from
Byblos, and the prototype of Isis Pelagia from Messene.
18/  Eingartner 1991; Malaise 1994b; Walters 1988, 26-28 (garlands).
19/  About this aspect of the goddess, see recently Bricault 2006b.
20/  Bruneau 1961, 437-438, fig. 3; Bruneau 1963, 301-303, fig. 1;
Blanchaud 1984; Tran tam Tinh 1990a, 782, nos. 269-271; Merkelbach
1995, 578, fig. 100.
21/  Williams 1985.
22/  About the monuments with this Isis type, see Bruneau 1961;
Bruneau 1963; Bruneau 1974 (catalogue at 343-346); Bruneau 1978;
Blanchaud 1984; Williams 1985; Tran tam Tinh 1990a, 782-784 and 794,
nos. 269-302; Bricault 2006b, 43-80.
23/  Bricault 2006b, 46-65; SNRIS, 31.
24/  SNRIS, 29-32.
25/  SNRIS, 31 and 200.
26/  The language of the drapery, the movement of the figure, and
the type of plinth present certain similarities to the headless marble
female statue from Naples now in Budapest that some scholars
(Szilágyi 1969; Castiglione 1970b; Tran tam Tinh 1972, 68) have
identified as Isis Pelagia despite the fact that it lacks the head, the
arms with the sail, and the garland.
27/  Babelon 1890, 74, no. 575; SNRIS, Byblus 1.
28/  Williams 1985, 115.
In 1939, Laurenzi expressed the view that the majestic
figure with outstretched arms like a Hellenistic ruler
may have originated on Rhodes, the major sea power in
Hellenistic times, and would be an appropriate stance
for Isis in her role as mistress of the sea29. Dunand
suggested in 1973 that Isis as mistress of the sea may
have been the harbour goddess of Alexandria in Egypt,
but Fraser identified the goddess of that port with
Isis Pharia, who was known in the Roman period and
represented with a sail like Isis Pelagia30. Recently,
Bricault demonstrated that Isis became a goddess of
the sea in the wake of Arsinoe Euploia and that Isis was
been called Pharia as protectress of the Annona31.
Philippe Bruneau has consistently upheld the view,
though without concrete arguments, that the prototype
of the Isis Pelagia represented on various objects of
the Roman period was not a sculptural work in the
round32. He has also argued against the identification
of the headless marble female statuette of Mariemont
(height 0.55 m.)33 and others from Benevento and Ostia
as Isis Pelagia34. In addition, he disputed Szilágyi’s
identification of a headless, mutilated marble female
statue from Naples, now in the Hungarian Museum
of Fine Arts at Budapest, with Isis Pelagia, asserting
the complexity of the composition was best suited to
a two-dimensional medium35. Bruneau’s theory was
adopted by Williams, who accepted the possibility that
the prototype may have been a lost painting which she
wanted to place in an Isis temple at Alexandria either at
the Serapeion or preferably on the island of Pharos36. A
statue found at Pozzuoli and identified as Isis Pelagia
leaded Adamo Muscettola to reject Bruneau’s theory37.
It is also the opinion of Bricault who saw at Messene
the first certain statue of Isis sailing38. On the other
hand, Cristilli argued that the marble statue from
Naples in Budapest dated to the 2nd century AD actually
reproduces an Isis Pelagia statue who did not hold the
sail with her (now-missing) outstretched hands, but
rather was inserted in another ship-shaped base that
had a sail attached to the bow without the help of the
goddess’ foot emerging from the plinth39.
f) Inv. no. 15194, left forearm of a female statue,
covered to the wrist by a mantle (fig. 11); preserved
length 0.24 m, height 0.20 m, width 0.12 m; found in the
fill of the proscenium of the theatre. In the figure’s hand
(and lap) were a variety of fruits symbolizing abundance:
29/  Laurenzi 1939, 64, pls. 28-35.
30/  Dunand 1973, II, 94-95 (Malaise 1975c); Fraser 1972, 20.
31/  Bricault 2000b; Bricault 2006b.
32/  Bruneau 1974.
33/  Furtwängler 1897, 38, no. 51: the legs and the hands of the
statuette are broken off.
34/  Bruneau 1974, 359-361, fig. 12 (Mariemont), 365-370, figs. 16-18
(Benevento), 370-372 (Ostia).
35/  Bruneau 1974, 361-365, figs. 13-15: the statue from Naples has
been interpreted by Arndt, Poulsen and Reinach as one of the Niobids.
36/  Williams 1985, 116.
37/  Adamo Muscettola 1998, 549-558.
38/  Bricault 2006b, 96. See also Bérard 2007, 264, n. 9.
39/  Cristilli 2007.
 104 Petros Themelis

Fig. 11. Left forearm from a marble

statue of Isis (inv. no. 15194).

grapes, figs, ears of grain, and a pine cone pointing

upward. This hand should be attributed to a statue of
Isis which certainly stood in her sanctuary, which as
noted above was located by the theatre. Goddess “of the
ten thousand names” (μυριώνυμος), Isis was identified
with numerous deities of the Greek pantheon including
Demeter, according to Herodotus, and was believed to
have been the inventor of grain and of all the fruits of the
earth40. She is often represented holding a cornucopia
in her left hand41.

g) Inv. no. 12412, a peculiar kalathos capital of

limestone (fig. 12a-b), height 0.427 m, found in the
proscenium of the theatre. Covered with acanthus
leaves and pendant palm leaves, it is crowned by a
large squat, melon- or gourd-like fruit marked with 16
vertical incisions. It resembles a gigantic opium poppy
seed-head and may have been connected with the cult Fig. 12.
42 a. Marble kalathos capital (inv. no. 12412), side view.
of Isis . b. Marble kalathos capital viewed from above.

h) Inv. no. 11996, marble trapezoid capital with

inscription, height 0.665 m., width 0.225 m, found among
the architectural members associated with the Middle
Byzantine phase of the Basilica (7th-10th centuries AD).
This capital is of particular interest for the cult of Isis at
Messene because the inscription it carries on its upper
side runs as follows (fig. 13):

[- - - ἔ]ργον Ἴσιδος

The inscription dates from the late 4th century

AD, with carelessly incised letters 0.07 m in height.
It must originally have been on a marble door-jamb
of the theatre’s scaenae frons adorned with an incurved
fascia. These jambs were later used by the Christians Fig. 13. Inscribed trapezoidal
to construct the capitals of the basilica; they left marble capital (inv. no. 11996).
untouched the inwards-curving band of the fascia on

the upper surface of the capitals with its carved foliage

40/  Hdt. 2.59; Diod. 1.14.1. Cf. Bricault 1996a; Malaise 1999. and lotus flowers.
41/  Merkelbach 1995, 573-575, figs. 95-97 (Isis-Tyche).
42/  Kritikos & Papadaki 1963, esp. figs. 24 and 35.
 The Cult of Isis at Ancient Messene 105
The water crypt
Sufficient evidence is now available to confirm that
the sanctuary of Sarapis and Isis is located directly to
the south of the theatre, where Pausanias in fact saw it.
Excavations still in progress have uncovered a vaulted
subterranean construction, 3.25 m wide and 3.50 m deep,
that looks like a huge underground corridor in the form
of the Greek letter Π. A road approximately 6 m wide
separates the scaenae frons from this construction, which
is 46.50 m long on its north side and 35.50 m on the
west (fig. 14). An arched niche has been uncovered at
approximately the middle of the west side (fig. 15a) and a
second one in the east side. Several narrow loophole-like
openings survive in walls of the better-preserved north
wing of this vaulted structure; traces of similar openings
are visible along the eastern wing of the same structure.
This huge Π-shaped construction most probably
functioned as a reservoir (water crypt), as indicated by
the terracotta pipes located on the upper part of the
walls. The basin was filled mainly with rainwater, as it
lies deeper than the other buildings in the vicinity.
Fig. 14. Water crypt, plan.
Almost all known Isis sanctuaries of the Hellenistic
and Roman periods feature a water basin of some sort43.
A characteristic feature of some Isis sanctuaries (in
Gortyn, Alexandria and Pompey) was the underground
water crypt, which was usually reached by a staircase44.
Salditt-Trappmann argued that the initiates (μύσται) had
to sink beneath the waters of the crypt, performing a
ritual act that symbolized Osiris’ death by drowning in
the waters of the Nile45. Plutarch reports that during the
ritual of the “Mysteries” of Osiris, the priest would walk
to the water holding a vessel in which he symbolically
collected the floating limbs of Osiris (De Is., 39).
After the vaulting of the roof collapsed in the late 4th
century of our era, the water crypt of Messene was used
as a rubbish pit. When excavated, it was found to be full
of debris – stones, bricks, roof tiles, pottery fragments,
and architectural members of limestone, sandstone,
and marble. The lower part of a circular lime slaking
pit was uncovered at the south end of the eastern wing
of this vaulted reservoir (fig. 15b)46. A considerable
number of glass tesserae were found scattered inside
the western wing that had probably come from the
43/  Wild 1981 mistakenly upholds the view that water crypts were
not constructed in the Roman period; cf. the observations of Genaille
1983.
44/  Kleibl 2003, 53-142; Kleibl 2009, 66 and 108-110.
45/  Salditt-Trappmann 1970, 74-80.
46/  For lime-burning, see Dix 1982.
 106 Petros Themelis
mosaic decoration on the floors or walls of rooms above
the crypt. Up to now, the pottery found in the fill of
the crypt (cooking pots, vessels for transporting and
consuming liquids, lamps, and so on) dates mainly to the
4th century AD (fig. 16a-c). A mould for making lamps
was also found, indicating that the objects thrown into
this cavernous subterranean structure came not only
from private houses but also from workshops. As well,
many fragments of sculpture were found:
a) Inv. no. 13545, a statue of Isis Lactans, height 1.135
m, width 0.52 m, made of a single piece of fine-grained
marble with an oblong plinth. The goddess is seated on a
plain cylindrical box (cista mystica)47 and nurses her child
Horus-Harpocrates (Har-pe-khered) (fig. 17a-e)48. Her
head, right arm, and tiny parts of her feet are missing,
47/  For the significance and origin of cistae mysticae, see Heerma
van Voss 1979; Malaise 1985, 135-143; Kleibl 2003, 26-38.
48/  About Isis Lactans, see Tran tam Tinh 1973; Malaise 1975b;
Tran tam Tinh 1978; Tran tam Tinh 1990a, 777-779, nos. 211-248.
Eloquent representations are the terracotta from Herculanum and
the statuette from Carinola in Campania: Tran tam Tinh 1971, 68-69,
no. 23 and fig. 16; Tran tam Tinh 1972, 42-43 and 78-80, no. IS. 31, pl.
III-VI, figs. 4-7.
Fig. 15.
a. Arched niche in the west wing of the water crypt.
b. Lower part of a lime slaking pit.
together with the head of Horus. Two fragments have
been joined to the upper body of Harpocrates. The
seated goddess wears a long chiton with short sleeves,
high-girt with a Heracles knot below the breasts, of
which the left is uncovered. Her sandaled feet rest on
an obliquely represented low footstool; only her toes
are allowed to protrude from under the folds of her
long garment. She wears a Hellenistic type of thonged
sandal, with a thin sole indented between the first two
toes (fig.  17a).49 Above her chiton, she is draped in a
richly folded himation that covers the right part of her
torso and both thighs and upper legs. Four thick, curling
tresses fall back over her shoulders, while two long
S-shaped locks fall forward, to the right and left of her
(now-missing) neck. With her left hand bent forward,
she tenderly touches the naked body of the baby Horus.
The child sits on his mother’s lap, his upraised right
hand softly touching her exposed left breast, his left
resting on his left thigh.
This unique statue of Isis nursing her child,
completely Hellenized and original in conception, is a
masterpiece of late Hellenistic-early Roman sculpture.
49/  Morrow 1985, 90-96.
 The Cult of Isis at Ancient Messene 107

Fig. 16a-c. An oinochoe and two cooking pots from the water crypt.

Fig. 17a-e. Headless statue of Isis Lactans seated on a cista mystica (inv. no. 13545), front, back and side views.
 108 Petros Themelis

It seems to have been inspired by a Hellenistic original

of the 3rd century BC that might have been located
in Ptolemaic Alexandria, in view of the fact that two
competent sculptors from Alexandria, Apollonius son of
Hermodorus and his son Demetrius, worked at Messene
during the Augustan period, when they carved at least
three statues: a colossal marble figure of the Weary
Heracles (Farnese/Caserta type), the marble figure of a
young female initiate in the cult of Artemis Orthia at
Messene, and a third work, hitherto unidentified, that
might be the statue of Isis Lactans50. The relatively large
dimensions of our seated Isis, the statue, the quality of
the workmanship and material (fine-grained marble),
and the statue’s iconographic type speak in favour
of its having been made at Messene in the atelier of
Apollonios of Alexandria and his son Demetrios during
the reign of Augustus. The Messenian Isis Lactans could
have been used as a cult statue, but she does not seem
to belong to a cultic group that included Sarapis, as her
plinth would have been inserted in a separate base51.
The famous cult image of Sarapis at Alexandria
portrayed maybe the god as a bearded, fatherly seated
figure with a kalathos on his head52. Sarapis soon became
associated with Isis, to whom Alexander the Great had
already dedicated a temple in Alexandria, according to
Arrian53. Prior to 333 BC, an Isis temple already existed
in Piraeus (and about 300 BC probably also at Eretria),
founded by Egyptians54. It has been suggested that the
statue of Sarapis may have been accompanied by an
image of a seated Isis breastfeeding her child Horus.
The discovery of an Isis Lactans at Messene gives
greater force to this suggestion, though whenever these
Egyptian deities appear together, Isis is represented
standing, not seated55.
b) Inv. no. 16696, the upper part of a marble male
head (fig. 18), preserved height 0.26 m, width 0.227 m,
thickness 0.14 m. Curled locks surround the temples
and forehead, while a band (diadem) encircles the head.
Above the forehead, a deep circular dowel hole was
once used to attach some attribute of marble or bronze
that would certainly have served to identify the figure
represented and its relation to the Isis cult.
If the missing attribute attached to this head was an
Egyptian double crown or a lotus flower, which is quite
probable, than we would have the head of a statue of
Harpocrates similar to the Harpocrates statuette from
Herculaneum in the Museo Archeologico Nazionale
of Naples (formerly the Reale Museo Borbonico) or to
the Harpocrates depicted on a relief altar in the Museo
50/  Themelis 2001b; Themelis 2002d.
51/  The well-known cult group of Isis and Sarapis, each standing
on its own base, from Gortyn in Crete: Merkelbach 1995, 590, fig. 115.
52/  Hölbl [1994] 2001, 100.
53/  Arr. An. 3.1.5. Cf. Hölbl [1994] 2001, 85 and 100.
54/  For Isis in the Piraeus, see Bricault 2001, 5. For Isis at Eretria,
see Bruneau 1975; Bricault 2001, 13.
55/  Walters 1988, 13, n. 57. The standing Isis and Sarapis from
Gortyn (Merkelbach 1995, 590, fig. 115) are thus not a good parallel for
the Messene statues.
Fig. 18. Upper part of head from
a marble statue (inv. no. 16696).
Capitolino at Rome56. All the same, our marble head
cannot be connected with the representation of a priest,
because priests of Isis display different iconographic
attributes. The various sculptural monuments depicting
Isiac priests, dated mostly to the Roman period,
reproduce the same basic attire and shaved skull57. The
basic costume is either a fringed himation of white linen
that leaves the chest bare or a combination of short-
sleeved chiton and long himation, while sculptural
representations of priests of Isis and Sarapis with
unshaved heads also occur58.
c) Inv. no. 12915, right hand of a colossal marble
statue of Perseus grasping the head of Medusa (fig. 19a-
b), height 0.261 m, that numbers among the most
spectacular finds from the water crypt. The face of the
Medusa is broken off and the inside was left hollow
for technical reasons, specifically to reduce the weight
of the head carried by Perseus’ outstretched hand.
Based on stylistic evidence, the statue may date to the
Antonine period.
The relationship of Perseus to Egypt, and
consequently to the cult of Isis, is signalled by
Herodotus, who noted that contests in Perseus’ honour
took place in the city of Chemmis59. During the Roman
imperial period, games in honour of “the heavenly
Perseus” (Περσεὺς Οὐράνιος) were very popular60. The
myth of Perseus was also depicted in a wall painting in
the Serapeum at Alexandria61.
56/  Tran tam Tinh 1971, cat. no. 23, fig. 16; Merkelbach 1995, 613,
fig. 143.
57/  Stamatopoulou 2008, 252-253.
58/  Merkelbach 1995, 668-670, figs. 207-209.
59/  Hdt. 2.91. Cf. Lloyd 1969; Sauneron [1974] 1983, 39-44 and 89-
90.
60/  Merkelbach 1995, 238-239, 241, 271, 453 and 456.
61/  Merkelbach 1995, 453.
 The Cult of Isis at Ancient Messene 109

The introduction of the Isis cult to Messene Mediterranean as early as the 2nd century BC, with
private initiative playing an important role66. The
The Isis cult was probably brought to Messene by so-called wave of Egyptomania, probably propelled
Messenian traders. Crete’s cultural and commercial by the Egyptian interests of the emperor Hadrian, is
ties with Messenia via Kythera and Antikythera likewise detectable at Messene, with some of the most
are indisputable and go far back into antiquity62. important finds related to the Isis cult dated to his
Transactions between Cretans and Messenians are reign67. The Messene sanctuary nonetheless survived
also corroborated by a number of Cretan coins that well into the 4th century AD, when it was destroyed by
have come to light at Messene during the recent the tremendous earthquake of 365 AD68.
excavations63. That the Messenians had direct
commercial contacts with Alexandria becomes apparent
from various sorts of evidence, including the continual
journeys of the Messenian wholesaler Nikagoras in the
second half of the 3rd century to the court of Ptolemy IV
Philopator (221-203 BC) at Alexandria to deliver sturdy
Messenian warhorses (ἵππους ἄγειν τῷ βασιλεῖ καλοὺς τῶν
πολεμιστηρίων) and arms that the king had ordered from
him64. It is likely no accident that one of the earliest
official representations of the Hellenized Isis appears on
coins of Ptolemy IV (221-204 BC)65. Based on the dating
of the finds described above that are connected with the
Sarapis and Isis sanctuary, the worship of the Egyptian
gods seems to have been established at Messene in
the 2nd century BC. Peter Fraser rightly suggested
that the cult of Isis became popular throughout the

Fig. 19a-b. Right hand from a marble statue of Perseus holding the head of Medusa (inv. no. 12915).

62/  Marinatos 1962; Themelis 2004b.

63/  Sidiropoulos 1996.
64/  Nikagoras had welcomed Archidamos, the exiled brother of
king Agis of Sparta, into his home at Messene: Plb. 5.37; Plu. Cleom. 35
(Roebuck 1941, 68). For the trade in horses, see Rostovtzeff 1922, 167-
168. The discovery of a bronze piece of a horse’s bit in the road that
runs from the Asklepieion to the Stadium corroborates the textual
evidence for Messenian horse-raising: Themelis 1998, 122, pl. 63b. For 66/  Fraser 1972, 670-671.
Messenian horse-breeders, see Themelis 2007. 67/  Spawforth 1992, 235-236.
65/  Hornbostel 1973, 141-142; Bricault 1999; SNRIS, Alexandria 2. 68/  Themelis & Konti 2002, 34, 42, and n. 84.