‫ﺟﺎﻣﻌﺔ اﻟﻣﻧﯾﺎ‬

‫ﻛﻠﯾﺔ اﻟﺳﯾﺎﺣﺔ واﻟﻔﻧﺎدق‬

‫ﻗﺳم اﻻرﺷﺎد اﻟﺳﯾﺎﺣﻲ‬
‫اﻟﻔرﻗﺔ اﻟﺛﺎﻟﺛﺔ‬
‫ﻛود اﻟﻣﻘرر‪ :‬رس ‪٣٢٧‬‬ ‫ﻣﻘرر ارﺷﺎد ﺳﯾﺎﺣﻲ ﺗطﺑﯾﻘﻲ ‪٤‬‬
‫‪Selected pieces from the Graeco-Roman Museum in‬‬
‫‪Alexandria‬‬
‫‪Lecture 2:‬‬
‫‪- Statue of Isis‬‬
‫‪- Foot on an inscribed pedestal‬‬
‫د‪ .‬ﻓرج ﻋﺑﯾد زﻛﻲ‬
‫ﻣدرس اﻻرﺷﺎد اﻟﺳﯾﺎﺣﻲ ﺑﻛﻠﯾﺔ اﻟﺳﯾﺎﺣﺔ واﻟﻔﻧﺎدق ‪ -‬ﺟﺎﻣﻌﺔ اﻟﻣﻧﯾﺎ‬
‫وﺳﯾﻠﺔ اﻟﺗواﺻل‪farag.shehahta@mu.edu.eg :‬‬
Selected Pieces from the Graeco-
Roman Museum in Alexandria

Statue of Isis
Identification card:
Material: marble
Date: Roman Period, 2nd century AD
Place of Discovery: Alexandria, Temple of el Ras el
Soda
The cult of Isis during the Graeco-Roman Period
• Isis was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian
religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-
Roman world.
• In the Ptolemaic period (323–30 BCE), when Egypt was
ruled and settled by Greeks, Isis came to be worshipped by
Greeks and Egyptians, along with a new god, Serapis. Their
worship diffused into the wider Mediterranean world
The cult of Isis during the Graeco-Roman Period
• She was identified with Aphrodite, Demeter, goddess of
grain, and Tyche, the goddess of luck. she was also linked
with Astarte as the patron goddess of sailors.
• Under Cleopatra Vii, who liked to dress as Isis, her cult
gained a wider recognition and her fame spread to Rome
among the ladies of the nobility.
The cult of Isis during the Graeco-Roman Period

• Her cult subsequently spread throughout the

Roman Empire, As mourner, she was a principal
deity in rites connected with the dead; as magical
healer, she cured the sick and brought the deceased
to life; and as mother, she was a role model for all
women.
• The worship of Isis was ended by the rise
of Christianity in the fourth and fifth centuries CE.
Role of Isis in the Graeco-Roman Period
• Isis was often characterized as a moon goddess,
paralleling the solar characteristics of Serapis.

• She also oversaw seas and harbors. She was a

protector of ships and sailors which played a
major role in the spread of her cult in the
Midetreanean Sailors left inscriptions calling
upon her to ensure the safety and good fortune
of their voyages.
 Iconography of Isis in Graeco-Roman Period
• She sometimes wore the Hathoric cow-horn headdress,
but Greeks and Romans reduced its size. She was
depicted wearing an elaborate mantle tied in a large
knot over the breasts. In her hands she could carry a
sistrum, both taken from her Egyptian iconography, or
a situla, a vessel used for libations of water or milk that
were performed in Isis's cult.
Iconography of Isis in Graeco-Roman Period
The Tjet amulet was also known as the "Knot of Isis",
"Buckle of Isis", or the "Blood of Isis". Although the
meaning of the Tjet is fairly obscure, it is thought that it
may have represented a woman's sanitary cloth (hence
the connection with blood) or may relate to the magical
power in a knot (again linking it with Isis the great
magician). The Tjet was used in the funerary rites and
seems to have been linked with the ideas of resurection
and rebirth.
 Description of the statue
• This statue is one of the most beautiful statues in
the Graeco-Roman Museum in Alexandria.
• This statue shows Isis wearing a long gown with a
cloak over it with a sash tied on her chest. Her hair is
coifed in the Libyan Style.
• She is wearing on his head the Hathorian crown, a
combination of the sundisk, two cow horns, and two
feathers.
 Description of the statue
• She places her left foot on the back of a crocodile in an
attitude which has traditionally been interpreted as
symbolic of the triumph of good over evil. This position
recalls the stela appeared in the late period known as
Horus on a crocodile, used as magical spells against evil
spirits, snakes, scorpions and crocodiles.

• She holds in her left hand a situla her favorite vessel. A

snake is shown twisted around her right arm. The snakes is
a symbol of Asklepios, god of healing.
 Description of the statue
In the hieroglyphs, the situla puns with the noun for a
human breast, often used in Egyptian tradition as a
reference to Isis in association with her frequent
depictions as the mother nursing her divine child.
Selected Pieces from the Graeco-
Roman Museum in Alexandria

Foot on an Inscribed Pedestal

Identification card:
Material: marble
Date: Roman Period, 2nd century AD
Place of Discovery: Alexandria, Temple of el Ras el
Soda.
 Temple of Ras El-Soda
• Ras El Soda Temple is one of the finest temples in Egypt.
This place is the only Greaco-Roman temple still
remaining in Alexandria. They found in this temple five
statues now standing in the greaco roman museum.
 Temple of Ras El-Soda
• The Temple of Ras El Soda was discovered by chance in
1936 in the region of Sidi Bishr in Alexandria, located in a
modern residential area facing a difficult environmental
conditions of underground water and sanitation. That’s
why the Supreme Council of Antiquities decided to transfer
of the temple in 1995 to a higher position within the area
of the cemetery of the Latins in downtown Alexandria in
front of the Police Department at El Horiya Street. The
process of rebuilding the Temple took six months, but the
remaining part now isn’t a temple but a small structure.
 Temple of Ras El-Soda
• It dates back to the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD. It is the
only private temple discovered so far in Alexandria. It
was built by the Roman charioteer Isidoras who fell
down and broke his leg; when he recovered he built this
temple in gratitude to the goddess Isis and other gods
for his recovery.
 Temple of Ras El-Soda
• It is believed that this temple was dedicated for Isis,
goddess of magic in ancient Egypt, since her statue was
found among other statues and it is bigger in size, it was
found standing at the end of the platform.
 Temple of Ras El-Soda
• Ras El Soda Temple consists of 2 floors; the bottom
level devoted to the worship while the upper is
devoted to the accommodation for the priests of the
temple.
• It consists of a staircase which leads to platform
with four Ionic columns.
• At the end of the platform was a stand. On this stand
existed statues of Isis, Harpocrates, Hermanubis
and Osiris-Canopus.
Description of the foot on a pedestal:
• The marble stand was sculpted to display foot of Isidorus.
The semicircular vertical column is topped with a square
base. On the base is placed the right sandaled foot.
• The pedestal is inscribed in nine lines of Greek in which
Isidoros, the monument’s dedicator, claims that he
dedicated this foot to a deity, whom he does not
specifically name, as a result of having recovered from a
near fatal fall.
 Description of the foot on a pedestal:
• There is no specific reason - according the inscription - for
connecting this dedication exclusively with Isis, while feet,
although associated with Isis as ex-votoes, are also
associated with Sarapis as well as with other deities.
• The foot is an example of the very good work in the
Antonines period of the second century AD, showing the
nice details of the toes and nails.
The sandal is of the Roman type called "Calcius Patricius,"
which signifies the high social rank of Isidorus in
Alexandria.
 Description of the foot on a pedestal:
• The foot and its inscription serves to illustrate that this
shrine at Ras el-Soda was the result of private initiative
rather than state sponsorship, and that it should be
considered a shrine to Egyptian deities in general rather
than to specific deities, such as Isis or Sarapis, because
Isidoros passes over the name of his deity in silence.