IGII34 1113 Dedication to Sarapis and Isis

Dedication to Sarapis and Isis

IG II³ 4 1113 Date: A little after 200 BC (?)

Perhaps on a block above [Name of dedicator?]

On preserved block [dedicated (this)] to Sarapis, Isis [and Anoubis?] In the priesthood of Stesikrates son of - . . . When Herakl- was temple attendant (zakoreuontos)^[1]

Next - Bricault 202/0903

References:

IG II³ 4 1113 (Translated text) (IG Online)

IG II² 4692 (PHI)

Bricault 101/0202

Translation by: Stephen Lambert

Monument type: Base

Inscription type: Dedication (Egyptian Gods)

Findspot: Athens (church at north foot of Acropolis) (EM 8816)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] There is a reference to a sanctuary of Isis, founded by the Egyptians (perhaps in the Piraeus) in an Athenian decree of 333/2 BC, IG II³ 1, 337, ll. 43-45, but nothing else is known about this sanctuary, and epigraphical references to the cult of Isis and associated deities (especially Sarapis) in Attica do not otherwise pre-date the late third-century BC (for a dedication which has been dated earlier, see IG II³ 4, 1585). Close links with Ptolemy III at that time seem to have been a factor encouraging the spread of the cults (both the attested Attic cult associations of Sarapis were most likely founded then, AIUK 4.3A, no. 5 (city), I Rhamnous 59 (Rhamnous)). This dedication, like most of the others relating to the Egyptian gods discovered on or in the area of the north slope of the Acropolis (IG II³ 4, 1114-1121, IG II³ 4, 1123-1128, IG II² 3565) perhaps derived from the sanctuary of Sarapis (and other Egyptian gods) visited by Pausanias: “... going down from there [i.e. the prytaneion] to the lower city is the sanctuary of Sarapis, a god whom the Athenians introduced from Ptolemy” (1.18.4). Cf. AIUK 4.3A, no. 5. Note also the reference to the “priest of Sarapis in the city”, ἱερεὺς Σαράπιδος εἰς ἄστυ, in Agora XVIII 106, l. 6 (inscribed ca. 100 BC), and the Sarapeion included in the list of temples repaired in i BC, IG II² 1035 , l. 56 (SEG 26.121). Cf. also the dedications by priests of Isis, IG II³ 4, 1343, IG II³ 4, 1585. For dedications from the south slope of the Acropolis and apparently deriving from a sanctuary of Isis in that area, see IG II³ 4, 1129, 1130, 1131, cf. IG II³ 4, 1120, 1126, 1804. For dedications relating to the cult of Isis discovered elsewhere in Attica, IG II³ 4, 1132 (Teithras), IG II³ 4, 1133 (Rhamnous, for the cult there see also IG II³ 4, 1331, I Rhamnous 59), IG II³ 4, 1122 (Marathon); for those from unknown locations, IG II³ 4, 1134-IG II³ 4, 1137. On the social factors influencing spread of Isiac cult associations in the Eastern Mediterranean (including Attica) see I. Arnaoutoglou, in V. Gasparini and R. Veymiers eds., Individuals and Materials in the Greco-Roman Cults of Isis, vol. 1 (2018), 248-79. On the evidence for the dissemination of personal names based on Isis and Sarapis, which aside from occasional and/or uncertain early outliers, emerge in significant numbers in the second cent. BC, and develop into one of the most common sources of theophoric names (personal names based on the names of gods) in the imperial period, see R. Parker, in S. Hornblower and E. Matthews eds., Greek Personal Names. Their Value as Evidence (2000), 74-76. For examples of the numerous extant Attic funerary monuments of late i BC-early iv AD portraying deceased women in the pose and dress associated with worship of Isis, see AIUK 2 (BSA) no. 13; AIUK 8 (Broomhall) no. 4. On the interpretation of this phenomenon see most recently L. A. Mazurek, Hesperia 90, 2021, 605-640. For cult of Egyptian gods in an Attic calendar of offerings of ca. ii AD, see AIUK 11 (Ashmolean) no. 2.

Added: 15 Mar 2022
Updated: 29 Mar 2024
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ID: AIO_2049