AIUK2 no. 13 Funerary monument of Isias “of Miletos”

Funerary monument of Isias “of Miletos”

AIUK 2 (BSA) no. 13 Date: c. early 1st cent. AD?

Ισιὰς Μιλησία

Next - von Moock no. 412
Translated text

References:

AIUK 2 (BSA) no. 13 (Translated text) (AIUK) (AIO)

IG II² 9691 (PHI)

SEG 50.258

Conze IV no. 1928 n. 1

von Moock no. 82

Lambert, BSA Inscriptions E10

Translation by: Stephen Lambert

AIO Images: 1

Monument type: Stele

Inscription type: Funerary

Findspot: Unknown (BSA E10)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] The deceased commemorated on this monument not only has a name derived from Isis, she is depicted in the characteristic pose and dress of a worshipper of Isis. The earliest epigraphic evidence for the cult of this Egyptian deity in Attica dates to the 330s, IG II³ 1, 337 ll. 43-45, but these reliefs, over a hundred of which are known, and the prevalence of Isis-derived names, help demonstrate the popularity of this cult in hellenistic and Roman Athens (for recent discussions see P. Martzavou, in A. Chaniotis ed., Ritual Dynamics in the Ancient Mediterranean, 2011, 61-84; L. A. Mazurek, Hesperia 90, 2021, 605-640). At this same period “Milesian” is much the most common foreign ethnic in the Attic epigraphical record, accounting for around a quarter of all known foreign residents (FRA 3735-5746). Probably these “Milesians” were not all literally from Miletos, but were a status category that incorporated freedmen and the offspring of mixed marriages, similar in some ways to the classical metic status. See further the note to AIUK 2 (BSA) no. 13. Athenian “Milesioi” also disproportionately have Isis-derived names. For the suggestion that these derive from a context of “sacral manumission” in the name of Isis, see most recently Martzavou, 78, who draws attention to evidence for sacral manumission in the Isis/Serapis cult on Lemnos, an Athenian possession. For further discussion of private Attic funerary monuments, see AIUK 3 (Cambridge), section 3. For more detail on this monument see AIUK 2 (BSA) no. 13.

Added: 30 Apr 2018
Updated: 5 Apr 2022
Feedback

ID: AIO_1454