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Isis at Thornborough. Miranda Green

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Isis at Thornborough. Miranda Green ISIS AT THORNBOROUGH MIRANDA GREEN In 1981 a bronze figurine was discovered by and Gaul (e.g. Rolland 1965, no. 43; Boucher means of a metal detector on the footpath near 1973, no. 61). the Romano-Celtic temple at Thornborough (NGR SP 729331) and taken to Buckingham- The Egyptian pantheon in general, and the shire County Museum. The present location of cult of Isis in particular, is rarely present in the object is not known and it has apparently Romano-British contexts; this fact and the dis- been sold by the finder. covery of the figurine in the vicinity of a Romano-Celtic temple site makes the Thorn- The statuette (Plates X-XI) is of mediocre borough figurine a find of significant interest. workmanship, being fairly flat in section and Eve and John Harris (1965, 74) comment that with the casting-flanges (evidence of the use of the evidence of Egyptian religion in Roman a two-piece mould) clearly visible. The sup- Britain is "both sparse and problematical." position is that the figure came from an indif- There are few finds attesting sanctuaries to the ferent local workshop and the lack of finish pantheon; one is the serapeum at York in the may imply that the object was lost where it civil settlement outside the fortress (ibid., 75). was made. The date of manufacture is pro- At least one iseum is recorded in London; a bably 2nd-3rd century A.D. flagon dug up in Tooley Street, Southwark (Museum of London) and probably dating to The figurine depicts a female with long hair the late 1st or early 2nd century A.D. bears an pulled into a knot at the nape of the neck; she inscription apparently scratched on after the wears a stola and palla and a tall diadem; she clay was dry. It reads Londini ad Fanum Isidis appears to carry the remains of a cornu copiae or "in London by the Temple of Isis" (Taylor in her left hand; the right hand is missing from and Collingwood 1923, 24ff; Green 1976, 222). above the wrist but the position of the arm The fact that the clay was already fired prior suggests that it may originally have supported to the inscription implies that the latter could an object resting on the ground beside her. refer to the address of the tradesman who The image portrayed appears to be that of the bottled the contents of the vessel rather than Egyptian goddess Isis, possibly equated with that of the potter, but Henig sees the pre- Fortuna, with whom she was frequently identi- servation of the complete pot as suggestive of fied in the Graeco-Roman world. The deity intentional concealment if not deliberate and wears the high ostrich-feather diadem of the sepulchral burial (Henig 1984, 113). In any Egyptian divinity. The missing item originally case the brevity of the graffito means that the by the right side may well have been Fortuna's fanum Isidis must have been relatively well- rudder; the presence of a cornu copiae would known in Roman London. The Blackfriars fit well into such an interpretation. altar, the other major isiac find from London, was re-used in the construction of a late The identification of the goddess Isis is Roman riverside wall; it records the restoration based mainly upon the distinctive headdress, of a temple to the goddess by a 3rd century symbolic of Upper and Lower Egypt. Governor of Britannia Superior (R.I.B. 1041). Examples of other comparable provincial figurines, thus interpreted, from the western Other isiac material from the Province is Roman Empire are evidenced, for instance, in equivocal in its religious character. Steelyard- Germany (e.g. Menzel 1960, no. 20, Taf. 23) weights from Cirencester (Green 1976, 173) 139 and London {ibid., 222) in the form of the devotee was a resident and local Briton rather head and shoulders of the goddess are not than an itinerant trader. The sanctuary at meaningful in religious terms; at best they Thornborough was of normal Romano-Celtic represent the traditional association of Isis design, with inner cella and an outer portico, with corn fertility and prosperity. Likewise, but nearby was a crude basilical structure jewellery such as the bone pin in the form of a whose sacred character is implied by the hand holding a bust of Isis from Moorgate, presence of foundation deposits of horses London (London Museum 1930, 103-104, fig. buried under the threshold (Lewis 1966, 32.1) and the intaglios from London Wall and passim-, Green 1976, 179; Green 1965, 356ff). Wroxeter depicting the goddess (Harris and If Isis was worshipped here, then her cult Harris 1965, 80) need be nothing more than apparently mingled with native religious vaguely symbolic. More interesting, in religi- practices perhaps with their roots deep in the ous terms, are two model iron sistra from pre-Roman past. London (London Museum 1930, 108; Green 1976, pi. XXIIg) and a fragment of a larger It is worthwhile briefly to examine the sistrum of (?) faience from Exeter (Harris and nature of the goddess Isis. By the later first Harris 1965, 90; Green 1976, 199; Exeter millennium B.C. the best-known and arguably Museum). This last is of doubtful but possible the most important members of the Egyptian Romano-British origin. Sistra were ceremonial pantheon were Isis, her consort Osiris and her rattles used by isiac priests in processions. Also son Horus. Osiris was transformed in Hellenis- meaningful for the cult of the goddess is the tic times to a new deity, Sarapis; Horus was haematite amulet from Welwyn. Late in date, likewise altered by Graeco-Roman times to it was made for a woman as a talisman against become Harpocrates. Isis, whose main cult- a womb-affliction. Here, Isis is depicted centre was at Philae in southern Egypt (Mac- among other divinities and images, with her Quitty 1976), was essentially a goddess of the sistrum and a portrayal of a womb accom- family, both in Egypt itself and later in the panied by a magical inscription (Ferguson Classical world. She represented the maternal 1970, 165). life-force (Witt 1971) and, as such, was predominantly associated with fecundity and Figurines of Isis (as opposed to steelyard- crop growth. Isis was Queen of Heaven and busts) are extremely rare in Britain. The only was traditionally linked with the moon; she example known to the writer, other than the and Harpocrates are frequently depicted present Buckinghamshire find, is from Dor- wearing crescent-moon headdresses (e.g. the chester (Dorset County Museum). The sta- silvered bronze Harpocrates from London; tuette is worn and the identification is by no British Museum 1964, 54). By Hellenistic times means positive (Green 1976, 201; Harris and Isis was established in the cosmopolitan port Harris 1965, 89; Anon. 1900, 96). of Alexandria, and her consequential associ- ation with traders and sailors was a major The paucity of evidence for the worship of factor in the dissemination of her worship Isis in Britain makes the Thornborough dis- outside Egypt (Ferguson 1970, 24). Thus by covery one of extreme significance. This is the lst-2nd century A.D. Isis had established further enhanced by its context, in very likely herself all over the Roman world. If our association with a Romano-Celtic temple. Not figurine represents Isis-Fortuna, this syn- only is the Egyptian goddess rare in Britain, cretism is reflected elsewhere in the Graeco- but nearly all the few finds are concentrated in Roman world. For instance, a Pompeian isiac the cosmopolitan trading centre of London, wall-painting from a latrine corridor-wall which would have been thronged with mer- depicts Isis-Fortuna with a rudder (Witt 1971, chants and travellers from overseas. The pi. 24). Another wall-painting from a bake- presence of such an exotic foreign deity in a house in Pompeii shows the goddess Isis- somewhat remote wayside shrine is curious Fortuna-Luna with Fortuna's globe at her feet and interesting, perhaps implying that the {ibid., 82). An inscription from Delos indicates 140 that as early as the late 2nd century B.C. Isis goddess could have belonged to a devotee of was identified with the Greek Tyche Proto- Isis living locally; the owner could have been geneia (Roman Fortuna Primigenia; ibid., 86). an itinerant trader or soldier on his way north The equation between Isis and Fortuna is a to join the frontier garrisons. We must also natural one; chance or luck (Fortuna) and remember that sophisticated and well-to-do prosperity/fertility (Isis) are readily conflated, Romano-Britons were present in this area; the and the twinning of functions on a depiction contents of one of the Thornborough barrows, or inscription would have served to enhance probably constructed in the later 2nd century the potency of the goddess or her image. In A.D. (Liversidge 1954, 29-32), demonstrates any case, Fortuna was originally herself a this. Thus the Isis-figure could have been the fertility deity in her own right (Ferguson 1970, cult-object of a local, romanized nobleman, 85). familiar with the Egyptian pantheon and a worshipper of the Isis cult. The only problem The character of the remains at Thorn- there is the apparently crude nature of the borough which now include a cremation image. cemetery, two barrows and a later temple, all located adjacent to a significant river crossing Finally, it is perfectly possible that the with a well-made ford (Johnson 1975, 31) original oriental nature of the goddess had suggests the possibility that the whole may been subsumed into that of an indigenous represent a religious complex.
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