THE EGYPTIAN CONNECTION THE CULT OF NILOTIC DEITIES AT SAGALASSOS* INTRODUCTION The site of Sagalassos, an important city in the mountainous area of Pisidia in SW-Turkey, is situated on the southern slopes of the Western Taurus mountain range some 7 km north of the present-day village of Aglasun (province of Burdur). Before the end of the 19th century the city was known only from its coins and from a few references in the ancient sources. Sagalassos emerges in history in the Hellenistic period when it was conquered by Alexander the Great in 333 BC1. After his death Pisidia was successively controlled by Alketas (322-320), by Antigonos Monophthalmos (320- 301), and eventually by the Seleucids (281-189) who ruled the area until the defeat of Antiochos III at Magnesia ad Maeandrum2. In 189 BC Pisidia came under Attalid rule, while Sagalassos was forced to pay trib- ute to the Roman consul Manlius Vulso3. The status of the region between the end of Attalid domination in 133 BC and its remittance to king Amyntas in 39 BC remains unclear. The death of the latter 14 years later led to the creation of the Roman province of Galatia which incor- porated the whole of Pisidia, including Sagalassos4. Although Roman rule meant stability and growth for Sagalassos, resulting in the title «the * Thanks are due to Professor Dr. M. Waelkens, Dr. E. Kosmetatou and Dr. J. Poblome for their corrections and suggestions, and to M. Dylan Cox for improving my written English. The author, who is Research Assistant of the Fund of Scientific Research-Flanders (Belgium) at the Department of Archaeology of the Katholieke Uni- versiteit Leuven, assumes responsibility for all errors and flaws in this study. Abbreviations are listed at the end of this article. 1 Arrian, Anab. I 28. 2 The fate of Pisidia in the aftermath of the Battle of Ipsos remains unclear (see E. KOSMETATOU, Pisidia and the Hellenistic Kings from 323 to 133 BC, AncSoc 28, 1997, p. 18). Some southern districts, including the city of Termessos, however, became part of the Ptolemaic territories for an unknown period of time (ibid., p. 18-20). 3 Livy XXXVIII 16.9. 4 Strabo XII 6.4-5. 290 P. TALLOEN first city of Pisidia»5, it no longer featured in history and submerged in provincial anonymity. EGYPTIAN CULTS IN PISIDIA One of the characteristics of religious life under Roman rule was the introduction, from the Imperial period onwards, of «Oriental cults»6, among which were those of the Egyptian deities. Although the Greek East was familiar with Nilotic deities long before the Latin West7, some regions in the Greek speaking part of the empire only became acquainted with them under Roman Rule. Before the advent of Rome, Egyptian deities were not attested in Pisidia, although they may have been present in Termessos, since this city lay within the territories controlled by the Ptolemies in the 3rd cen- tury BC8. This was to change in the 2nd century AD when Egyptian deities started to appear in the whole of Pisidia, as part of a general development within the empire. The propagation of Egyptian deities within the Roman Empire was mainly limited to the triad Isis, Sarapis and Harpocrates. The ancient Egyptian goddess Isis was originally worshipped in the Nile Delta as patroness of agriculture, but later became the great goddess of nature, representing its female principle and receptive power. She was also the consort of Sarapis, the successor of Osiris, and mother of Horus/Har- pocrates. 5 See M. WAELKENS et al., Interdisciplinarity in Classical Archaeology. A Case Study: the Sagalassos Archaeological Research Project (Southwest Turkey), in Sagalas- sos IV, p. 226. 6 This term has to be put into perspective for the case of Sagalassos since the city is located in the Greek East and many of the so-called Oriental cults (e.g. Kybele, Attis and Mên) are indigenous to the area. 7 L. VIDMAN, Isis und Sarapis bei den Griechen und Römern. Epigraphische Studien zur Verbreitung und zu den Trägern des ägyptischen Kultes (Religionsgeschichtliche Ver- suche und Vorarbeiten, 29), Berlin 1970, p. 111. 8 E. KOSMETATOU, art. cit. (n. 2), p. 19. An indication for a possible (private?) cult of Isis at Termessos in the Hellenistic period is provided by an ephebic list mentioning the theophoric name Isidotos (F. DUNAND, Le culte d’Isis dans le bassin oriental de la Méditerranée, III. Le culte d’Isis en Asie Mineure. Clergé et rituel des sanctuaires isiaques [EPRO, 26], Leiden 1973, p. 9 and n. 7). However, caution should be exercised when discussing religion in Pisidia during the Hellenistic period for lack of substantial evidence. CULT OF NILOTIC DEITIES AT SAGALASSOS 291 The goddess was frequently depicted wearing Hellenic attire, featur- ing the distinctive folds of the Isiac knot between her breasts. Her head is usually covered by the basileion, a royal emblem consisting of a solar disc flanked by feathers, with or without the horns of Hathor, or by a veil. She often holds a sistrum, a musical instrument, in her right hand and a situla, a deep cylindrical vessel, in her left9. As mother-goddess, Isis is often represented with the infant Horus/Harpokrates suckling at her breast. The cult of Sarapis seems to have developed in Ptolemaic Egypt from the ancient worship of the chthonic deity Osiris-Apis at Memphis. The latter god was brought to Alexandria by Ptolemy I. The god became Hel- lenised there, was subsequently known as Sarapis, which was the new form of his name, and became the patron-deity of Ptolemy’s new king- dom. From Osiris he inherited the function of spouse to Isis and king of the underworld, as well as that of divine bestower of blessings, espe- cially the fruitfulness of the earth. A new capacity added to the Hel- lenised god was that of solar deity10. Sarapis’ iconography follows two major types. The first shows the god as king of the underworld, with the majestic and fearsome aspect of Hades. He was seated on a throne with a high back, dressed in a chiton and himation, holding a sceptre in his left hand and extending his right hand towards Kerberos sitting next to him. The kalathos, his typical head-gear, was a reference to his capacity as bestower of fruitfulness and symbolised his chthonian omnipotence and the earth’s fertility11. The second type depicts the god standing and dressed in the same manner: his outstretched right hand holds a shallow dish or phiale, his left a sceptre. Harpokrates is the Greek transcription of «Horus-the-child». As child-ruler, he also became the personification of the ideal child and pro- tector of infancy and fertility, of both humans and animals. 9 For a general introduction on the iconography of Isis see V. TRAN TAM TINH, art. Isis, in LIMC V 1 (1990), p. 761-796, and R. TURCAN, The Cults of the Roman Empire (The Ancient World), Oxford 19972, p. 80. The sistrum and situla as attributes of Isis were especially popular on the coins of Asia Minor from the end of the 1st century AD onwards (V. TRAN TAM TINH, art. cit., p. 792). 10 L. VIDMAN, Isis und Sarapis, in M.J. VERMASEREN (ed.), Die orientalischen Reli- gionen im Römerreich (EPRO, 93), Leiden 1981, p. 121-122. Generally on Sarapis see L. VIDMAN, op. cit. (n. 7), p. 10-26. 11 For a general introduction on the iconography of Sarapis see L. VIDMAN, art. cit. (n. 10), p. 123; G. CLERC – J. LECLANT, art. Sarapis, in LIMC VII 1 (1994), p. 666-692. 292 P. TALLOEN He is normally depicted as a naked child, sometimes with a piece of clothing draped over his shoulders and wearing some type of head-gear. He places his right index-finger on his mouth12. As an object of mater- nal love, he is also represented as an infant in the arms of Isis. Apart from a handful of inscriptions discovered in Adada, Olbasa, Pogla and Termessos13, material manifestations of the worship of Egypt- ian deities in Pisidia were, until recently, limited to numismatic sources of the 2nd and 3rd century AD. These local bronze coins from nine Pisid- ian cities, excluding Sagalassos, depict standard representations of mem- bers of the above-mentioned Egyptian triad14. The fact that the presence 12 For a general introduction on the iconography of Harpokrates see V. TRAN TAM TINH – B. JAEGER – S. POULIN, art. Harpocrates, in LIMC IV 1 (1988), p. 415-445. 13 Adada: dedicatory inscription of a temple with surrounding porticoes and work- shops honouring the deified emperors, Zeus Megistos-Sarapis and the city; dated to the last quarter of the 2nd century AD (CIG 4379 g+h; for the date and a description of the temple see M. BÜYÜKKOLANCI, Adada. Pisidia’da antik bir kent, s.l. 1998, p. 45-50). Olbasa: votive altar (?) of Isis dated to the Imperial period (N.P. MILNER, An Epigraph- ical Survey in the Kibyra-Olbasa Region conducted by A.S. Hall [British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara, Monograph 24], Oxford 1998, p. 60 no. 131). Pogla: inscription mentioning the penteteric games of Serapeia Alexandreia (G.E. BEAN, Notes and Inscrip- tions from Pisidia. Part II, AS 10, 1960, p. 61-62 no. 105). Termessos: two inscriptions mentioning a priest of Sarapis, M. Aurelius Troilos, which can be dated to ca. 217 AD (TAM III 1 nos. 444 and 793). Another inscription connected to Egyptian cults should be placed in Cilicia rather than in Pisidia as suggested by L. Vidman and F. Dunand, since it was found at Saraycik near Isauria (L.