Egyptian cults of Isis and Serapis in Roman Fleets. In: (Amenta. A-Luiselli, M. M.-Sordi, M. N (ed.) L'acqua nell'antico Egitto: vita, rigenerazione, incantesimo, medicamento - Proceedings of the First International Conference for Young Egyptologists (Chianciano Terme, 15-18 October 2003), Roma 2005: 241-253.

Mladen Tomorad (University of Zagreb, Croatia) Egyptian Cults of Isis and Serapis in Roman Fleets The diffusion of Egyptian cults in the Greek and Roman World Sources The Roman imperial fleet was one of the main gateways for diffusion of Egyptian cults into the Roman world, and both merchant and war fleets had significant role in that diffusion. One of the most important parts of the research of this diffusion is to determinate the groups of citizens who were involved in it. In order to do that we have to find the sources from Greek and Roman periods such as epigraphic inscriptions, literary and historical writings, public and private letters and various cultic findings. Today the important objects such as shabtis, amulets, epigraphic inscriptions and statuettes of deities, that can prove the existence of Egyptian cults and their believers, are kept in various museums around the world. History Egypt opened its gates to the whole Mediterranean in the time of Ptolemaic Dynasty (305-30 BC) The diffusion of Egyptian cults was one of the major aspects in the Ptolemaic multi-stage foreign policy to Crete and the Aegean Sea. The consolidations of Egyptian cults in that area gave them an opportunity to spread their influence into the whole Eastern Mediterranean.. The consequence of this action was opening of Egyptian cult centers to Greek and Eastern influences and as the result the new Hellenistic cults were born (Serapis, Harpocrates). At the same time the Egyptian cults and the objects connected with their beliefs and funeral ceremonies, together with other Eastern cults, started their diffusion through the sea and land. In the time of the great Roman Empire these cults made their way all the way to the borders of Ethiopia, India, Tangier, Great Britain, the Baltic and the Black Sea About this diffusion, see Witt 1971; Turcan 1996; Beard / North / Price 1998; Tomorad 2001.. The oriental gods and goddesses were introduced into the Roman Pantheon at the end of the 3rd Century BC. The first temples of Isis and Serapis in Rome were built around 220 BC. At the end of the 2nd Punic War the symbols of oriental religions were removed from the Roman Pantheon. The diffusion started again more intensively at the end of the Republican era. In the 1st Century BC the cults of Isis and Serapis made their way into Italy as the religious beliefs mainly of the lower classes. The first Egyptian community in Rome was registered in the time of the Roman dictator Lucius Conelius Sulla. But at that time the diffusion of Egyptian cults was disapproved by the Romans. In the late Republican era, a few years before the death of Iulius Caesar, the first statue of Isis was placed in the temple of Venus Genetrix. The first Roman Emperors Augustus and Tiberius didn’t look at that diffusion with approval. In 38 AD the Emperor Gaius Caligula built the Isis temple in Rome at the Campus Martius and with that act he acknowledged her into the rank of the official goddesses of the Roman Empire. In the time of the Emperor Caracalla the god Serapis was introduced to the rank of the official gods. He built him a temple at the Roman hill Quirinalis with dedication Serapidi Deo. In the same time the cult of the Emperor was linked up with Egyptian cults. From the time of Domitian to Trajan various Egyptian gods (Horus, Anubis) can be found with the warrior symbols of the Roman Empire (spear, shield). Isis and Serapis became the protectors of the Emperor from the time of the Emperor Caracalla. The Roman Emperors Hadrian, Trajan, Commodus, Septimius Severus, and Diocletian were the great admirers of Egyptian culture. They decorated their palaces with Egyptian elements delivered directly from Egypt. The traces of those activities today can be found in Hadrian’s Villa at Tivoli and Diocletian Palace in Split (fig. 1). At the end of the 3rd Century AD the diffusion of the Egyptian cults started to weaken and the major reason for this was the new rising of Christianity. The last official Isiac ceremony in Rome was noted in 394 AD and in Egypt in 535 at the time of the East Roman Emperor Iustinianus Bagnall 1993; Frankfurter 1998.. Sailors and merchants One of the most used forms of communication in the ancient world was by river or sea. In the time of the Roman Empire half of the sailors in the imperial fleet were recruited in Egypt and in the Hellenistic East. They travel all over the “Old world” as soldiers and sailors of merchant ships. Egyptian cults for example diffused from the sea ports into the mainland through the major ports. The commercial trade was very intensive all over the Mediterranean and far north to the limes of the Roman Empire in Britannia and on the rivers Rhine and Danube. Merchants were very movable and they brought over some new ideas and religious beliefs throughout the Roman Empire. Most of them were originally from Egypt and the East. In the places were they raised their families they often formed, with other members who shared the same believes, religious collegiums of Isis and Serapis. A lot of ships sailed along both coasts of the Adriatic with Egyptian sailors on board. Plutarch wrote about Tammuz, a steerman of the ship of the Emperor Tiberius, who sailed along the west coast of the Adriatic. Several inscriptions with the name Hermodorus were found all over the Roman Empire. Lucius Cassius Hermodorus Late 1st or early 2nd Century AD. was a well known Egyptian ship owner and a boatman who sailed between the two coasts of the Adriatic Inscription with his name was founded in Pescara (Roman Aternum) on a tombstone (CIL IX, n. 3337). and some other parts of the Mediterranean. He was a member of the collegio Serapis Salonitano CIL IX, n. 3337.. Other Hermodorus from the inscriptions was connected with the maritime tradition of Alexandria in Egypt Selem 1972, p. 86.. Merchantmen and sailors usually raised there families in the same port where they worked or in the main center with the group of the other like-minded citizens. They always connected with native inhabitants, other merchants, sailors, custom officials, Roman citizens, slaves and other soldiers. Very often sailors’ wives were local women, daughters or sisters of other sailors. Sometimes the wives were previously sailors’ concubines. Very rarely would a sailor find a wife from his homeland. Major fleets of Roman Empire Based on their activities we can divide the Roman imperial navy in two parts, military fleets and merchant fleets. For military fleet, during the Roman Empire, there were two major centers in Misenum and Ravenna, and lots of small centers for provincial fleets (fig. 2) The harbor and headquarters of classis Misensis and military camp for the sailors and soldiers was built at the end of the northern cape of the bay of Naples (fig. 3) during the period between 27 and 15 BC. The new port was built to guard the west coast of Italy and grain routes between Egypt, Africa and Sicily and Italy mainland. The commercial harbors were based nearby in Ostia on the river Tiber, and other towns in the bay of Naples. The soldiers were permitted to get married but they all settled their families, wives and children in the towns like Herculaneum, Pompeii, Puteoli, Capua, Ostia and Roma. Classis Misensis was the biggest military squadron in the Roman Empire with an imperial flagship. It had almost 10000 men on 50 ships, mostly triremes but there were also some quadriremes, quinquremes and six Casson 1991, p. 186.. The headquarters for classis Ravennas were based in a lagoon on the north-west coast of the Adriatic, several kilometers from the town Ravenna (fig. 4). The harbor was built during the early Principate as the major center of war fleet for this region. The other major stations for classis Ravennas were based in Aquileia (fig. 5), a major custom center for trade with mainland provinces (Noricum, Raetia and Pannonia), and in Salona, the capital of province Dalmatia. It had almost 5000 men on triremes. The chief officer for both fleets was praefectus, usually a well known Roman citizen. Soldiers and sailors were recruited in various provinces of the great Empire who volunteered to serve for 26 years. They were not slaves as historians in the 19th Century usually wrote (e.g. Mommsen). They were free man who became veterans after their services. Most of them came from Egypt (Aegyptus), the Hellenistic East (Syria, Macedonia, Achaea, Asia) and some nearby provinces (Italia, Sardinia, Africa, Dalmatia, Pannonia, Dacia, Moesia and Thracia). Epigraphic sources usually indicate where they came from (for example natione Aegyptus or Aegyptii, natione Dalmata, natione Alexandrian and so forth) CIL X, CIL XI.. In the fleets there were also lots of prisoners, slaves and freedman who worked as galley-rowers. They were usually from all over the Roman Empire. The huge percentage of soldiers and sailors in classis Misensis CIL VI, nos. 3096, 3109, 3117, 3127, 3133, 3146; X: 3381, 3383, 3396, 3403, 3460, 3464a, 3469, 3470, 3481, 3482, 3489, 3514, 3515, 3516, 3520, 3523, 3532, 3540, 3566, 3567, 3568, 3579, 3583, 3589, 3614, 3615, 3643, 3653, 3638, 8374; AE 1929, n. 0146; AE 1979, n. 0167; AE 1988, n. 0316. were Egyptians. In the classis Ravennas CIL VI, nos. 3159, 3162; CIL XI, nos. 29, 37, 94, 116. they played a much lesser role. They were peregrini without Roman civil rites. Some of them later adopted Latin names like Isiodorus who became Iulius Martialis or Neon who became L. Iulius Apollinaris Lesquier 1918, pp. 219-224.. Native Egyptians - laoi usually couldn't serve in Roman military service but the exception where classis Ravennas and classis Misenum were they played an important role. Some Egyptian sailors from Alexandria tried to distinguish themselves from laoi by calling themselves nation Alexandrinus CIL VI, n.3112; CIL X, nos. 3500, 3504, 3512, 3564, 3608, 3617, 8208; CIL XI, nos. 37, 74; AE 1929, nos. 0147; 1939 - 0228; 1983 - 0189; 1988 - 0313.. Classis Alexandrina was based in Alexandria. It was the major merchant fleet with connections to the East and the most important grain fleet of the Roman empire. The primary function for classis Alexandrina was to keep Egypt loyal and to defend its land from any usurper. But its secondary function was to keep grain route from Alexandria to Puteoli and Ostia. The soldiers and sailors in Alexandrian fleets were local laoi, Alexandrinus or Greeks Starr 1993, pp. 109-114.. The major centers for merchant fleets of freighters and smaller ships in Central and South Europe were based in Ostia, Aquileia, Salona and the area of Naples with sailors from the Hellenistic East and Egypt. These fleets carried cargo all over the Roman Empire; they sailed from the east to the west and from the south to the north of the Empire sometimes even more. The cults of Isis and Serapis in Roman fleets Most often the recruits and sailors brought their own beliefs to the town where their ships were based. This is not strange because the Roman empire was very cosmopolitan with a lot of different religions and cults. The sailors in the Roman navy worshipped a lot of different cults and gods. The most popular were the sea gods Neptune or Poseidon, and the Egyptian gods Isis and Serapis. The soldiers and sailors most often believed that the sea gods could protect them on their travels from famine or tempest. In various rituals brought from Egypt and spread throughout the Mediterranean Isis was worshiped as “the Mother of the Pharaoh”, “the Mistress of Heaven”, “the goddess of Eternity and of Resurrection”, “the life giver” and from the 3rd Century BC as “the Ruler of the Sea” - Pelagia - Mistress of the sea holding in both hands a sail swollen by the wind. Sailors worshiped Isis as a guardian, a protector of the ship and a guide. The ancient writer Aelius Aristides once said “Serapis is great on the sea, and both merchantmen and warcraft are guided by him” Aristides, Orations, 45,23.. An inscription from Memphis gave the main reason why Isis was worshipped by sailors. On it she said: “(...) I invented fishing and seafaring. (...) I am the Mistress of rivers, winds and sea. (…) I am the Mistress of war. I am Mistress of the thunderbolt. I calm and agitate the sea. (...) I am the Mistress of seamanship. I make the navigable unnavigable whenever I decide” IG XII, Suppl. 14; Beard / North / Price 1998, vol. II, n. 12.4a.. Lots of soldiers wrote letters to their folks to inform them that they were well and to thank the gods Serapis and Isis. Sadly most of them are not preserved. In one of them, a recruit in classis Misensis, named Apion wrote a letter to his father Epimachos in the middle of 2nd Century AD. He was in a dangerous situation on the sea and he thanked the great lord Serapis for saving him Leben im ägyptischen Altertum, p. 62, n. P 7950.. Later when he enrolled his position in his centuria Anthenonica he as peregrini enrolled the Latin name Antonius Maximus Select Papyri, vol. I, pp. 305-307, n. 112.. In the beginning of 2nd Century AD a recruit in classis Misensis named Apollinarius wrote a letter to his mother Taesis who lived in Karanis in Egypt. In the letter he informed her that he was well and that he had come to Rome and later to Misenum in good shape Select Papyri, vol. I, n. 111, pp. 303-305.. In the bay of Naples, very near Misenum lived many worshippers of Isis and Serapis. In Pompeii there was the great temple of Isis - Iseum were they celebrated the navigium Isidis to open the sailing season. The preserved frescoes from Herculaneum showed us how the procession looked like (fig. 6). A little bit to the north, in Puteoli, was the other big center for Egyptian cults with huge Egyptian population CIL X, nos. 1593, 1594, 1781, 2038, 2077, 2107, 2237, 2451, 2511, 2682, 2920, 3018, 8194.. In Rome and the nearby towns were excavated remains of the temples, tombstones with dedications to Isis and Serapis and statuettes of Egyptian gods Kater-Sibbes 1973, pp. 99-106, 115-134, nos. 537-572, 621-736. All this proved that the Egyptian gods were very popular in that region where the families of the sailors and soldiers who served in the Roman fleets lived. The inscriptions on the tombstones from the bay of Naples gave us the picture about their beliefs. Serapis was worshipped by the members of the families as conservatori of the sailors and soldiers CIL X, n. 571.. Isis was usually called Regina or Augusta CIL X, nos. 572, 574, 351, 344, 345, 346, 347, 348, 350. and shown with sistrum in her hand (fig. 7). The great temples of Serapis and Isis in the commercial harbor in Ostia proved that in that region was one of the major centers of Egyptian cult where Serapis was worshipped as Iove Serapi. In Ostia were also founded busts, statuettes and oil lamps with the cultic images of Serapis Kater-Sibbes 1973, pp. 101-104, nos. 543-565.. The Egyptian gods Serapis and Isis were usually worshipped with some other Oriental and Roman gods CIL XIV, nos. 20, 123, 429. For the Oriental cults in Ostia, see Squarciapino 1962.. Excavated tombstones show us that the sailors worshipped the other Egyptian gods as well such as Osiris, Anubis, Horus or Harpocrates and the Apis bull Squarciapino 1962, pp. 31-36.. Usually we cannot prove religious affiliation of the sailors and members of their families but we can make hypothesis about it based on their theophoric names. Most of the inscriptions with these theophoric names were found in Ostia and Misenum. The most frequent were: Serapa CIL X, n. 886., Serapion CIL X, nos. 2237, 3574; AE 1910, n. 0036; AE 1929, n. 0146., Serapias CIL, X, nos. 3596, 3638., Serapia CIL X, n. 2511. and Isiodorus CIL X, nos. 469, 2077, 3444, 3460, 3608; CIL XI, n. 327; AE 1896, n. 0021.. We knew that one of the leaders of the squadron in classis Misensis wore the name of Isiodorus CIL, X, n. 3352.. In Misenum lived Julia Serapias, a daughter of a sailor CIL X, n. 3596.. The Egyptian woman Tesneus Serapias who had a son Serapion was a wife of a sailor in classis Misensis CIL X, n. 3638.. The sailors in the Roman times recorded the names of their ships on their tombstones, and up to now have known more than 80 names of the ships and most of them were the part of classis Misensis and classis Ravennas. One of the most common practices was to give the names of mythological figures or some gods to a ship because they believed that a same god could protect the ship and its cargo from any danger. Some ships in classis Misensis wore the names connected to Egypt and their gods. The names were not inscribed on a hull as today and instead a relief of a god was carved on the bows. Several inscriptions from the Misenum survived with the exact names of the triremes, Nilo CIL VI, n. 3578., Iside CIL VI, nos. 3615, 3618, 3640. and Iove et Serapion. One of the ships in the fleet of Athens wore the name of the Egyptian god Ammon Papyri Oxyrhynchus, nos. 2415.24, 2415.34, 2415.84.. We knew the names of a few boats used on the river Nile; one boat of the Nile fleet was called Serapis IG XII, n. 8.584. and one type of cargo boat was called Isairon. We also knew the name of the merchant boat Isopharia. One of the large grain ships used on the route between Alexandria and Italy was called Isis. It was built in the 2nd Century AD like a huge Roman merchantman and equipped as a superfighter. It description was preserved by the ancient writer Lucian who saw it in Athens. On one wall painting in Ostia was shown a small freighter called Isis Giminiana (fig. 8) that was used for commerce of grain in the 2nd or 3rd Century AD. The biggest cultic centers of Isis and Serapis were in Alexandria, Pompeii and Rome. The cult centers in Egypt have some special water facilities with the Nile water. In Italy only the Iseum in Pompeii has such cultic water facilities. It was built in the 2nd Century BC, and later rebuild in 63 AD Wild 1981, p. 23, 44, 47, and 164.. The liturgical year in the cult of Isis and Osiris was connected with the sailing season. It usually started in May and finished in September but sometimes some skippers began to sail in early March and continue to sail up to the beginning of November. Sailors' beliefs can be seen in various festivals such as Navigium Isidis, or zetesis and heuresis These festivals occupied several days from the 28th of October to the 3rd of November. It makes a cycle of grief and joy with the resurrection of Osiris at the end (Hilaria or Inventio Osiridis).. The sailors celebrated the opening of the sailing season on the 5th of March with the Navigium Isidis which was beautifully described by the ancient writer Apuleius Apuleius, Metamorphoses XI, 8, 17.. “Vessel of Isis” has its roots in the ancient Egyptian mythology where Isis set off over the waves in search for her murdered husband Osiris. During the ceremony the sailors symbolically opened the sailing season by launching the “Vessel of Isis” into the sea More about the festival and it customs, see Witt 1971, pp. 165-184; Turcan 1996, pp. 114-115.. In Puteoli were found several boat-shaped lamps with Isis in the middle (fig. 9), which was used in the ceremony of the Navigium Isidis. Conclusion The Egyptian cults of Serapis and Isis were introduced to Rome at the time of the late Republic but they showed their real strength from the middle of the 1st to the end of the 3rd Century AD. 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