Aspects of Religious Syncretism of the Goddess Isis in Graeco-Roman Egypt: A Case-Study of the Terracotta Figurines from the Collection of the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts
Vasilyeva O. A., Malykh Svetlana E.
The article provides a publication and analysis of ten Egyptian terracotta figurines of Isis from the Graeco-Roman period (collection of the Department of Ancient Orient, Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow). They come from the collections of V. S. Golenischev, N. G. Ter-Mikaelian and O. V. Kovtunovich and are dated to the broad period – from the early Hellenistic age (4 th–3 rd cent. B.C.), to the Late Ptolemaic (1 st cent. B.C.) and Roman periods (1 st–3 rd cent. A.D.), giving evidence of the popularity of Isis’ cult in Graeco-Roman Egypt. The images of the goddess studied in this paper have additional attributes adopted from the female deities of the Greek (Aphrodite, Demeter, Selene) and eastern pantheons. These features allow to consider the aspects of Isis’ image as a syncretic deity, embodying both of a patroness of motherhood and female attractiveness.
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