1 Earliest Rome

12.-1 his
bearers of the god, Cornelius Crescentianus . . . 5
12.4 Isis
1. Jupher Dolichenus orders the dedication to himself as 'preserver of the firmament' (cf.
12.3a) and to the Sun, 'the pre-eminent divinity', who is several times associated with
Jupiter Dolichenus in Rome. Cf. Speidel (1978).
2. Jupiter Dolichenus is said to choose those who served him in higher positions.
3. We do not know the role of'the recorder', but he may have played a role in initiations.
4. 'The leaders of this place' seem to be a special set of patrons.
5- The last three names are grammatically distinct from the names of those chosen and
probably mark the start of a list of candidates.
[sis was a deity traditionally worshipped in Egypt. She was known to the
Greeks since at least the fifth century B.C., when she was identified with the
Greek Demerer, and her cult is found in Greece from the fourth century B.C.
onwards. Under the Roman Empire it spread to the Latin West (Italy, Africa,
Spain and Gaul).
See further: Vol. 1, 264-6, 281-1, 287-8, 308-9; Witt (1971)*.
12.4a Praise of Isis, first century B.C. or early first century A.D.
IGxn Supp. 14; Inschr. Kyme no.41
Characteristic of the cult of Isis - and apparently peculiar to it - were formalized
hymns of praise ('aretalogies') in which the achievements of the goddess
were listed. The text rhat follows - from a sanctuary of Isis at Kyme on the
western coast of Asia Minor - is the best preserved of these hymns. It is written
in Greek, but the original model of the hymns was at the temple of Hephaistos
(Ptah) at Memphis in Egypt and from this were derived the various versions
discovered in Egypt and Greece and those known to the Greek literary tradition.
There has been much discussion of the language of the prototype at
Memphis (Greek or Egyptian?). Was it part of native Egyptian thought, or was
it composed by a Greek-speaking Egyptian for a Greek public?
See further: Leclant (1984); Fowden (1986) 45-52*; Versnel (1990) 39-95.
Demetrios son of Artemidoros, also called Thraseas, from Magnesia on the Maeander,
fulfilled his vow to Isis.
The following text was copied from the inscription in Memphis which is positioned in
front of the temple of Hephaistos: I am Isis the tyrant of the whole land. I was educated by
Hermes and with the help of Hermes devised both sacred and secular scripts, so that
everything should not be written in the same script. I established laws for humans, and
created legislation which no one has the power to change. I am the eldest daughter of
Kronos. I am the wife and sister of King Osiris. I am she who invented crops for humans.
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