Aleksandra Nikoloska Religious communications through Via Egnatia in Roman times (original) (raw)
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A History of Research into Ancient Egyptian Culture conducted in Southeast Europe, 2015
Author in article discussed the possible evidences of the earlier penetration of the ancient Egyptian artifacts, divinities and cults to the east Adriatic coast (Istria, Illyricum and Pannonia). Based on the analysis of the findings, their typology, iconography and previous archaeological and historical studies few phases of penetration Egyptian artifacts can be identify, from the early 1st millennium B.C. to the 1st century B.C., which later developed into diffusion of the Egyptian divinites and Isiac cults (c. 1st century B.C-4th century A.D.). During the Greek colonization (c. 8th century to the end of 3rd century B.C.) of the Adriatic sea Greek and Oriental merchants started to sell the Egyptian artifacts to local community or even the first worshippers of the Egyptian divinities (e.g. Isis, Osiris, Harpocrates, Serapis). During the Roman conquest of Illyricum (3rd century B.C.-1st century A.D.) connections with Egypt, North Africa, Aegean and Italy became much more intensive. The findings of the coin hoards with North African and Ptolemaic coinage can support the theory that by the late 3rd century B.C. trading connections were already well established and that is possible that the great number of Egyptian artifacts (scarabs, amulets, shabtis, bronze figurines of divinities) could arrive to Istria (e.g Nesactium), Aenona, Iader, region of Lika, Salona, and the middle Dalmatia islands (Hvar, Korčula, Vis) maybe as the first presence of Egyptian divinities. During the Romanization and the Roman rule of Illyricum (the 1st century B.C.- the end 4th century A.D.) Egyptian cults were present and well documented from varius artifacts and epigraphic evidences. The more vital dissemination of the Egyptian cults (Isis, Serapis, Harpocrates, etc.) started during the reign of Emperor Claudius and continued until the early 4th century.
L'acqua nell'antico Egitto: vita, rigenerazione, …, 2005
Religious Habits of the Roman Army in the Peripheries of Egypt
F. Coppens (ed.), Continuity, Discontinuity and Change. Perspectives from the New Kingdom to the Roman Era, 2021
The early Roman period (30 BCE – 284 CE) was the last era marked by a dynamic development of the native Egyptian religion. Not only in the religious sphere, did the conquest of Egypt by Octavianus Augustus for the most part not bring about a radical break with the past. One of the exceptions was the coming of the Roman army, which played an important role in spreading Roman culture across the whole Mediterranean. The present paper examines how the Roman army entered the sacred landscape of Egypt as seen through the epigraphic evidence left by the soldiers in various peripheral regions of the province of Egypt, where the presence of the army was especially strong. Each of the three regions of interest, namely Alexandria and surroundings, the Eastern Desert and the region of the First Cataract and Roman Lower Nubia, is surveyed for relevant epigraphic evidence and the individual inscriptions are described, analysed and discussed in context. Subsequently, the data acquired from the analysis of the evidence are brought together. The situation in the studied regions is compared, pointing out the clear differences in the manifestation of the Roman soldiers’ presence in the sacred landscape of each of them and even individual sites. Overall, the observed approaches of the Roman military servicemen were also diverse, ranging from the accommodation and integration with the native cults to the introduction of new divinities and the appropriation of sacred spaces. Finally, conclusions are drawn how in each of the regions, as well as overall, the Roman army contributed to continuity and facilitated change in the religious sphere in Egypt of the early Roman period.
2007. “Egyptian Objects, Roman Contexts: a Taste for Aegyptiaca in Italy"
2007. “Egyptian Objects, Roman Contexts: a Taste for aegyptiaca in Italy,” in. Nile into Tiber: Egypt in the Roman World, Proceedings of the IIIrd International Conference of Isis Studies, Leiden, May 11–14 2005, edited by M.J. Versluys, P. Meyboom, and L. Bricault, 113–36. Religions in the Graeco-Roman World v. 159. Leiden: Brill
During the last two decades several new findings of artefacts related to the ancient Egyptian cults were discovered in various archaeological sites or re-discovered in the holdings of the museum institutions in Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia. These new findings spread the number of locations were Egyptian artefacts, usually connected with the diffusion of such cults, were found. They also gave us the new light how well these cults were disseminated. In this article author discussed diffusion of the Ancient Egyptian cults to Illyricum and Istria according the old and new archaeological evidences, the previous interpretations, and the new hypothesis about the much earlier dating of the Egyptian artefacts which started to penetrate the east Adriatic coast since the seventh century B.C. Key words: Egyptian artefacts and cults, early penetration, diffusion, Istria, Illyricum