Regulations for the cult of Isis
created: Transcription (a and b: Dobias-Lalou, b: Reynolds).
source date: 102 CE
language: ar; en; fr; de; grc; grc-Latn; el; he
availability: Creative Commons licence Attribution UK 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/uk/) All reuse or distribution of this work must contain somewhere a link back to the URL http://inslib.kcl.ac.uk/

Bibliography

a: Unpublished; dicovered and read by Catherine Dobias-Lalou; b: [...] 10b p. 30, figs. 19-20, whence [...], 1962.363, [...] 20.721, [...] 324482, [...], 808, [...], 47

[...] [...] Φαμενὼθ ιδ [...] [...] ιε[...] [...] Φαρμοῦθ ιϛ [...] [...] ιζ [...] [...] Παχὼν ιη [...] [...] ιθ [...] [...] Παῦνι κ [...] [...] κα[...] [...] Ἐπιφὶ κβ [...] [...] κγ[...]

[...] ιζ ἕως ὥρας ϛ λ [...] ιη ἕως Παῦνι [...] κ ἕως ὥρας ι γ ἕως [...] ἐὰν δέ τις τῶν ουι[...]διὰ ἰδίας αἰτίας νηστεία[...] ὑπὲρ ἑκάστου μηνὸς [...] Ἴσιδι Μυρυωνύμωι [...] Ἀγαθὸς Δαίμων ἱερεύς [...]

[^a1: at b.2: ΠΑΤΡ [Reynolds suggests ΠΑΤΝ: the final letter might be P (so previous editors), N (as here) a ligature or a symbol; Dobias-Lalou suggests Παυ[νι]]

[^a2: at b.4: ΟΥΙ | οἰν[οποτῶν ?]

Translations

[a]: . . . ] Phamenoth 14 [. . .] 15 [. . .] Pharmouthi 16 [. . .] 17 [. . .] Pachon 18 [. . .] 19 [. . .] Payni 20 [. . .] 21 [. . . Epiphi ] 22 [. . .] 23 [. . .

[b]: . . . ] 17th, until the 6th hour, 30[. . .]; 18th until . * ?[. . .]; 20th until the 10th hour, 3[. . .]. If anyone of the [. . .], private reason a fast [. . .] for each month [. . .] for thousand-named Isis [. . .] Agathos Daimon, priest [. . .]

Commentary

Fragment a provides a list of dates, apparently periods of time; the months are the first five months of the second semester of the Egyptian year. In fragment b there seems to be reference to periods of time within the day; Ω, with a superscript Ρ apparently for ὥ(ρα). The figures at the beginning of b 1-2 must represent days of the month and are followed in each case by a formula indicating a period of time; the symbols thereafter, probably figures, presumably refer to what must or must not be done during that period

Line b 2: the time limit expressed in hours is replaced by the sign *, apparently between dots (although the second one is oddly placed), which are probably interpuncts. It is unlikely to have the common sense of denarius, or Χοῖνιξ as probably in a graffito at Dura (Excavations at Dura-Europos II (Yale, 1931) 147); it seems better to see this as an astral symbol.

Line b 5: The word used for a fast is one connected with the Cyrenean cult of Isis by Herodotus, IV.186 (at Perseus). For fasts among worshippers of Isis, see Apuleius Metam.XI.23. Ferri, Studi e Materiali di Storia delle Religioni III (1927) 233 ff. argued that there was evidence for local features in the cult objects found in the Iseum beside the Acropolis.

Line b 8: perhaps to be identified with the priest of the same name in GVCyr041, line 2, dated in 102/103 CE