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Last Updated on 23 May 2019

Author: Sofia Kravaritou

CAPInv. 1810: U-CGR-010

I. LOCATION

i. Geographical area Central Greece
ii. Region Eastern Thessaly. Region of Magnesia.
iii. Site Demetrias

II. NAME

i. Association with unknown name U-CGR-010

III. DATE

i. Date(s) m. iii BC

V. SOURCES

i. Source(s) Arvanitopoulos 1909: no. 52 (m. iii BC)
Note See also:
RICIS 112/0701
Stamatopoulou 2008; 249-57
Decourt and Tziafalias 2007: 337, fig. 1
i.a. Source type(s) Epigraphic source(s)
i.b. Document(s) typology & language/script Funerary inscription in Greek: 'Ouaphres, son of Horus, from Bousiris; priest of Isis; chaire'.
i.c. Physical format(s) Painted tombstone. The figure of the dead Egyptian priest with his cultic attributa - sistrum and situla - is illustrated on the frontal face of the stone.
ii. Source(s) provenance In second use in first Stelai-Tower of the southern fortification walls of Ancient Demetrias.

VI. BUILT AND VISUAL SPACE

i. Archaeological remains No cult facility devoted to the third-century cult of the Isiac deities has been located in the area of Ancient Demetrias; the first local community most probably developed within the restricted framework of a cultic association (Stamatopoulou 2008; cf. Kravaritou in print a).

VII. ORGANIZATION

i. Founder(s) Ouaphres, son of Horus from Bousiris, the Egyptian priest of Isis in third-century Demetrias has been tentatively charged with the foundation of Isis' cult on local level through his own private initiative, since it was customary for Egyptian priests to follow merchants' paths leading to Hellenistic cosmopolitan harbour cities (Frazer 1960: 44; Stamatopoulou 2008: 252-4; cf. Kravaritou 2016a)
iv. Officials RICIS 112/0701 delivers the name of Ouaphres, son of Horus, the third century priest in the local cult of Isis.

IX. MEMBERSHIP

v. Relations Presumably a multicultural community (Kravaritou 2016b).

X. ACTIVITIES

iii. Worship Isiac cults
Deities worshipped Isis

XII. NOTES

iii. Bibliography Arvanitopoulos, A. (1909), Κατάλογος των εν τωι Αθανασάκειωι Μουσείωι Βόλου Αρχαιοτήτων. Volos.
Decourt J.-Cl., and Tziafalias A., (2007), ‘Cultes et divinités isiaques en Thessalie. Identité et urbanisation’, in L. Bricault et al. (eds.), Nile into Tiber. Egypt in the Roman World. Proceedings of the IIIrd International Conference of Isis Studies, Faculty of Archaeology, Leiden University, May 11-14. Leiden, Boston: 329-63.
Fraser, P.M. (1960), ‘Two Studies on the Cult of Serapis in the Hellenistic World’, OAth 3: 1-54.
Kravaritou, S. (2016a), ‘Isiac Cults, Civic Priesthood and Social Elite in Hellenistic Demetrias (Thessaly): Notes on IG IX2, 1107 (RICIS 112/0703) and beyond’, Tekmeria 2013-2014.
Kravaritou, S. (2016b), ‘Sacred Space and the Politics of Multiculturalism in Demetrias (Thessaly)’, in M. Melfi and O. Bobou (eds.), Hellenistic Sanctuaries. Between Greece and Rome, Oxford.
Mili, M. (2015), Religion and Society in Ancient Thessaly. Oxford.
Stamatopoulou, M. (2008), ‘Ouaphres Horou, an Egyptian priest of Isis from Demetrias’, in D.C. Kurtz, C. Meyer, D. Sauders, A. Tsingarida and N. Harris (eds.), Essays in Classical Archaeology for Eleni Hatzivassiliou 1977-2007 (Beazley Archive and Archaeopress 2008), Oxford: 249-57.

XIII. EVALUATION

i. Private association Probable
Note The presence of a priest attests to the cult of Isis in third century Demetrias, organised in every probability after private initiative within the restricted frame of a cultic association.