Sarapis and Neôtera Elected among the Gods
Type de matériel :
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One of the bronze plates formerly in the Bianchini collection, which entered the Cabinet des Médailles (Paris) at the end of the 18th cent., bears a text and an image, supposedly unintelligible and therefore thought to be of a magic nature. A new examination of this plaque, which is in fact the main part of a bracelet, shows that it depicts an assembly of twenty-eight divinities, illustrating the religious landscape of Egypt in the 2nd-3rd cent., and two short acclamations. The first one exalts the greatness of the name of Sarapis, the second that of Neôtera the invincible. The latter is difficult to define, but she often seems to correspond to a form of Isis assimilated to Kore. The glorifying invocation of these two gods, depicted with their “pantheon”, may be considered as an expression of what is today called “megatheism”.
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