
It's spring-festival time in Alexandria. In honor of the goddess Isis, one of the most important Egyptian deities, there's going to be a splendid procession from the Temple of Isis to the harbour. Quintus is invited along to watch by Aristo, a friend of Barbillus who then invites both Quintus and Aristo on a hunting expedition.
Digital Activities
These sections have been moved to the Cambridge Elevate platform. Please click below to go to Elevate. Elevate
WebBooks
The Stories
Practising the Language
Cultural Background
Can you help? If you've found a link we could add please email us.
CSCP is not responsible for the content of external sites.
Romano-Egyptian Portraits
ROMANO-EGYPTIAN PORTRAITS
The beautiful portrait of Eirene as featured on p.115 of CLC Book II. She is painted in encaustic - paint mixed with wax. Note her gold wreath of myrtle leaves and berries, and pearl earrings.
Terrific site devoted to the amazing funeral portraits of Egyptians during the Roman times: the faces were painted on wood or cloth and then attached to dead body.
This link takes you to the French pages, since the English ones are currently offline. Browse all the images or search the database by means of the drop-down menus on the left-hand side of the page: search by the museums they're in, the date they were painted, or where they came from in Egypt.
Information and images from the British Museum.
Scroll down to Portraits From The Past on page 28 for this great article in Minerva magazine from Jan/Feb 2012. (Archived pdf, may take some time to load.)
Animal Hunts in the Countryside - venationes
ANIMAL HUNTS in the COUNTRYSIDE - VENATIONES
The famous hunt mosaics still to be seen in the Roman villa at Piazza Armerina in Sicily.
The renowned Palestrina mosaic showing a scene on the River Nile.
Among other things happening here you should explore this detrailed mosaic for fishermen, animals (including a hippo & a croc).
The mosaic comes from the sanctuary of Fortune at Palestrina (ancient Praeneste), some 23 miles east of Rome, and still impressively preserved: day and night.
On display in the Archaeological Museum in Palestrina.
The detail on p.123 of CLC BkII is taken from this mosaic.
From the House of the Physician in Pompeii; now in the National Archaeological Museum, Naples.
Animal Hunts in the Arena
Hippos
HIPPOS
Terrific statuette of Thueris (aka Taweret), a popular Egyptian goddess of good-luck, fertility and childbirth.
As featured on p.123 of CLC BkII.
The hippopotamus (no longer found in Egypt) was a danger to boats on the river Nile, and to people working on or near the river banks. Many models of hippopotami were made of blue Egyptian faience, their bodies decorated with representations of the river plants that grew where the animals lived. They were offered to the goddess Thueris.
The male hippo was a representation of the odious god Seth, god of chaos and strength (and thus offering protection).
Isis
ISIS
Section of a papyrus showing offerings placed before various Egyptian gods, including Isis (at top centre-right).
She is drawn in the traditional Egyptian manner. She holds a long sceptre and an ankh (the symbol of life). Above her head is a symbolic throne - which is actually Isis' name in Egyptian hieroglyphs.
This so-called Book of the Dead of Queen Nedjmet dates to c.1070 BC, and is in the British Museum.
Key information about this important Egyptian goddess.
Her most important temple in Egypt was at Philae.
Detailed info from Wikipedia.
Beautiful ancient Egyptian wall painting of the goddess.
Excerpt from Sir James Frazer's ground-breaking treatment of mythology "The Golden Bough". Suitable for older surfers.
Brief introduction from the official Pompeii website.
More images:
- the temple today
- the temple reconstructed
- the purification enclosure that held water from the Nile.
Isis, with the Egyptian cobra in her hand, welcomes Io who had been abducted by Zeus and transformed by him into a heifer to hide her from his wife Hera.
Originally from the Temple of Isis in Pompeii; now in the National Archaeological Museum, Naples.
Depicting the morning ceremony of Isis.
A sistrum rattle, typical of the cult of Isis. Shaken by priests and devotees to create a soft jangling sound resembling a breeze blowing through papyrus reeds. It was this sound that was supposed to placate the gods and goddesses.