New Book: Isis on the Nile

Brill


Isis on the Nile. Egyptian Gods in Hellenistic and Roman Egypt
Proceedings of the IVth International Conference of Isis Studies, Liège, November 27-29 2008
Edited by Laurent Bricault and Miguel John Versluys

Series: Religions in the Graeco-Roman World, 171
ISBN-13 (i)The ISBN (International Standard Book Number) has been changed from 10 to 13 digits on 1 January 2007: 978 90 04 18882 2
ISBN-10: 90 04 18882 7

Contributors include: Pascale Ballet, Laurent Coulon, Françoise Dunand, Geneviève Galliano , Angelo Geissen, Olaf Kaper, Pierre Koemoth, Michel Malaise, Frederick Naerebout, Klaus Parlasca, Kyriakos Savvopoulos, Marjorie Venit, Miguel John Versluys, Youri Volokhine

Laurent Bricault holds a PhD in Egyptology from the Sorbonne and is Professor of Roman history at Universite de Toulouse Le Mirail. Miguel John Versluys holds a PhD from Leiden University and is associate Professor at its Faculty of Archaeology. They are both well known for their many publications in the domain of Isis studies and Egyptian influences on the Roman world. Their previous book, Nile into Tiber. Egypt in the Roman world (RGRW 159) from 2007, was characterised by The Classical Review (2009) as “(-) an admirably thorough examination of the complexities of religious acculturation, and an impressive survey of the different approaches that may be taken to the study of this problem”. The present volume hopes to achieve the same with regard to Egyptian gods in Hellenistic and Roman Egypt.

The diffusion of the cults of Isis is recently again intensively studied. Research on this fascinating phenomenon has traditionally been characterised by its focus on L'Égypte hors d'Égypte, while developments in Hellenistic and Roman Egypt itself were often seen as belonging to a different domain. This volume tries to overcome that unhealthy dichotomy by studying the cults of Isis in Hellenistic and Roman Egypt itself in relation to developments in the Mediterranean at large. The book not only presents an overview of the most important deities, often based on new or unpublished material, but also pays ample attention to the cultural processes behind Isis on Nile, like relations between style and identity, religious choice, social- and cultural memory and Egypt’s view of its own past.