Department of the Classics, Harvard University

Alexandria in Rome Author(s): Sarolta A. Takcs Source: Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, Vol. 97, Greece in Rome: Influence, Integration, Resistance (1995), pp. 263-276 Published by: Department of the Classics, Harvard University Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/311310 Accessed: 06/12/2009 15:49
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ALEXANDRIA IN ROME
A. SAROLTA TAKACS*
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YBH)xy A$HPHbI MeqTy MOef IOHOCTH, H KopHH(4 aaneKylo BH3aHTHIO H BeHell BCeXxKeJIaHHii, LeJIbBCeX CTpeMJIeHHH
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tormented lo and her asylum-seeking descendants, the Danaids, presentthe mythological link between Greece and Egypt while Greek emporia in the Nile delta offer historically more tangible connections between the two countries. Alexander's conquest and the foundation of a new city eventually transferredEgypt and its monuments, visible and readablesymbols of political sovereignty belonging to times beyond mere history, into the Greek/Macedoniansphere of

THE

*I would like to thank the organizers of the Greece in Rome conference, Profs. Jones and RichardThomas, for inviting me and giving me first the chance to Christopher speak and now to write about some aspects of my research. I am especially grateful to Jones, LarkDiLucia Miller, and CharlesSegal for their comments and recogChristopher nize the editors of HSCP who were so patient with me. This article features new elements as well as componentsfrom my Isis and Sarapis in the Roman World(Leiden 1995 [Religions in the Graeco-RomanWorld 124]). 1 M. A. Kuzmin (1872-1936) Alexandrian Songs (concluding poem), J. E. Malmstad and V. Markov eds. Gesammelte Gedichte I, Gedichtbdndevor der Revolution (Munich 1977) 199. "Alas, I am forsaking Alexandria/ and long shall I not see her. / I shall see Cyprus,dear to the Goddess, / I shall see Tyre, Ephesus and Smyrna,/ I shall see Athens, the dreamof my youth, / Corinthand far Byzantium/ and the crown of all longings, / the goal of all strivings-/ I shall see Rome the mighty!" (trans. M. Green, see also his MikhailKuzminSelected Prose and Poetry [Ann Arbor 1980] 333-362).

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control. The Lagids, Alexander's successors, could tap into and define themselves in light of this millennia-oldauthority, theirconquerors, and the Romanprincipes, could do the same. Octavian took into Roman possession an economic stronghold, a culturalmelting-pot, and the guardianof Hellenistic literaryand intellectual culture. Alexandria is what Rome should but never would become: one of the majorintellectualcenters of the imperium. Alexandria's role in Rome's culturalself-definitionis certainlyless immediate than that of Greece; nevertheless, this Greek/Macedonianfoundation left consequentialimprintson Rome. With an eye on culturaltradition Mikhail Kuzmin's stanza delicately links Alexandriaand Rome. Since scholarshave alreadysuperblydetailed the literaryconnection between Alexandrianand Late Republicanpoets, this essay will focus on some of the political and religious connections between Alexandria and Rome. After official enthronementas Pharaohat Memphis, Alexander set sail down the Nile. When he reachedthe coast, he sailed westwardand came to Ra-kedet,an Egyptianvillage, which the Greekscalled Rhacotis. A new city was to be built here. As we all know well the young conquerorhurriedon to the oracle of Ammon-Ra at Siwah and, then afterdefeatingDarius,to the ends of the world. He would never see the completed Alexandrea ad Aegyptum, wedged between the Mediterraneanand the island of Pharos to the north and Lake Mareotis to the south. Its history became that of the Ptolemies.2 Alexander's achievements,however,were woven into a powerful, multi-facetedcultural myth; a myth that would be emulatedby various successors, i.e., the heirs of the famed city by succession or conquest and those who modelled themselves after Alexanderand thus evoked the power of his myth. Pompey's imitatioAlexandrioffers the first tangible evidence of a Roman's imitation of Alexander,which does not mean that Pompey was its originator. It seems plausible thatMithridatesVI Eupator'simitatio spurredPompey's. This would lock their respective imitationes into the context of the struggle for control over Asia.3 After Pompey, the link between an imperatorand Alexanderthe Great,which did not
2 p. M. Fraser,PtolemaicAlexandria(Oxford 1972). 3 C. Bohm, ImitatioAlexandriim Hellenismus(Munich 1989 [Quellen und Forschungen zur antiken Welt 3]) 95-100, with valuable bibliographical references. Scipio Africanus' Alexander connection has been judged not to be authentic(see Bohm, ibid., 99 n. 16).

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requirelikeness, remainedoperational. Plutarchrelates MarkAntony's desire for power and all aroundfrenzied longing to be "uncontrollable the first and greatest" to Alexander's.4The other triumvir,Octavian, used Alexander's effigy on the imperial seal before his own and while in Alexandria is said to have gazed upon Alexander's mummy.5Even the fatal touristand imperialsuccessor,Germanicus,happenedto utter: Even before now I thought it (Alexandria)to be a dazzling spectacle, in the first place because of the hero who is your founder, to whom a common debt is from those who have the same aspirations.6 While Alexander associated himself with Ammon-Ra, Ptolemy I Soter chose the syncretic Sarapisas the patrondeity of the new dynasty. ('OaapdtS;) of the Egyptian Sarapis, an inexact Greek transliteration is "Wsir-Hp," the abstractionof all dead-or, in Egyptianterms, Osirified-Apis-bulls. The Apis-bulls were connected with Memphis, whose priests, the priests of Ptah, wielded tremendouspolitical power; they made and un-made pharaohs.7Since a dead god like Osiris could hardlyhave been an appealingconcept to Greeks and Macedonians,the of was linguistic misunderstanding "Wsir-H1p" a welcome coincidence. Some could associate Sarapis' place of origin with the Black Sea city Sinope, others could connect -apis with the Greek king Apis, who happened to have died in Egypt. These possible associations must have facilitated an acceptanceof Sarapis,the dynasty's protector,and bound Macedonians and Greeks living in Egypt to their new country and the Ptolemaic ruling family that claimed its right of succession in accordance with the old and establishedpharaonicsystem. According to this system, each pharaohwas in essence a living god. He was the embodiment of Horus, the son of Isis and Osiris. The Ptolemies successfully integratedsomething new, Sarapis, into the dynastic ritual, which fur4 Ant. 6. 5 Suet. Aug. 18 and 50. & 6 TacitusAnn. 2.73 and POxy 25.2435.18-21, trans.E. G. Turner.r?. i6 Iyeoat?vo; v 0aali Tob u,v pdtov a axrilv evy[al] I [X]au7gIpoExaCl x[Iv] I []poax ica Kr[iY]TTxqv TOv I TXv 7cpb6 KUVit1tgicTIV6[9p]ei[Xruga][To]ri; a.xr[&v]&vTxe0ougvot;. 7 C. Maystre, Les grands pretres de Ptah a Memphis (Freiburg, Switzerland, and Gottingen 1992 [Orbis biblicus et orientalis 113]) and D. J. Crawford,J. Quaegebeur, W. Clarysse, Studies on Ptolemaic Memphis(Louvain 1980 [StudiaHellenistica 24]).

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nished the structure Egypt's religious and daily life. In other words, for a reciprocal assimilation of the value and belief systems of the conquerorand the conqueredhad occurred. Under the watchful eyes of the first Ptolemies, Alexandriabecame the most importanttrade center of antiquity. Its traderseven did business with India and China. Exports consisted of Egyptian agricultural products, especially cereals, papyri, ivory, aromata,wrought gold and silver, glass, and textile products. Their marketwas the whole Mediterraneanbasin and areas beyond. A central bank, located in Alexandria and regulatedby the ruler,8controlledthe monetarymarket. Ptolemy I Soter and, especially, Ptolemy II Philadelphoswere known creditorsfor projects in and outside Egypt.9Alexandria'sand the Lagids' economic potentialformedthe basis for the elaboratearchitectural projects. Alexandriaoffered something not only for the eye and the pocketbook but also for the mind: it had libraries-of which the most famous was located in the Mouseion-and scholarswho workedon various scientific projects. Alexandria,thanksto Demetriusof Phaleron'ssuggestion which Ptolemy I and his successors took to heart,became the intellectual center of the Graeco-Romanworld. Although Varro'sstory of the Ptolemies' jealousy of the growth of the library at Pergamonand theirpapyriboycott, which, consequently,broughtaboutthe Pergamene is inventionof parchment,10 a figment of imagination,it still points to a cultural competition between the Lagids and Attalids. Pergamene patronage and scholarship might pale in comparison with that of Alexandria,but when we think of Crates and his studentPanaetiuswe have to acknowledge their impact on Roman intellectual development
of the second century B.C.E.11
Pap. Cairo Zen. 59503 [Catalogue des AntiquitdsEgyptiennesdu Caire 85 (1928) 220-221: a letter from Python and Antipatros(?) to Panakestor]. C. C. Edgar suggests "thatthe subject of the letter is the distributionof banks controlledby the Treasury."See also P. W. Pestman ed., A Guide to the Zenon Archive (Leiden 1981 [PapyrologicaLugdono-Batava21]) 113 (addenda, corrigenda),289 n. 10 (Antipatros),386 (Panakestor), and 410 (Python). 9 F. Heichelheim, "Monopole," 31 (1938) 159-190; C. Pr6aux,L'economie royale RE des Lagides (Bruxelles 1939) 280-297; and M. Rostovtzeff, The Social and Economic History of the Hellenistic World2nd ed. (Oxford 1986) 1.404-406. 10 Pliny HN 13.70. 1l E. V. Hansen, The Attalids of Pergamon(Ithaca 1971 [Cornell Studies in Classical Philology 29]) 390-433 gives a good survey of Attalidliteraryand artisticpatronage. For a more detailed account of the Pergamene cultural program see H.-J. Schalles, Unterder suchungen zur Kulturpolitik pergamenischenHerrscher im dritten Jahrhundertvor 8

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Pergamon, bequeathed by Attalus III to the Roman people, and Egypt, wrested from the last Ptolemy and her Roman consort a little more than a century later, mark the opening and closing phases of the economic, social, and political breakdown of the Republican system. While in the political sphere the traditionalsystem was retained and forced to work, the conquerorsdid not hesitate to embrace new ideas, opinions, and tastes. They found new ways of looking at the world. And, whateverthey found, their interest turnedthe newly-encountered into an integral part of the Roman world of ideas. Hellenistic influences shaped Rome's cultural and intellectual atmosphere. This interaction with externalintellectualimpulses broughtaboutthe Roman process of self-discovery. We note that at the time of the Republic's final struggle, these influences shaped Roman literature,art, philosophy,and religion more than ever before. Conscious of the difference between the Hellenistic and the Roman literaryheritage, Roman writers, especially after the Social War, were able to produce literaturethat reflected this new condition. They had successfully overcome what still plagued the political sphere;they had found new ways of expressingtheir culturalidentity,which had become linked with the Greek past. And in this endeavor Alexandrianpoets served as models. Rome had to wait for Augustus to resolve the conflict between the actual political condition and the inherited political and moral model. His creation, the principate,rested on the traditionalRepublicanvalue system and political organization. In essence, its purpose was the systematic propagation of the notion of Augustus as the central social, political, and religious force of the state. This, of course, set him apart from all the other inhabitantsof the empire. The process of detaching the figure "Octavian" from the humanspherebegan with the deification of C. Julius Caesar. The senatorialdecree to name him Augustus, the acquisition of the title pater patriae sealed this metamorphosis. The internal dynamic of the emperor as an extraordinaryhuman being, reflectedin the official worship and in his status as a diuifilius, enabled each subsequent emperor to place himself in the intermediatesphere between humans and gods with greaterfacility than his predecessor.12
Christus(Tiibingen 1985 [IstForsch36]). In addition,B. Virgilio, Gli Attalidi di Pergamo (Pisa 1993 [Biblioteca di Studi Antichi 70]). 12An emperor'simmediatepredecessordid not need to be a diuus. See M. Hammond, The Antonine Monarchy (Rome 1959) 203-204; L. Ross Taylor, The Divinity of The

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Ultimately, he was solely in the divine domain and could ask for the appropriatetreatment. With every successive Roman emperor the Ptolemaicmodel became more pertinent. Indeed, "Augustuswould have smiled in a puzzled way if he had been informed that he had introducedpharaonic divine monarchy at it Rome";13 was hardly his intention. He did not follow a model but reacted to and manipulatedpolitical situations for his advantage. In good Roman fashion "honors were given in return for services rendered,"and Augustus made sure that this reciprocity remained intact. The firstprinceps, however,could not have foreseen a Senate unconditionally presentingGaius (Caligula) with all necessary political powers in one generous act and probablycould not have imagined a descendant like Nero who displayed strikingartisticbut not consistent and substantial political interests. Vespasianproved that a successful general with enough military supportand political savvy could grasp the principate. Alexandriahappenedto be the city where Vespasianthe princeps was made. No princeps introducedpharaonic divine monarchy at Rome; but political developments, dynamics, and circumstanceslinked Rome with Ptolemaic Alexandria through its founding hero, Alexander, and its majordeities, Isis and Sarapis. Alexandria and to much greater degree Egypt were exotic places which could capture a Roman's imagination. Even at the time of the most intensive political anti-Egyptian diatribes before the battle of Actium, the artistic employment of Egyptian motifs did not cease. From the Late Republic Roman villas in Campania,for example, featured Nilotic landscapes and Isiac symbols. They delineated an exotic world; in addition, they presented a world that was politically very much in Rome's sphereof interestand would eventuallybecome partof the empire. In this manner,the exotic land beyond, which provided an imaginary escape from the accepted and enforced norms, was at the same time within the Roman sphere, within its realm of activity and control. We have to rememberthat in the Roman mind political and private interests did not have to coincide. There was no thought of hypocrisy as long as a Roman politician advanced and secured the interestsof the Roman state.
Roman Emperor(Middletown 1931); and S. R. F. Price, "Between Men and God: Sacrifice in the RomanImperialCult,"JRS 70 (1980) 28-43. 13A. D. Nock, CAH 10 (Cambridge1934) 489.

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Isiac symbols on villa walls should not surpriseand lead to daring and erroneousinterpretations.Isis and Sarapiswere strangersneitherto Campania nor Rome. In Campania they had been introduced in the second century B.C.E., when there were close economic ties between Delos and Ptolemaic Egypt. After Mithridates' sack of Delos in 88 B.C.E.,the process of integrationsped up. The divine couple also symbolized Egypt; as such, they or their attributeswere integratedinto the paintings. In short, they found their way onto murals providing controlled illusions as partof the experiencedRomano-Campanian reality. The most popular notion of Actium as the final battle between the defender of true Roman-ness and an oriental, absolutely un-Roman, power-hungrycouple, is a notion that, in R. Syme's words, was a deliberately propagated popular "historical romance." Virgil diffused the ugliness of this very human struggle for political dominanceby making it parallel with a divine struggle. Thus, the myth of Actium had its beginning and justification. This promontoryon the coast of Acarania, however, is not alone in claiming longevity. Among literary motifs, there is also the sistrum (rattle) attributedto Cleopatra. Virgil
did not have to name the v;a'"tiq;14 the sistrum made it clear that he

meant the Egyptianqueen. regina in mediis patriouocat agmina sistro, necdum etiam geminos a tergo respicit anguis.15 Christiansidentified the sistrum simply as a symbol of paganism;thus, they divorcedit from historical and literarybearingstied to Cleopatra.16 After Actium and the consequentintegrationof Egypt as a province, Egyptian artisticmotifs were used even more extensively than before.17 The best examples for this are Augustus' and Livia's villa on the Palatine, the aula Isiaca, and the Villa della Faresina, probablythe home of Agrippa and Julia. The wall decorationsof the upper cubiculumof Augustus' house include Egyptian landscapes with obelisks, lotus
14 Plut. Ant. 54.6.

5 Aen. 8.696-697. 16I. Becher, "OktaviansKampf gegen Antonius und seine Stellung zu den agyptischen Gottern,"Altertum 11 (1965) 40-47 and Augustus und Agypten-Studien zu Religionspolitik und Propaganda in augusteischerZeit (Leipzig 1969). 17M. de Vos, L'egittomania in pitture e mosaici Romano-Campanidella prima eta imperiale,EPRO84 (Leiden 1980).

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of flowers, uraei, and situlae.18(The lattertwo, representations the asp and waterjars, can be Isiac symbols.) Livia's villa incorporatedsimilar motifs and depicted an Egyptiansolar theme.19 Augustus' placing of obelisks in Rome, monuments foreign to its traditionof sculpturalart, shows this aspect of integrationas well. The inclusion of these originally Egyptian monumentsequippedwith Latin inscriptions into Rome's visual landscape expressed both Augustus' claim to power and Rome's political superiority.20A noteworthy obelisk in the campus Martius, now located in the Piazza Montecitorio,21was the hand (gnomon) of a monumental sun dial. Another obelisk, now in the Piazza del Popolo, was placed in the spina of the circus maximus. Besides these, Augustus probably orderedthe placement of two obelisks by the entranceof the mausoleumAugusti. One of them is now in the Piazza del Quirinale,the other in the Piazza dell' Esquilino. The first obelisk which Augustus converted into a monument expressing his and Rome's superiority,presently stands in the Piazza di S. Pietro. G. Alfoldy convincingly demonstratedthat this obelisk originally had been planned as a monument to Mark Antony. C. Cornelius Gallus in 30 B.C.E., orderedby a iussu imperatoris Caesaris, i.e., Octavian(Augustus),turnedit into the earliest monumentof Roman rule over Egypt. Shortly after the death of Augustus, the obelisk, its old inscriptionmore or less worn away, received a new dedicatory inscription. Gaius (Caligula) then had this obelisk brought to In Rome and placed in the circus Uaticanus.22 what P. Zankerlabeled obelisks were integratedinto of Augustus' "program culturalrenewal," Rome's landscape and imbued with a specific Roman meaning. Eventually, obelisks were put up in other cities as well, especially in the
18 G. Carettoni,Das Haus des Augustusaufdem Palatin (Mainz 1983) placed the construction of the villa in the years 36-28 B.C.E. A description of the upper cubiculum 67-85. 19M.-Th. Picard-Schmitter, "B6tyles Hellenistiques,"Fondation Eugene Piot Monumentset Memoires57 (1971) 43-88. 20E. Iversen, Obelisksin Exile (Rome 1969). 21A youth holding the gnomon in his lap serves as personificationof the campusMartius in the apotheosis relief of the column of Antoninus Pius. The gnomon (obeliscus Augusti) like the obelisk in the circus maximuswere broughtto Rome in 10 B.C.E. Both sharethe same dedicatoryinscriptionto the sun (CILVI 701 and 702). 22 G. Alfoldy, Der Obeliskauf dem Petersplatzin Rom. Ein historischesMonumentder Antike, (Heidelberg 1990 [SB Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften, phil.-hist. Klasse, 1990.2]).

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spinae of circuses.23 Egypt had become part of the Roman public world. While there is a tendency to connect Egypt and its deities with everythingthat is utterlyun-Roman(like the demi-mondeand maniacal emperorswho wear dog masks) and everythingthat is inherentlydecadent-but then should we have expected more from a country whose inhabitantsworship animals and vegetables-one ought not to forget that Egypt of all countriesin Rome's sphere of interestand control had the oldest historical tradition. Its history, for which monuments of incredible size and age were visual proof, reached back into remote times and yet existed beyond a merely mythological context. Although Rome had successfully made Greek cultureits own, it was still Alexandria that could claim to have been the guardianof and the bridge to the admired intellectual past. A place where this knowledge had been stored was not only the Mouseion in the imperial palace but also the For libraryin the Serapeum.24 the Roman interestedin the past, Alexandria was a place where the treasuresof his chosen cultural past were stored and, therefore, a place where the past was still alive and within reach. Hadrian, the philhellene, understood this and the SerapeumCanopus complex of his elaborate villa in Tibur seems to signify his of understanding the importanceof Alexandria.25 It is interesting to note that we do not hear of libraries in Rome before the first century B.C.E. It was Julius Caesar who orderedVarro "to procure and classify the greatest possible libraries of Greek and Latin books and open them to the public."26 Pliny tells us of Asinius Pollio, who founded a public library.27 But, again, it was Augustus who was the most successful in the establishmentof libraries. There were two and each was connected with a temple, had Greek and Latin sections, and a reading room where conversation was possible.28 One
23J. H. Roman Circuses. Arenasfor ChariotRacing (London 1986). Humphrey, 24F. Ritschl, Die alexandrinischenBibliothekenunter den Ptolemdern (Breslau 1838) and E. A. Parsons, The AlexandrianLibrary(Amsterdam,London, and New York 1952). 25 F. Coarelli, Guide archeologiche Laterza 5 (Rome and Bari 1982) 44-72; N. Hannestad, Roman Art and Imperial Policy (Aarhus 1988) 209; H. Mielsch, Die romische Villa. Architekturund Lebensform (Munich 1987) 75-85, 104. I agree with M. Taliaferro Boatwright, Hadrian and the City of Rome (Princeton 1987) 143-149, 239-260 that this complex was not an edifice to commemorateAntinoos' death. 26Suet. Jul. 44. 27HN 7.30, 35.2. 28Suet. RE Aug. 29 and C. Dziatzko, "Bibliotheken," 5.2 (1897) 418.

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might imagine them something like the Mouseion and the Serapeumin Alexandria. Alexandriaand, by extension, Egypt also, left their mark, as I have pointed out above, in the political sphere. Nero, who could stress that he was the great-great-grandson Augustus and the only surviving of male descendantof Germanicus,had besides Seneca the Stoic Chaeremon of Alexandriaas an instructor.29 Stoicism, with its theory of logos, the formative and guiding principle of nature that is identified with deus, was compatible with Egyptian deism. The influence of Rome's foremost philosophical and political theory had reached Alexandria, but, what is more interesting, it was reflected back to Rome in this specifically Alexandrian combination. Even Seneca's De Clementia feeds on this Egyptianbackground,for it celebratedNero as the sun in a mannersimilarto AmenhotepIV (or Akhnaton)in the GreatHymn to Aten and Isis' son in the GreatHymn to Osiris (both texts are from the New Kingdom).30 After the devastatingfire of 64 C.E., Nero could even build the appropriate home, the domus aurea, from which it was apparently possible to follow the daily and yearly course of the sun without This is not to say that Nero embracedpurely Egypany interference.31 tian principles. His interests in Greece and the god Helios, for example, are far more explicit.32Despite this fact, the Egyptianbackground, the coincidence and correlationof concepts cannot be overlooked. It is a minute but important additional element in understandingancient Rome. Nero's suicide threw the empire into civil war, from which Vespasian emerged successfully. The legions in Alexandria had proclaimed him emperor. The city's gods stood on his side and neither
29p. W. van der Horst, Chaeremon,Egyptian Priest and Stoic Philosopher (Leiden 1984 [EPRO110]). 30T. Adam, Clementia Principis (Stuttgart 1970 [Kieler Historische Studien 11]) 41-45; R. Turcan,Seneque et les religions orientales (Bruxelles 1967 [Collection Latomus 91]); and P. Grimal, "Le De Clementia et la royaut6 solaire de Neron," REL 49 (1971) 205-217. 31H. P. L'Orange, "Nero's Cosmic Hall," in Studies on the Iconography of Cosmic Kingship in the Ancient World (Oslo 1953) 28-34 and J.-L. Voisin, "Exoriente sole (Su6toneNer. 6). D'Alexandre a la Domus Aurea,"in L'Urbs. Espace urbain et histoire (Rome 1987 [CEFR98]) 509-543. 32Like Caligula Nero is termed veo; "HX,to (SIG 814, 34-35) and AntiphilusAnth. Pal. 9 178: "Atwe,Ka( napxa(ov (peyyo;?X'Sagu/e Np0ov. Helios featured most prominently on Rhodes for whose freedomNero pleaded successfully.

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Vespasiannor his sons ever forgot it. The proclamationin Alexandria gave Vespasian furtheradvantages. He controlled the most important economic center and the most importantcomponent in the empire's food supply chain. Egypt was the breadbasketof the imperiumwhose internal stability depended on it. Vespasian, like other prominent Romans before and after him, could also place himself in the tradition of the mythological Alexander, the prime model for a successful conquerorand founder of a world empire. While Alexander's empire disintegratedafter his death, the Romans could sincerely believe for centuriesthat they had obtaineda world empire on the principleswhich Virgil poetically formulated: tu regereimperio populos, Romane, memento (hae tibi eruntartes)pacique imponeremorem, parceresubiectis et debellaresuperbos.33 The Roman were the heirs of the Hellenistic world, its traditions,its world of ideas, its territories. And as Rome's political system changed from the Republicanoligarchy to the principate,its ruler would be heir to the immensely powerful myth of Alexander. The clearest parallel with Alexanderin Vespasian'sascent to power is his visit to the oracle on Mount Carmel, which was organized around a sacred stone comparable to the one in the oasis of Siwah.34It prophesied to him that whatever greatness he imagined for himself, more would come true. The Jewish historianJosephus,then a prisoner,predictedthat Vespasian would become emperor.35 Less obvious was the connection with the in Alexander's case Ammon-Zeus, in Vespasian'sSarasupremedeity, pis. The request of two sick men to be healed by Vespasian in the AlexandrianSerapeum,36 because the god had suggested it to them in their dreams, emphasizes the elevated position Vespasian aspired to, propagated,and would eventuallyhold.37
33Aen. 6.851-853. 34Diod. Sic. Hist. 17.49.2-5.3; Curt. 4.7.23 and 4.7.25-7; Plut. Alex. 26.6-27.6; Arr. Anab. 3.3-4. 35Suet. Vesp.5.6. 36A. Henrichs, "Vespasian'sVisit to Alexandria,"ZPE 3 (1968) 51-80 and R. Lattimore, "Portents and Prophecies in Connection with the Emperor Vespasian,"CJ 29 (1931) 441-449. 37Tac. Hist. 4.81. Tacitusalways eager to unmasksycophantsstresses that "boththese incidents are still vouched for by eyewitnesses, though there is now nothing gained by lying."

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Although the propagatedconnection between a Romanprinceps and the god Sarapis was a novelty, it was effective because the necessary buildingblocks had not only been in place for almost a centurybut had also gone throughvarious stages of development. These essential elements were the extraordinary social, political, and religious position of the emperorenhancedby imperial worship and the concept of the diui filius. In addition,monarchicalrule best reflectedthe basic principleof Rome's foremost political ideology, stoicism. Since there had never been a specifically formulated promotional program to advance the princeps, the system was put in place by Augustusto safeguardhis own position and had a naturalflexibility and an internal dynamic. Thus, Vespasian,like otherprincipes, could associate himself with Sarapis. It was not the cult of Isis these emperors embraced, but the deities' Alexandrianand dynasticcharacteristics. In addition,at the time of Vespasianthe cult of Isis was no longer a superstitio but a sacrum publicum, which had received an officially sanctionedresidence in the campus Martius either at the end of Gaius' (Caligula's) or in the beginning of Claudius' reign.38Nothing seems to speak against a hypothesis that there might have been a temple/shrine in the campus Martius before the time of Gaius (Caligula) and Claudius, and that the introductionof the Isia was not linked to a temple construction. Although one should not think of Apuleius' MetamorphosesBook 11 as simply and singularlya handbookon Isiac initiation, it can give us some valuable informationabout non-mystery facts. Apuleius tells us that Lucius "happilyfulfilled the duties of that ancient college, which was founded at the time of the dictator Sulla, and that he (Lucius) waited to be initiated as priest of Isis Can Campensis."39 we link this "ancient"collegiumpastophorumwith a pre-principate Isiac shrine in the campus Martius? The fact that the earliest inscriptionfrom Rome mentioningIsiacs came from regio VIII, the Capitoline region,40should not make us disregardApuleius' statement. Catullus'puella requested:mihi, mi Catulle,paulum/ istos commoda: nam uolo ad Serapim / deferri,41and the Second Triumvirate voted in favorof a temple of Isis and Sarapisin 43 B.C.E. It is important
38For the dating see G. Wissowa, Religion und Cultus der Romer (Munich 1902) 353 and A. A. Barrett,Caligula (Manchester1989) 220-221. 39 11.30 and 26. 40SIRIS377 = CILI2 1263 = VI 2247 = ILS 4405 = ILLRP159. 41 10.25-27.

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to note that the Triumvirate did not vote to build a temple structure.42 The hypothesis that the first official temple of Isis and Sarapis in the campus Martius could have been a replacement or an enlargement of an earlier structure does not seem at all far-fetched. Vespasian's sojourn at the temple of Isis in the campus Martius on the night before his triumphal procession should be seen as an act of piety; Domitian's renovations of Isea fulfilled the same purpose.43 Vespasian and his sons did not forget where their rule began. A link was forged and kept intact between Alexandria, its deities, and the new domus Augusta.44 Vespasian's successor, Titus, arrived in Alexandria a year after the destruction of Jerusalem (April 25, 71 C.E.).45Before he had visited the Apis-bull in Memphis.46 Other emperors like Hadrian, Marcus Aurelius, Septimius Severus, and Caracalla came to Egypt and visited Alexandria,47 but literary sources have only one of them travel to Memphis, and he happened to be the founder of a new dynasty, namely Septimius Severus.48 This pattern also seems to suggest that Germanicus, who is said to have
42 Dio Cass. Hist. 47.15 (Kai v?ov TX Xc? apd6l5t Kai t'a"I 6t EriV(cp1iavTo). 43H. Dressel, "Das Iseum Campense auf einer Munze des Vespasianus," SB 25 konig.-preuss.Akademie der Wissenschaften (1909) 640-648. Domitian had an arch added as part of the Iseum Campense's restoration (B. Sesler, "Arco di Domiziano all'Iseo Campensein Roma,"RIN 1, ser. 4 (1952-53) 54-55, 88-93; E. Nash, Bildlexikon zur Topographiedes antikenRom (Tiibingen 1961) 1.118-119; and G. Gatti, "Topografia dell'Iseo Campense,"RPAA26 (1943-44) 117-163). He also set up an obelisk which is now in the Piazza Navona. On its east side is a picture of Isis crowning Domitian with the hieroglyphiccaption:"Theautokratorloved by Isis and Ptah,may he live like Ra." In the Iseum at Beneventum is another obelisk with a hieroglyphic text linking Domitian with Horus and Ra. See also K. Lembke, Das Iseum Campensein Rom: Studie iiber den IsiskultunterDomitian (Heidelberg 1994). 44Eleven statue and relief fragments were found in the domus Flauia. M. Malaise, "L'inventaire preliminairedes documents 6gyptiens en Italie,"EPRO 21 (1971) 222 says too eagerly thatthe Flavianpalace had "unechapelle isiaque." 45 POxy 34.2725 [letter to Adrastusand Spartacus(April 29, 71 c.E.). "All in all, it is safe to conclude that Titus Caesarmade his entranceinto Alexandriatoward7 o'clock on the morning of 25th April A.D. 71 (p. 127)." One place Titus "stoppedat" was the Ser6 apeum (18-22: o 8EKicpio IKai[Goa]p icr?i)0ev xrfx [i6]pas;P3 ipOov ?v cnppeCpo,Xf IE .tav Eis; Tro axa ......] it lapaniov &n6o Zapaniou eis T[6]iO7 i[v ......] .v ra 8e6 Iv leulgo[ .....]... va7 tac Dit&; Yv To6v xTIgVyvdao nrdvxa). 46 Suet. Tit.5.3. 47 On travels of principes see H. Halfmann,Itineraprincipum(Stuttgart1986 [HeidelbergeralthistorischeBeitrageund epigraphischeStudien2]). 48HA, S 17.4.

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fed the Apis-bull while visiting Memphis, was undermining Tiberius' authority.49 Septimius' depiction as Sarapis50 and Caracalla's construction of a temple of Sarapis on the Quirinal parallel in dimensions and elevation to that of Iuppiter Maximus mark the moment when the porous line separating the emperor from being a living god gave way. Alexandria was truly and completely in Rome; and, whether consciously or not, the Ptolemaic ruler concept and its myth of succession and dynastic rule captured existing political realities at Rome.
HARVARD UNIVERSITY

49D. G. Weingirtner,Die Agyptenreisedes Germanicus(Bonn 1969 [Papyrologische Texte und Abhandlungen2]). 50A. M. McCann, The Portraits Septimius Severus (Rome 1968 [MAAR30]) the of portraittype IX 155-168. Serapis-Severus