The Cult of Isis in the Eastern Desert: An Analysis of Archaeological, Architectural, and Epigraphic Evidence from the Ptolemaic to the Roman Period

Elsakhawy, Ahmed Elsayed

doi:10.21608/mjthr.2025.438033.1231

The Cult of Isis in the Eastern Desert: An Analysis of Archaeological, Architectural, and Epigraphic Evidence from the Ptolemaic to the Roman Period

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Ahmed Elsayed Elsakhawy

Higher Institute for Tourism and Hotels, Hurghada

10.21608/mjthr.2025.438033.1231

Abstract

T
This research examines the archaeological and architectural evidence, as well as the inscriptions discovered at various sites in Egypt’s Eastern Desert (such as Berenike, Wadi Sikait, Wadi Abu Diyaʾba, Mons Claudianus, Gebel Dokhan, and al-Buwayb), to demonstrate the central presence of the goddess Isis and her multifaceted role in the religious and imperial life of these remote regions. The study reveals how the worship of Isis adapted to the diverse geographical and functional contexts of these sites: she appeared in the ports (Berenike) as the “Great Nursing Mother Goddess” and the “Magician and Healer,” associated with navigation and prophecy; in the quarries (Gebel Dokhan) as the “Great Goddess” and “She of the Ten Thousand Names,” linked to imperial protection and cosmic theology; and in the mines and desert routes (Sikait, Abu Diyaʾba, al-Buwayb) as the “Savior Goddess,” patroness of personal devotion and fertility. The study analyzes the artistic representations of Isis (wearing the composite crown — the solar disk between cow horns, and holding the was and sceptre scepters and the ankh symbol), and traces her associations with other deities (Serapis, Osiris, Horus, Hathor, Amun, Pan, and Min), affirming her centrality as a universal and transcultural goddess, a focus of protection and blessing throughout the Eastern Desert during the Ptolemaic and Roman periods.

Keywords