Who’s who in the system of the Egyptian cults on the Black Sea coast: prosopographic and anthroponymic analysis of the adherents from the Danube Delta to Callatis

Cercetări Arheologice 32.1, 2025, 251-270
https://doi.org/10.46535/ca.32.1.12



Who’s who in the system of the Egyptian cults on the Black Sea coast: prosopographic and anthroponymic analysis of the adherents from the Danube Delta to Callatis

Authors: Stefan Yanakiev

Keywords:

prosopography, anthroponymy, Egyptian deities, Moesia Inferior, Western Black Sea coast

Abstract:

The conquests of the Roman state and the subsequent peace of Augustus ultimately changed the historical and cultural map of the Mediterranean. Included in the provincial system, the population of three continents establishes contacts to a much greater degree, which facilitates the exchange of ideas, points of view and values. It is not necessary to dwell on the processes that followed, but it was the penetration of Egyptian cults into the European landscape and their diffusion to the margins of the Pax Romana one of the most significant markers of their scale. The Balkans, in particular the western coast of the Black Sea and southern Thrace, are distinguished by an area favoring their penetration. It is hardly possible to point to a single factor for the situation in the region. By analyzing the data, we partly understand the processes favoring their appearance. Obviously, they are much more complex and require an in-depth study of data with certain characteristics, interpretation methods, different techniques and a different vision. This gave me a reason for a new approach that focuses specifically on people. After all, they are both the initiators and the “end product” that caused cultural and religious diversity along the western Black Sea coast.

According to the conducted study, several traits distinguishes well in the epigraphic habit of the population. First of all, it should be noted that the Tomis inscriptions mostly date from the Imperial era. This may be an indicator of the flow of inhabitants from the Orient towards the supposed main center of the province for the period. It seems that this flow is of great help in maintaining religious diversity and at the same time favors the diffusion of deities foreign to Thrace. The arriving population determines the diversity of the settlement, so that the participation of a heterogeneous cultural element in Egyptian religious practices seems justified. Indeed, by looking at the inscriptions we cannot tell what exactly a person’s place in the established order or their ethnic origin is. Nevertheless, from the character of the dedications and the nomenclature extracted from the inscriptions, a general idea of belonging to the Hellenistic East is created. Of course, some of them are descendants of individual settlers or entire groups. The evidence appears in anthroponymy, a sign of the stability of onomastic traditions in the family. Secondly, we must rethink the role of people from unfree sircles and former slaves in the system of religious practices. Onomastics are not able to fully trace their path through the religious system, but in fact the nature of naming and some anthrioinyms suggest the participation of people of the mentioned echelon. Glimpses of their manifestation in the epigraphic fund can be traced in Tomis.

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How to cite: Stefan Yanakiev, Who’s who in the system of the Egyptian cults on the Black Sea coast: prosopographic and anthroponymic analysis of the adherents from the Danube Delta to Callatis, Cercetări Arheologice, Vol. 32.1, pag. 251-270, 2025, doi: https://doi.org/10.46535/ca.32.1.12

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