Bonner, SMA – PDF, 41.

with Athena as Mars. This is certainly not a common equation, though Athena is one of seven ἔφοροι in an astrological text attributed to Ostanes.⁸⁷

Perhaps the most noteworthy of Isis' transformations under Greek influence are, first, her identification with the nude Aphrodite, and, second, her appearance as Tyche, a personification that enjoyed great favor during the Hellenistic and Roman periods. In this aspect she wears Greek dress and holds a cornucopia and a steering paddle. A curious amulet in the Archaeological Museum at the University of Michigan (D. 27) shows a cow-headed goddess in Greek dress, holding a torch. This seems to be a fusion of Isis-Hathor with Hecate; but the triple Hecate known to us from late Greek sculpture is also several times represented with no Egyptian attributes (D. 63–64–65–66).

It is doubtless true, as Milne contended, that Sarapis never became a national god in Egypt;⁸⁸ nonetheless, just as Isis overshadowed the other goddesses, so did Sarapis absorb the functions and characteristics of some Greek male deities. The official art type of Sarapis was founded primarily on that of Zeus, with Helios and Hades as additional contributors. Sarapis was therefore the natural equivalent of those gods in Egypt, though it must be remembered that Horus was also a solar divinity. The acclamation εἷς Ζεὺς Σάραπις, found on several gems, shows how completely Sarapis compensated for Zeus.

Except in that formula the name Zeus scarcely appears on magical amulets; Ζεῦ ἅγιε ἀποστρεψίκακε („Holy Zeus, averter of evil”), on a prism in the Seyrig collection, is a rarity, and in this example there is no design to accompany the inscription.⁸⁹ Allusions to Dionysos, whether verbal or artistic, seem to be completely absent from the amulets. Hermes, a youthful figure holding kerykeion (caduceus) and purse, is engraved on a goodly number of amulets, sometimes, perhaps, as the equivalent of Thoth, though the true ibis-headed form of this god is seen about as often. Certain attributes of Hermes were also transferred to Anubis. Just as the ibis of Thoth is shown holding a kerykeion thrust under its wing, so the jackal-headed Anubis holds the kerykeion in his hand (D. 39–40). The Egyptian Greeks indicated the fusion of the two gods by the name Hermanubis.

It has been suggested above that Apollo, or an Apollo-like sun-god, sometimes took the place of Horus; apart from that aspect of Apollo the amulets, so far as I have observed, make use of him only in some symbolic groups with other deities (D. 158?); but he is not forgotten in practical magic, as the “Apolline Invocation” in one of the Berlin papyri shows.⁹⁰

The well-known type of Poseidon does not seem to have been used on any stone proved by an inscription or “characters” to be magical. Sarapis, it would appear, has been endowed with powers and attributes like those of Poseidon without taking over any of his visible marks. The orator Aristides says of him, “This god is mighty on the sea also,”⁹¹ and there are epigraphic

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