Bonner, SMA – PDF, 323.

and Hathor. The identification was so complete that in time “Neotera” was felt to be an epithet of the goddess, particularly when the human personage was less distinctly remembered as time went on. Still, a papyrus published by Wilcken (Chrestomathie, 115) seems to indicate that a cult of Aphrodite-Cleopatra persisted until the time of Alexander Severus (222–235); its extraordinary duration may have been due to the popularity of Cleopatra and her prestige, in the minds of the people, as the last queen of Egypt (see Tarn, in Cambridge Ancient History X, 35–38). It is possible, therefore, that some of the “Neotera” texts might refer to her as well as to some Roman empress identified with a goddess.

The questions raised by this inscription have been discussed at greater length in a note published in the Harvard Theological Review, 41 (1948), 213–215).

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