"The Ship of Isis" painting by Olivia Robertson
Isis addresses Apuleius: "The eternal laws of religion devote to my worship the day born of this night. Tomorrow my priests offer me the first-fruits of the new sailing season by dedicating a ship to me; for at this season the storms of winter lose their force, the leaping waves subside and the sea becomes navigable once more". (Apuleius, Met. XI)
More text from Juno Covella by Lawrence
Durdin-Robertson: Egyptian:
ISIS; The Ploiaphesia, Navigium Isidis, The Ship of Isis. (Seyffert,
Diet.) "Isis . . the festival, held on the 5th of March [is] called
the ship of Isis (Isidis Navigium), in recognition of her being the patron of
navigation and inventress of the sail".
(Apuleius, Met. XI) The author
describes the ceremony, as it was observed at Corinth: "Soon a golden sun
arose . . and at once the streets were filled with people walking along as if
in a religious triumph. Not only I, but the whole world, seemed filled with
delight. The animals, the houses, even the weather itself reflected the
universal joy and serenity . . and the song birds, assured that spring had
come, were chirping their welcome to the queen of the stars, the mother of the
seasons, the mistress of the universe. . Presently the vanguard of the grand
procession came in view. It was composed of a number of people in fancy dress
of their own choosing . . a pretended magistrate with purple robe and rods of
office; a philosopher . . a tame she-bear, dressed like a woman, carried in a
sedan chair; and an ape in a straw hat and a saffron-coloured Phrygian cloak. .
These fancy-dress comedians kept running in and out of the crowd, and behind
them came the procession proper. At the head walked women crowned with flowers,
who pulled more flowers out of the folds of their beautiful dresses and
scattered them along the road; their joy in the Saviouress appeared in every
gesture. Next came women with polished mirrors tied to the back of their heads,
which gave all who followed them the illusion of coming to meet the Goddess,
rather than marching before her. Next, a party of women with ivory combs in
their hands who made a pantomime of combing the Goddess's royal hair, and
another party with bottles of perfume who sprinkled the road with balsam and
other precious perfumes; and behind these a mixed company of women and men who
. . propitiated her by carrying every sort of light lamps, torches, wax candies
and so forth.
"Next came
musicians with pipes and flutes, followed by a party of carefully chosen
choir-boys singing a hymn . . also a number of beadles and whifflers crying:
'Make way there, way for the Goddess!' Then followed a great crowd of the
Goddess's initiates, men and women of all classes and every age, their pure
white linen clothes shining brightly. The women wore their hair tied up in
glossy coils under gauze head-dresses; the men's heads were completely shaven.
. The leading priests . . carried the oracular emblems of the deity. The Chief
Priest held a bright lamp . . it was a golden boat-shaped affair with a tall
tongue of flame mounting from a hole in the centre. The second priest held an
auxiliaria, or ritual pot, in each of his hands - the name refers to the
Goddess's providence in helping her devotees. The third carried a miniature
palm-tree. . The fourth carried a model of the left hand with the fingers
stretched out, which is an emblem of justice. . He also held a golden vessel
rounded in the shape of a woman's breast, from the nipple of which a thin
stream of milk fell to the ground. The fifth carried a winnowing-fan woven with
golden rods, not osiers. Then came a man, not one of the five, carrying a
wine-jar.
"Next in
the procession followed those deities that deigned to walk on human feet. .
Anubis with a face black on one side, golden on the other, walking erect . .
Behind, danced a man carrying on his shoulders, seated upright, the statue of a
cow, representing the Goddess as the fruitful Mother of us all. Then came along
a priest with a box containing the secret implements of her wonderful cult.
Another fortunate priest had another emblem of her godhead hidden in the lap of
his robe. . It was a symbol of the sublime and ineffable mysteries of the
Goddess. . a small vessel of burnished gold, upon which Egyptian hieroglyphics
were thickly crowded, with a rounded bottom, a long spout, and a generously
curving handle along which sprawled an asp raising its head and displaying its
scaly, wrinkled, puffed-out throat.
"Meanwhile
the pageant moved slowly on and we reached the seashore. . There the divine
emblems were arranged in due order and there with solemn prayers the
chaste-lipped priest hallowed and dedicated to the Goddess a beautifully built
ship, with Egyptian hieroglyphics painted over the entire hull, but first he carefully
purified it with a lighted torch, an egg and sulphur. The sail was shining
white linen, inscribed with large letters with a prayer for the Goddess's
protection of shipping during the new sailing season. The long fir mast with
its shining head was now stepped, and we admired the gilded prow shaped like
the neck of Isis's holy goose, and the long brightly-polished keel cut from a
solid trunk of citrus-wood. Then all present, both priesthood and laity, began
zealously stowing aboard winnowing-fans heaped with aromatics and other votive
offerings and poured an abundant stream of milk into the sea as a libation.
When the ship was loaded with generous gifts and prayers for good fortune, they
cut the anchor cables and she slipped across the bay with a serene breeze
behind her that seemed to have sprung up for her sake alone. When she stood so
far out to sea that we could no longer keep her in view, the priests took up
the holy emblems and started happily back towards the temple, in the same
orderly procession as before.
"On our
arrival the Chief Priest and the priests who carried the oracular emblems were
admitted into the Goddess's adytum with other initiates and restored them to
their proper places. Then one of them known as the Doctor of Divinity . . went up
into. a high pulpit and read out a Latin blessing upon 'our liege lord, the
Emperor, and upon the Senate, and upon the Order of Knights and upon the
Commons of Rome and upon all sailors and all ships . . ' Then he uttered the
traditional Greek formula 'Ploeaphesia,' meaning that vessels were now
permitted to sail, to which the people responded with a loud cheer and
dispersed happily to their homes, taking all kinds of decorations with them:
such as olive boughs, scented shrubs and garlands of flowers, but first kissing
the feet of a silver statue of the Goddess that stood on the temple
steps."
(Photo copyright Minette Quick, all rights reserved.)
