Diversity within domestic cult: A contextual analysis of Egyptianizing terracotta figurines from Delos

The present study investigates questions of religious syncretism and household cult through an interdisciplinary study of terracotta figurines of Egyptian deities found at Delos, an important Hellenistic Greek port of trade. A comparison of the figurines' iconography to parallels in Egyptian religious texts, temple reliefs, and ritual objects reveals that the imagery of most of the figurines invokes the Egyptian Inundation festival. Furthermore, an analysis of the figurines' clay fabrics and manufacturing techniques suggests that the vast majority of the Egyptianizing terracottas on Delos were locally made, so the figurines' allusions to Egyptian religion accurately reflect the theological knowledge of craftsmen on Delos. Finally, the use of unpublished excavation notes from the late 19th and early 20th centuries enables a reconstruction of the figurines' previously-lost archaeological contexts, shedding light on their roles and significance in both domestic and temple cults.;Spanning the fields of anthropological archaeology, Egyptology, Classics, epigraphy, and archaeometry, this study also has relevance to a broader audience, as the internationalism and religious syncretism of the Hellenistic world create ancient precedents for modern phenomena such as globalization, tourism, and colonialism. In the cosmopolitan environment of Delos, people from all over the Mediterranean lived, died, traded, intermarried, and worshipped together. The terracotta figurines testify that this international community also engaged in a meaningful exchange of ideas. The presence of sophisticated Egyptian religious concepts in the iconography of terracotta figurines -- inexpensive, mass-produced objects, accessible to all levels of society -- indicates that many inhabitants of Delos held a highly sophisticated understanding of Egyptian theology. Furthermore, the presence of themes from so-called "official" religion in mass-produced, widely accessible objects such as terracotta figurines suggests a closer, more complex relationship between "popular" and "official" cults than is often acknowledged.