• *  I wish to thank the Kernos referees for their valuable comments that helped improve my text. I am (...)
• 1  See for example R. Parker, “The problem of the Greek cult epithet”, OAth 28, (2003), p. 173-183; P(...)

1The gods and goddesses of the Greeks could be called by an infinite amount of epithets that presented their various functions and honours. The epithet of the deity attached a certain function to a certain god, and thereby its use in ritual established a link between the worshipper and the god relating to the named function. Therefore, in attempts at communication with the divine, epithets were used as precision tools: a suitable epithet would ensure that a prayer or promise reached just the right aspect of the intended recipient.1

• 2  Brulé, l.c. (n. 1), p. 18-19; V. Pirenne-Delforge, L’Aphrodite grecque, Liège, 1994; V. Pirenne-De (...)
• 3  See for example Parker, l.c. (n. 1), p. 175, with references to a classic study of Vernant (J.-P. (...)
• 4  See for example Parker, l.c. (n. 1), p. 181-182.

2There is agreement among scholars that the use of epithets is a vital component of Greek polytheism and that, in spite of this, it is a surprisingly little studied phenomenon. Thus, many fundamental questions are still contested issues. There is for example no agreement among scholars as to which component of an epithet-clad god took precedence during interaction with the gods through prayer and sacrifice. When invoked through a double name, was it the choice of god, say Hermes, or the epithet, say, Agoraios, which mattered the most? Opinions cover the whole spectrum: Brulé argues that in theory, a god without an epithet is but “un artefact du langage” and not a true recipient of cult, whereas Pirenne-Delforge, without denying the importance of epithets, stresses the priority of the divine names, i.e., over-arching divine identities.2 The related question of whether a god, through the use of a byname, in fact becomes a “new” and separate divinity, or whether on the contrary a collection of all epithets given to a certain god rather creates his or her unified identity, is likewise a vexed one.3 Discussions end unsolved, but often with the consolation that the ancient Greeks themselves apparently did not have a problem with a myriad of apollos co-existing with the great god Apollo.4

• 5 Parker, l.c. (n. 1), p. 174, 176, 182.

3As Parker points out, as a further step towards an understanding of the role of epithets in Greek cult practice, it is clear that we must try to go beyond the temptation of mere collection and classification of epithets. Epithets, like the divinities themselves and their functions, have an historical and physical context, they do not “float in the air” and their place in time and space might in many cases be the key to our understanding of what are otherwise just empty titles.5 The present study tries to take these factors into consideration and presents a certain epithet, Dikaia, in context. The paper argues that the epithet belongs to a small group of divine bynames stemming from the names of mortal individuals and I therefore refer to them as individual epithets. The function of these epithets is to designate a deity specifically concerned with the individual in question, thereby providing a close relationship and personal protection for the worshipper and his or her close kin. Through the epithet Dikaia, two Athenian brothers, Dikaios and Asklepiades, sons of Dikaios, intimately tie the goddess Isis Aphrodite Dikaia to themselves and their family. It is moreover proposed that a positioning of the epithet in its historical and physical context furthers our understanding of its origins and significance.

• 6  LGPN 2, Asklepiades 113; Dikaios I, LGPN 2 9, father of Dikaios II, LGPN 2, 10.
• 7  The inscription does not specify which priesthood Dikaios held. It is not likely that it was in fa (...)

6The message of IDélos 2158 is succinct: Asklepiades, son of Dikaios, the Athenian, dedicated to Isis Aphrodite Dikaia, when his brother Dikaios was priest.6 It is noteworthy that the dedicator Asklepiades chose to include a dating formula in his short inscription, expressed through the priesthood of his brother.7 In this kind of private dedications, dating formulas are not mandatory. The dedicator surely decided the wording deliberately; through the inclusion of the priesthood dating, variants of the name Dikaios reoccur conspicuously in the inscription: Dikaiou-Dikaia-Dikaiou.

• 8  Δίκαιος [Δικαίου Ἰωνίδης, ἱε]| [γενόμενος], | ὑπὲρ βασιλέ[ως Μιθραδάτου] | Εὐπάτορος [Διονύσου καὶ (...)
• 9  This would give a terminus post quem for the dedication, 94/93 or 92/91 BC. For a discussion on th (...)

7A second possible occurrence of Isis Aphrodite Dikaia can be found in what has been identified as a dedication from Asklepiades brother, Dikaios himself (IDélos 2040).8 This inscription is however quite damaged and its restoration must depend on IDélos 2158. If the restoration is correct, it can be noted that Dikaios’ offering also is of a private character. He did not present it in the capacity of priest, but after his term in office.9

• 10  LSCG 177=ICos ED 149. The stele presents three documents, carved by three different hands at vario (...)
• 11  S. Sherwin-White, Ancient Cos. An historical study from the Dorian settlement to the Imperial peri (...)
• 12 Sherwin-White, o.c. (n. 11), p. 364. Only the offspring of Diogenes could hold the priest­hood of H (...)
• 13  Plutarch, Quaestiones Graecae, 54 (Mor., 303c-d). I owe this important reference to the Kernos ref (...)

8In a testamentary dedication from early Hellenistic Kos, a certain Diomedon creates a cult for the benefit of his family.10 Diomedon addresses his attention to a Herakles who holds the epithet Diomedonteios, thus, a Herakles invoked through a byname stemming from the given name of the dedicator Diomedon himself. Sherwin-White believes that the epithet becomes the means of ”a merging, if not identifying” of Diomedon’s personality with that of Herakles.11 The designation Diomedonteios is however simultaneously an example of another phenomenon: a sub-group of bynames that I propose to call ‘individual epithets’. Divine epithets in this complex can be adjectives or expressed through a genitive: what unites them is that they are derived from the names of mortals. They are thus individual in the sense of being created from the personal name of an individual as well as in the sense of themselves designating an individual god, known only from one very specific context and connected to specific individuals for personal benefits. Rather than expressing a merging of Herakles and Diomedon, I believe that the epithet Diomedonteios proudly calls attention to a personal relationship between the god and his worshipper, and indicates that Diomedon enjoys Herakles’ special favour and protection. Diomedonteios designates a narrow and sharply defined aspect of Herakles, concerned exclusively with Diomedon and his offspring.12 Another example of an individual epithet is to be found in the literary sources. Plutarch mentions in the Moralia that an Aphrodite Dexikreontos was invoked in Samos. The passage also suggests possible circumstances for the creation of such epithets: the name was given to the goddess as a token of gratitude after a proof of the goddess’ goodwill. Following the advice of Aphrodite, the merchant Dexikreon set out on a commercially successful voyage and in the aftermath he thankfully dedicated a statue of this goddess.13

• 14  Roussel, o.c. (n. 8), p. 171, no. 162.
• 15  Perhaps Isis Aphrodite Dikaia was the recipient of recurring worship, just as in the case of Herak (...)
• 16  IDélos 2080. The editor considers the restoration of the name of Aphrodite as doubtful. Isis Aphro (...)

9As far as we can tell today, as in the case of Herakles Diomedonteios, Isis Aphrodite Dikaia was another deity that existed only in the context of a certain family, that of Dikaios through his sons Dikaios and Asklepiades. Surely the coherence of divine and mortal names is not a coincidence. Pierre Roussel comments briefly on the matter: “De plus il n’est point surprenant que des membres d’une famille où était porté le nom Δίκαιος aient vénéré Isis Dikaia”.14 I believe that we can qualify this statement and develop it further. I suggest that the Isis Aphrodite Dikaia of the two Delian inscriptions is a personal protectress of the same exclusive kind as Herakles Diomedonteios and Aphrodite Dexikreontos, created through an individual epithet as an expression of (and a claim to) a special link between god and mortal.15 As far as we can tell from the present state of the evidence, this goddess was not honoured elsewhere. Whereas the fusion or assimilation of Isis and Aphrodite can possibly be found in one other inscription from Delos (the restoration is considered doubtful), and has been identified in other parts of the Greek world,16 the particular combination Isis Aphrodite Dikaia is not otherwise attested. Nor does the epithet Dikaia occur in combination with either Isis or Aphrodite separately, and rarely, if at all, with other divinities.

• 17  IG X.2 1, 62.
• 18 M. Hatzopoulos, “Artémis Digaia Blaganitis en Macédoine”, BCH 111 (1987), p. 402-412; SEG 27, 277.
• 19  TAM V, 247; MAMA X, 158. See also IG IV, 563, IEphesos 203, w. add. p. 6, for male gods called Dik (...)

10The extant Dikaia examples furthermore date to a much later period. In an inscription dated to the second or third century AD, there is mention of the goddess Dikaia Nemesis.17 The epithet might also be identifiable in the goddess Artemis Digaia Blaganitis. Hatzopoulos argues that this epithet, spelt in various ways (Deigea, Deigaia, Digaia) is Dikaia in the Macedonian dialect. The published inscriptions mentioning the deity can be dated to AD 189.18 In two further dedications from the late Imperial period, an unknown goddess (or goddesses?) called Hosia and Dikaia, and Meter Makaria HosiaDikaia are attested, but they all seem clearly unrelated to the Delian Dikaia inscriptions.19

• 20  IG II², 4702; IDélos 2079, 2103.
• 21  For other possible connections Isis-Dikaiosyne, see P. Roussel, o.c. (n. 8), p. 147; Dunand, o.c. (...)

11More relevant for the understanding of Isis Aphrodite Dikaia is the presence of an Isis called Dikaiosyne in the epigraphic sources of Delos.20IDélos 2079 has an unknown find context, but IDélos 2103 was found in Sarapieion C and has been dated c. 114/113 BC. It thus originates from the same sanctuary and roughly the same chronological context as the Dikaia inscriptions.21 The contemporary existence of Isis Dikaiosyne surely had bearings on the nature of Isis Aphrodite Dikaia (see below).

• 22  The name Dikaia almost designates the goddess as a family member, the sister of Dikaios and his br (...)

12Dikaia is the exact grammatical equivalent neither of Diomedonteios, (i.e. Dikaieia), nor of Dexikreontos (i.e. Dikaiou). It however clearly belongs to the same group of bynames: a complex created by epithets expressing close connec­tions between dedicator and recipient deity which are articulated through a play on the worshipper’s given name. Although not strictly translatable as “of Dikaios” or “Dikaian”, in the case of IDélos 2158, an intimate link between dedicator and recipient deity cannot be denied. Dikaia, the female variant of the name Dikaios, surely had an individual relationship to Dikaios and Asklepiades Dikaiou. It can even be argued that the possibility of a double entendre of the adjective Dikaia is preferable to the plain Dikaieia or Dikaiou. Not only is the goddess favouring Dikaios, but Justly so.22

• 23  I thank Dr. N. Papazarkadas for bringing the matter to my attention. 11 men named Dikaios are foun (...)

13 The possibility that Dikaios himself (and his father Dikaios) was named after the goddess, and not the other way around, must of course be considered. The rarity of the epithet in comparison with the frequency of the name however makes this unlikely.23

• 24 Brulé, l.c. (n.1), p. 27.
• 25  A possible previous existence of the goddess does not invalidate the contextual interpretation pos (...)

14Brulé pointedly puts his finger to the sad fact that the importance of positioning epithets and their origins in time and space goes hand in hand with a the frequent impossibility to do just that, due to the fragmentary state of the sources.24 In the case of our dedications to Isis Aphrodite Dikaia, we are however fortunate enough to have the Delian find context of the votives as well as dates relating to the careers of the dedicators Dikaios and Asklepiades. If one accepts that the brothers, or perhaps their father, were the first to honour the goddess Isis Aphrodite Dikaia, one is presented with a relatively clear historical and geographical context for the first appearance of the goddess: Delos, in the last half of the second century BC, or in the beginnings of the first. I believe that the larger historical context corroborates these cultic origins.25

• 26  J. Mikalson, “Greek Religion. Continuity and change in the Hellenistic period” in The Cambridge co (...)
• 27  Compare an example given by Parker, l.c. (n. 1), p. 175, a “nounce coinage” of the deity Zeus Epit (...)

15The appearance of Isis Aphrodite Dikaia specifically in the island of Delos during the time of Athenian dominance is not surprising. Most obviously, the pairing (or identification) of the Egyptian Isis and the Greek Aphrodite mirrors the international melting pot atmosphere of the island. But the deity also testifies to the religious “freedom” of Athenians outside their home city. Many cults were too closely attached to their local context to be exported by an Athenian sent to Delos. These circumstances brought the result that travellers and émigrés could make, and to a certain extant had to make, personal choices regarding which deities to approach in a given situation.26 The Delian milieu and Dikaios’ and Asklepiades’ outsider position, if not absolute prerequisites for the invention of a personal deity,27 surely offered more fruitful ground for such actions than the comparatively conservative religious climate of Athens.

• 28  IG XII 2, 526. The inscription has been dated to the Hellenistic period, but refers to pre-existin (...)
• 29  Ch. Habicht, Gottmenschentum und griechische Städte, München, 1970 (Zetemata, 14), p. 14-15.
• 30  E. Badian, “The deification of Alexander the Great” in H.J. Dell (ed.), Ancient Macedonian studies (...)
• 31  A.J. Heisserer, Alexander and the Greeks. The epigraphic evidence, Norman, 1980, p. 68; E. Badian, (...)

17The propaganda of Alexander and the successor kings frequently made use of divine ancestry and protection. Possibly this, or a slightly earlier context, is where we should start searching for the first appearances of individual epithets of gods in the Greek world. An inscription found in Eresos, Lesbos, makes mention of altars of Zeus Philippios.28 Several interpretations of this epithet have been put forth. Habicht understands this god as presenting Philip as a manifestation of Zeus.29 This is questionable, mainly because it goes beyond what the words actually state. As Badian points out, Zeus Philippios is literally Zeus of Philip, not Philip who is Zeus.30 But other factors also work against it. The chronology of the cult makes it problematic to understand Philip as a hypostase of Zeus. Badian suggests that the cult of Zeus Philippios was instituted after the “liberation” of Eresos and Heisserer has likewise proposed the date 336 BC for the erection of the altars.31 This would mean that the altars were installed during the lifetime of Philip, something that in turn makes it very unlikely that they would come from a context of a veritable cult of the king. In spite of possible personal divine aspirations, the reception of exceptional – perhaps even divine – honours along with the semi-divine status of the Macedonian king, as far as we know Philip was not the recipient of proper cult even at the height of his power.

• 32  F. Sokolowski, “Divine honors for Antiochos and Laodike at Teos and Iasos”, GRBS 13 (1972), p. 174 (...)
• 33  “Sacrifice to one god on the altar of another could indicate their respective places in a hierarch (...)
• 34 Parker, l.c. (n. 1), 180; Parker, l.c. (n. 19), 221.
• 35  We can furthermore see that with the possible and much later exception of Zeus Areios (attested in (...)

18Sokolowski suggestion that Zeus Philippios corresponds to deities like Zeus Heraios, Zeus Damatrios and Zeus Aphrodisios, and that the epithet indicates a shared cult is another claim that cannot be sustained. In this reasoning, Sokolowski puts inscriptions combining the name of a god and the name of a mortal on a par with those combining the name of a god with that of another deity, and proposes that such epithets indicate “a partnership in a common cult or temple”.32 This understanding of the epithet Philippios (just as Habicht’s interpretation) fails to take account of the fact that it is just that, an epithet. Although interpretations vary in detail, with the exception of Sokolowski, scholars agree that the god present in such an epithet does not equal the actual recipient of cult. For example, Sissa and Detienne believe that epithets founded on the name of another god or goddess, such as Aphrodisios, or Areios, are due to the practice of sacrifice to one god on the altar of another.33 A related interpretation of these cult titles involves connections between gods in a festival context: in Athens, for example, Zeus Olympios was possibly addressed as Zeus Heraios on the day of the yearly celebration of the Hieros Gamos.34 These interpretations cannot be sustained as regards Zeus Philippios. Surely, at this point in history, Zeus was not an occasional visitor at the altar or a festival of Philip.35

• 36  Badian 1981, l.c. (n. 30), p. 41; Badian 1996, l.c. (n. 31), p. 13; M.P. Nilsson, Geschichte der g (...)
• 37  A.D. Nock, “Notes on ruler-cult, I-IV”, JHS 48 (1928), p. 41-42; L. Robert, Hellenica VI, Paris, 1 (...)
• 38  V. du Sablon, “Religiosité hellénistique et accès au cosmos divin”, LEC 74 (2006), p. 4 et passim; (...)

19Rather, what the literal reading “Zeus of Philip”, or “Philippian Zeus”, fundamentally shows, is that for some reason the successful Macedonian king had a claim to a special relationship to this particular deity. Nilsson and Badian understand this relationship as that of a bodyguard, as it were. The altars belong to a cult of the King of the Gods as the Macedonian king’s personal protector.36 Later evidence identifies a similar deity, Zeus Seleukeios. Two dedications dated to the Imperial period mention this god; Nock, however, is of the opinion that this god originated as a protector of the Seleucids.37 Of the circumstances of the first uses of these two epithets, we unfortunately know nothing. Perhaps we should imagine a context of gratitude for a specific favour the god showed these rulers, as in the case of Aphrodite Dexikreontos? Or were they coined as a result of the continuous benevolence shown by Zeus that kept the kings on their thrones? In whichever case, I believe that it is the idea of special favours and protection, inherent in both scenarios, that lies behind the further development of divinities tailor-made through the use of individual epithets, those of kings as well as those of more ordinary people like Dikaios. The early epithets Philippios and Seleukeios may to some extent be the result of blurred lines between the divine and the mortal spheres, in a world where it became increasingly accepted to celebrate certain humans with divine honours. But the idea that is picked up and disseminated outside court circles, and finally visible in the appearance of a goddess like Isis Aphrodite Dikaia, is the possibility of a claim for personal protection and relations with the gods, the quest for which permeates religious dealings between deities and men during the Hellenistic period.38

• 39  See for example Du Sablon l.c. (n. 38), p. 19.
• 40  See for example Mikalson, l.c. (n. 26) & Mikalson, o.c. (n. 26), p. 208; Budin l.c. (n. 35); Pakka (...)
• 41  Stewart, l.c. (n. 38), 558-559.

20Today scholars tend to stress the continuity of Hellenistic religious customs with those of earlier centuries.39 Surely, what is visible as “change” in our sources is often the end result of gradual processes rather than sudden and sharp shifts in customs. However, their seeds certainly sown in preceding centuries, some changes are detectable and some concerns seem more pronounced. Increasing movement of people presented the polis with a more international outlook, and in a world where it was no longer self-evident that a citizen should be born, live and die in the same city, Hellenistic society stimulated religious interchange. In consequence, the Greeks both adopted foreign gods and created new ones through various forms of assimilation and/or syncretism.40 Furthermore, the Hellenistic world was a place dominated by new uncertainties. Entire cities could one day find themselves at the mercy of a single powerful individual, only to see these mighty rapidly fall from the height of power the next. The increasing popularity of the goddess Tyche is one well-known result of this fear of a fickle fate, and another is the above-mentioned general preoccupation with security.41 Protection became a religious priority for states as well as individuals.

• 42 Du Sablonl.c. (n. 38), p. 5.
• 43  Stewart, l.c. (n. 38), 512-514; 518.
• 44 Stewart, l.c. (n. 38), 513; Pakkaneno.c. (n. 40), p. 113.
• 45  We do not know much about the ideas connecting the eponymous god to the members of his or her asso (...)

21This concern for safety constitutes a nexus linking two other phenomena often considered symptomatic of the Hellenistic period: individual religious choices and the wish for a more intimate relationship with the gods.42 The flourishing of private cult associations is often presented as a typical consequence of this religious climate,43 because their popularity exemplifies that men and women to a larger extent chose to be initiated in mysteries and/or to participate in non-obligatory cults and religious associations, i.e., they were making more individual choices.44 But the associations actually illustrate the security preoccupation complex in its entirety. For a group of Hermaistai, gathering for celebrations of Hermes,45 the eponymous deity (as well as the community of the religious group) offered protection, and the voluntary choice of joining this particular association and god instead of another one was a sign of individual preferences. The personal religious choices simultaneously express the wish for closer connections to the gods. To place oneself under the protection of a certain god through membership in a club that was even more exclusive than the citizen body is clearly an aspiration to a more favoured relation to this god, as compared to non-members. We thus come full circle, as, in turn, the wish for a personal relationship to a divinity brings us back to the search for security, in that divine intimacy presumably was meant to lead to better protection and other advantages.

• 46  J. Wallensten, . A study of dedications to Aphrodite from Greek magistrates, (...)
• 47  It is noteworthy that this procedure in a sense goes in the opposite direction of that of the reli (...)
• 48  To the professional epithet Nomophylakis can be added other similar ones: strategoi honouring Aphr (...)

22The collegial grouping of magistrates around a patron deity is another example of the Hellenistic axis wish for protection – individual cult choices – intimacy with the gods.46 Dedications presented by public officials, of both military and political status, provide testimony of a variant way of claiming special personal attention from a god, namely, through the use of very narrow epithets.47 For example, 17/16 BC, in Cyrene, a college of nomophylakes erected the statue of an Aphrodite called by the epithet Nomophylakis. Thus, as their protectress, they choose an Aphrodite exclusively connected to their team. The selected epithet personifies the professional task of the nomophylakes and provides an intimate link between worshippers and goddess.48

• 49  The process of “slimming down” epithets referring to the social group constituting the worshippers (...)
• 50  Stewart, l.c. (n. 38), 555; Du Sablon l.c. (n. 38), p. 5.

23The devotion of Dikaios for Isis Aphrodite Dikaia is emblematic of the same security nexus and thus an almost expected product of the Hellenistic religious atmosphere. As illustrated by ‘magisterial’ epithets, one area in which individual religious choices and the wish for special protection coalesce consists of cults to gods defined by very narrow epithets. The creation of an epithet such as that of Dikaia is a further step in the direction showed by for example the closely defined magistrates’ designations. Individual epithets, defined as formed from the name of specific persons, claim special relations and protection of a similar kind as that offered by the eponymity of the tutelary god of a cult association or by a professional epithet such as Nomophylakis, only of an even more restricted sort.49 Dikaios’ and Asklepiades’ relationship to the goddess is not acted out through the relative anonymity of membership in a group of worshippers, nor based on the rather impersonal status as holder of a certain public office. The search for deities directly and personally involved in the life of an individual, could not be expressed more clearly than a god bearing a family name.50 Through the designation Dikaia, this specific Isis Aphrodite provides personal protection as the made-to measure guardian exclusively of them and their close kin.

• 51  It should also be noted that Isis and Aphrodite were powerful, but that their help, not the least (...)

24The presentation in an official sanctuary of an offering to a god bearing one’s name is a bold public claim to a special relationship with the deity in question. An accompanying aspect of gratitude should however not be forgotten. The circumstances that first brought forth the honouring of Dikaia, and the reason the brothers believed they could claim divine goodwill, was perhaps a special favour granted Dikaios by Isis (and) Aphrodite, as in the case of Plutarch’s account of Dexikreon. At a first glance – and perhaps with an anachronistic perspective – the act of naming a god after oneself looks presumptuous. But the relationship between gods and men was of course one of interchange. Inherent in the existence of Isis Aphrodite Dikaia are the humble servants Asklepiades and Dikaios Isidos Aphrodites.51

• 52  Mikalson, l.c. (n. 26), p. 211.
• 53  It is of course not impossible that we should understand a kai between Isis and Aphrodite.
• 54 Parker, l.c. (n. 19), p. 225.
• 55 Dunand, o.c. (n. 7), p. 113; Mikalson, o.c. (n. 26), p. 229. Du Sablon suggests that the traits of (...)
• 56  See for example dedications by the order of a god, kata prostagma, sometimes through the assistanc (...)
• 57 Mikalson, l.c. (n. 26), p. 213, 229; Du Sablonl.c. (n. 38), p. 13.
• 58  Mikalson, o.c. (n. 22), p. 235. For a recent study of aspects of the cult of Aphrodite in Delos, s (...)
• 59  Bruneau, o.c. (n. 51), p. 463-464; Roussel, o.c. (n. 8), p. 289-290.

25Mikalson has suggested that the possibility of making choices as regards which god or goddess to honour made the selected deities more personal to their worshippers.52 Against this background, the combination of goddesses that was chosen as the personal protector of Dikaios and his family becomes interesting.53 Perhaps the pairing of Isis and Aphrodite provides a clue as to what kind of protection Isis Aphrodite Dikaia offered? As Parker points out, this type of pairing of deities does not necessarily imply an identification of the two. Thus, just as in the case of the Spartan goddess Aphrodite Hera, where Hera is not merely an epithet of Aphrodite, in our case Aphrodite is not a byname of Isis.54 The combination Isis and Aphrodite rather reinforces similar characteristics shared between them. In Delos, Isis’ benevolence towards humans is clearly pronounced in the epigraphic sources, but both Isis and Aphrodite were goddesses considered close to man and so perhaps easily approached in personal matters.55 There were affinities between the (separate) Delian cults of Aphrodite Hagne and Isis, one being that dedications to these goddesses often were made after close encounters with them, erected after personal messages received in dreams or other visions.56The Isis component of Dikaios’ goddess furthermore had strong connotations of healing, health and protection of the family.57 Health and safety was also offered through participation in the worship of Aphrodite Hagne, whose cult became very popular during the period of Athenian domination.58 All these aspects of an Isis Aphrodite are also reinforced by the find context: the dedication was set up in Sarapieion C, where the Egyptian gods were approached as deities who listen to prayers, saviour gods, healers and maritime protectors.59 This last ability probably takes precedence in the context of an island trading centre: it is important that both goddesses were mighty protectresses of seafaring and mariners: in other cult contexts they both carry the epithet Euploia, for example. Did Dikaios need special attention because of frequent voyages or maritime trade interests? Or perhaps, as an Athenian in Delos in the late second/early first century BC, he simply travelled frequently between the island and its home city.

• 60  Grandjean, o.c. (n. 17), p. 18, l. 24, 29. This act is not mentioned in other aretalogies. For Isi (...)
• 61  In fact, Dikaios or Dikaia, observant of rules, fitting, righteous, is a word mostly used for char (...)

26The literal meaning of the epithet, Just, or Righteous does not in itself provide information of the goddess’ sphere of activities. To be sure, in a contemporary aretalogy from Maroneia, Isis is hailed, among a multitude of other praiseworthy qualities, as having instituted justice for men60 and furthermore the goddess Isis Dikaiosyne is present in an inscription from the Delian Sarapieion C. This is the same sanctuary where Dikaios and Asklepiades made their dedications and it is thus tempting to understand Dikaia as a conscious allusion to Dikaiosyne. But in the end, the goddess of IDélos 2158 was approached as Dikaia, and the epithet thereby merely gives us the character of Isis Aphrodite’s behaviour. This might be precisely because the epithet Dikaia does not imply a specific aspect of the goddess as much as it draws attention to a special relationship between the dedicator and the goddess. Isis Aphrodite was ‘Dikaian’, ‘of Dikaios’.61 Obviously, this interpretation does not – and should not – in any way exclude that the epithet simultaneously had connotations of justice. Just Isis Aphrodite would justly see to the best interests of her dedicated servants.