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Minia Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Research Volume 2, special Issue, December 2018
105
THE CHARMOSYNA (FESTIVAL OF REJOICING) IN GRAECO-ROMAN EGYPT
Youssri Abdelwahed & Doaa Abdel-Motaal
Tour Guiding Department, Faculty of Tourism and Hotels, Minia University
Abstract:
This article deals with the Charmosyna or “the Festival of Rejoicing” in the light of Greek
papyri uncovered from Graeco-Roman Egypt and other textual evidence. It discusses the
different associations of the Charmosyna with the Apis of Memphis, the god Osiris, the god
Serapis, and the goddess Isis. During the Late Period, the Charmosyna is first confirmed in
Herodotus‟ Histories in connection with the birth of a new Apis at Memphis. In the late
Hellenistic Period, textual evidence from Kios (Bithynia, Asia Minor) associated the
Charmosyna with the goddess Isis, suggesting that the festival was more than a local
Egyptian celebration. In the early second century AD, Plutarch associated the Charmosyna
with the god Serapis, who was a fusion of Osiris-Apis. In the mid-second century AD, the
Festival of Rejoicing is last mentioned in the festival calendar of Soknopaiou Nesos, which
gives eight days from the 16th to the 23rd of Phaophi (Julian: 13th-20th of October) for the
festival.
Keywords: Charmosyna, Apis, Serapis, Osiris, Isis, Graeco-Roman Egypt.
Unfortunately, the Charmosyna is one of the least documented festivals in textual evidence,
whether papyrilogical or literary. The earliest surviving textual reference to the Charmosyna
is found in Herodotus‟ Histories, where the Greek historian and traveller attributed the
Festival of Rejoicing to the birth of a new Apis at Memphis:
When Cambyses arrived at Memphis, Apis appeared to the Egyptians, whom the
Hellenes call Epaphus: and when he had appeared, forthwith the Egyptians began to
wear their fairest garments and to have festivities… the Egyptians … said that a god
had appeared to them, who was wont to appear at intervals of long time, and that
whenever he appeared, then all the Egyptians rejoiced and kept festival… Cambyses
bade the priests bring Apis away into his presence: so they went to bring him. Now
this Apis-Epaphus is a calf born of a cow that after this is not permitted to conceive
any other offspring; and the Egyptians say that a flash of light comes down from
:ﻥﺍﻮﻨﻌﻟﺍThe Charmosyna (Festival Of Rejoicing) In Graeco-Roman Egypt
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:ﻲﺴﻴﺋﺮﻟﺍ ﻒﻟؤﻤﻟﺍAbdelwaheb,Youssri
:ﻦﻳﺮﺧﺁ ﻦﻴﻔﻟؤﻣAhmed, Doaa Abdel Motaal(Co - Auth)
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ﻡﺍﺪﺨﺘﺳﻼﻟ ﺓﺩﺎﻤﻟﺍ ﻩﺬﻫ ﺔﻋﺎﺒﻃ ﻭﺃ ﻞﻴﻤﺤﺗ ﻚﻨﻜﻤﻳ .ﺔﻇﻮﻔﺤﻣ ﺮﺸﻨﻟﺍ ﻕﻮﻘﺣ ﻊﻴﻤﺟ ﻥﺃ ﺎﻤﻠﻋ ،ﺮﺸﻨﻟﺍ ﻕﻮﻘﺣ ﺏﺎﺤﺻﺃ ﻊﻣ ﻊﻗﻮﻤﻟﺍ ﻕﺎﻔﺗﻹﺍ ﻰﻠﻋ ﺀﺎﻨﺑ ﺔﺣﺎﺘﻣ ﺓﺩﺎﻤﻟﺍ ﻩﺬﻫ
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.ﺔﻣﻮﻈﻨﻤﻟﺍ
Minia Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Research Volume 2, special Issue, December 2018
105
THE CHARMOSYNA (FESTIVAL OF REJOICING) IN GRAECO-ROMAN EGYPT
Youssri Abdelwahed & Doaa Abdel-Motaal
Tour Guiding Department, Faculty of Tourism and Hotels, Minia University
Abstract:
This article deals with the Charmosyna or “the Festival of Rejoicing” in the light of Greek
papyri uncovered from Graeco-Roman Egypt and other textual evidence. It discusses the
different associations of the Charmosyna with the Apis of Memphis, the god Osiris, the god
Serapis, and the goddess Isis. During the Late Period, the Charmosyna is first confirmed in
Herodotus‟ Histories in connection with the birth of a new Apis at Memphis. In the late
Hellenistic Period, textual evidence from Kios (Bithynia, Asia Minor) associated the
Charmosyna with the goddess Isis, suggesting that the festival was more than a local
Egyptian celebration. In the early second century AD, Plutarch associated the Charmosyna
with the god Serapis, who was a fusion of Osiris-Apis. In the mid-second century AD, the
Festival of Rejoicing is last mentioned in the festival calendar of Soknopaiou Nesos, which
gives eight days from the 16th to the 23rd of Phaophi (Julian: 13th-20th of October) for the
festival.
Keywords: Charmosyna, Apis, Serapis, Osiris, Isis, Graeco-Roman Egypt.
Unfortunately, the Charmosyna is one of the least documented festivals in textual evidence,
whether papyrilogical or literary. The earliest surviving textual reference to the Charmosyna
is found in Herodotus‟ Histories, where the Greek historian and traveller attributed the
Festival of Rejoicing to the birth of a new Apis at Memphis:
When Cambyses arrived at Memphis, Apis appeared to the Egyptians, whom the
Hellenes call Epaphus: and when he had appeared, forthwith the Egyptians began to
wear their fairest garments and to have festivities… the Egyptians … said that a god
had appeared to them, who was wont to appear at intervals of long time, and that
whenever he appeared, then all the Egyptians rejoiced and kept festival… Cambyses
bade the priests bring Apis away into his presence: so they went to bring him. Now
this Apis-Epaphus is a calf born of a cow that after this is not permitted to conceive
any other offspring; and the Egyptians say that a flash of light comes down from
Minia Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Research Volume 2, special Issue, December 2018
106
heaven upon this cow, and of this she produces Apis. This calf which is called Apis
is black and has the following signs, namely a white square upon the forehead, and
on the back the likeness of an eagle, and in the tail the hairs are double, and on the
tongue there is a mark like a beetle… Cambyses … ordered those whose duty it was
to do such things to scourge the priests without mercy and to put to death any one of
the other Egyptians whom they should find keeping the festival. Thus the festival of
the Egyptians had been brought to an end, and the priests were being chastised, and
Apis wounded by the stroke in his thigh lay dying in the temple.
1
The reconciliation of Herodotus‟ term (Charmosyna) with the Egyptian festival survived in
later textual evidence mentioning the Festival of Joy. For Herodotus, the Charmosyna was
associated with the discovery of a new Apis at Memphis, a critical momentum for the
Egyptians that announced the commencement of their joyful celebrations. Cambyses
misinterpreted the Egyptians‟ celebrations of the birth of a new Apis as a sign of their
rejoicings of the loss of his soldiers. Hence, he gave his orders to chastise the priests and
murdered those who celebrated the Charmosyna. Cambyses therefore put an end to the
Charmosyna.
Herodotus‟ passage clearly indicates that the Charmosyna was held in the late period
of Dynastic Egypt as an expression of joy due to the birth of a new Apis at Memphis. It is
well-known that the Apis was thought of the living incarnation of Osiris, whose soul (psyche)
was believed to have transferred into the Apis upon the death of Osiris. Throughout the
Hellenistic Period, the Charmosyna perhaps continued as a joyful festival, which, according
to F. Dunand, was probably related to the discovery of the body of Osiris in the form of a
new Apis bull, which in turn encompassed the soul of Osiris.
2
By the end of the Hellenistic
Period, however, the Charmosyna was associated with the goddess Isis, the consort of Osiris
and the finder of his body. This association is evidenced from an inscription, datable to 1 BC-
AD 1 and uncovered under a fountain on the road behind the modern market of Kios, where a
devotee of the Isiac cult “has received the Charmosyna of Isis”:
The society members honoured Anubion son of Nikostratos, who equipped the ship
with three sets of oars (trireme) in a sacred and glory-loving manner, with two full-
sized painted images and another painting. They honoured the same Anubion, who
was also benevolent, with a painted portrait image. They honoured the same
1
Hdt. 3.27-29.
2
Dunand 1973: 67.
Minia Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Research Volume 2, special Issue, December 2018
107
Anubion, who also served as monthly officer, (10) with a painted … image (?) …
They honoured the same Anubion, who took on the Joyful Festival of Isis in a sacred
and glory-loving manner (Xa[r]mo/suna th=j I1sidoj
i9e[ro]prepw=j), with two life-sized painted images, with another painted image
on a shield, with a stone slab, and with a proclamation of these honours each month
through the year (20) … during the Isis celebrations (?), during the other … festivals
of the (?) … members of the society, and during the regular common assemblies.
3
At Nicea‟s port of Kios, the Festival of Rejoicing (Charmosyna) was likewise held in honour
of Isis in the late Hellenistic Period.
4
At Nicea, it is known, Isis and Serapis were worshipped
together and coins often display their busts in a jugate (overlapping) position. In an outdated
article, F. Bräuninger dealt very briefly with the Charmosyna. He hesitantly suggested that
the Charmosyna was a celebration of the resurrection of Osiris, a hypothesis which has not
been accepted by F. Perpillou-Thomas, since the date of the Charmosyna at Soknopaiou Nesos
(Phaophi/October), which Bräuninger did not know, is not compatible with an Osirian
festival.
5
Given that most Isiac rites were marked with both sorrow and joy deriving from the
sufferings and triumphs of Osiris, one is inclined to think that the Charmosyna was associated
with the Isiac rites because of their connection with the sufferings and triumphs of Osiris.
Through her endeavours, Isis searched and assembled the dispersed body of her husband, and
thus played a significant role in the triumph of Osiris over his archenemy, Seth. This
interpretation nevertheless raises a chronological problem: according to Plutarch, the
Egyptians began to celebrate the ceremonies of mourning in honor of Osiris from 17 Athyr,
that is to say on 13 November. On 19 Athyr, the keepers of the robes and the priests „go
down to the sea at night-time and bring forth the sacred chest containing a small golden
coffer, into which they pour some portable water which they have taken up, and a great shout
arises from the company for joy that Osiris is found‟.
6
While the interment and resurrection
of Osiris occurred in Egypt through the month of Khoiak, the sacrifices offered to Osiris at
Athens were fixed on 24 October. It is possible that the calendar of the Athenian association
celebrating the worship of Osiris is not strictly identical to the Egyptian liturgical calendar: it
3
Ascough, Philip, and Kloppenborg 2012: 97.
4
Magie 1953: 176.
5
Bräuninger 1928; Perpillou-Thomas 1993, 76, note 44.
6
Plut. De Is. et Os. 39.
Minia Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Research Volume 2, special Issue, December 2018
108
could have been modified in contact with the local calendar of the deme in order to integrate
cults celebrated in Athens, such as the cult of Demeter or that of infernal deities.
7
Writing in the early second century AD, Plutarch equally connected the Charmosyna
with the god Serapis:
The priests indeed, at least the greatest part of them, tell us, that Serapis is
none other than the mere union of Osiris and Apis into one word; declarative
as it were of that opinion, which they are perpetually explaining and
inculcating, that the Apis ought ever to be regarded by us, as a fair and
beautiful image of the soul of Osiris. For my part, I cannot but think that if this
word be of Egyptian extraction, it ought to be interpreted so as to express joy
and gladness, seeing that festival, which we Grecians call Charmosyna, or the
feast of joy, is by the Egyptians expressly termed sarei.
8
The Apis, Osiris, and Serapis are closely interconnected in the Graeco-Roman Period. The
god Serapis was no more than the blending of Osiris and Apis of Memphis. In other words,
Serapis was initially Osiris-Apis, a funerary deity mainly honoured at Memphis. He was
particularly associated with Osiris, the Egyptian god of the underworld and fertility. Even the
festival of Serapis (Serapia in Greek papyri) held in Khoiak is only a commemorative
celebration of the sufferings of the god Osiris.
9
In Plutarch‟s opinion, if the name Serapis is
Egyptian, it denotes cheerfulness and rejoicing. He based his argument on the fact that the
Egyptians call their Festival of Rejoicing sairei (o3ti th\n e9roth\n Ai0guptioi
ta\ xarmo/suna sai/rei kalou=sin), a word from which the name Serapis was
probably stemmed.
10
Based on the equivalence of the words xara/ and sairei, L.
Parmentier attributed Plutarch‟s etymological connection between Charmosyna, Serapis, and
sairei to Hecataeus of Abdera.
11
The Charmosyna at least survived into the mid-second century AD, when it is very
briefly mentioned in a list of expenses associated with the temples of Soknopaiou Nesos.
12
In
AD 138, the festival calendar of Soknopaiou Nesos similarly gives eight days from the 16th
to the 23rd of Phaophi for the Charmosyna (13th-20th October), during which 4 artabas of
7
Thomas 2011: 285-6.
8
Plut. De Is. et Os. 29.
9
Abdelwahed 2016.
10
Plut. De Is. et Os. 29.
11
Parmentier 1913: 69-70.
12
SB VI.9199.9.
Minia Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Research Volume 2, special Issue, December 2018
109
wheat were consumed every day, giving a total of 32 artabas.
13
Based on the relatively large
wheat consumption, a banquet can probably be linked to the Charmosyna, as do many other
public festivals at Soknopaiou Nesos and elsewhere.
In the Graeco-Roman Period, Plutarch and many other classical writers gave the myth
of Osiris a rationalising twist by linking the search for his dismembered body directly with
the natural cycle. The sufferings and triumphs of Osiris are clearly bound up with the cycle of
Egyptian agriculture. Before the building of the modern dams, the Nile began to rise around
the summer solstice in June and reached its maximum height at the end of August/early
September.
14
Pausanias was told by a Phoenician that the search for Osiris and Isis‟
lamentation took place as the Nile flooded, and that „many of the indigenous Egyptians‟ say
that the flood is caused by her tears. By the middle to end of October (the time of the
Charmosyna), the river had returned to its bed; the redistribution of land and the sowing took
place as it subsided. In this wider context, the Charmosyna perhaps marked the Egyptians‟
rejoicing by the sowing of land due to the recession of the Nile water, which symbolised the
discharge of the body of Osiris. Additionally, the Charmosyna are celebrations celebrated in
Egypt, marking the resurrection of the god Osiris and giving rise to festive celebrations,
which were part of undoubtedly in the larger context of the autumn festivals, commemorating
the death of Osiris as well that mourning and the quest for Isis.
15
Given the heat of Egypt,
the new growing season for olives and vines began in January, which meant that the first
shoots would have appeared about the time of the Athyr festival. Plutarch offers an account
that associates the disappearance of Osiris with a series of analogous „disappearances‟: the
fall of the Nile, the cessation of the Etesian winds, the lengthening of the nights after the
equinox, and the trees‟ loss of leaves. The appearance of Osiris was also associated
with a series of appearances: the Nile flood, the sowing of land, and the sprout of
seeds and trees‟ leaves.
Conclusion:
The Charmosyna, or “the Festival of Rejoicing”, is one of the least documented
celebrations in papyrilogical and literary evidence. Writing in the fifth century BC,
Herodotus was the earliest classical writer to mention the Charmosyna, which was
associated with the birth or discovery of a new Apis at Memphis. Cambyses ended
13
Stud.Pal. XXII.183.iii.68.
14
Alvar 2008: 302-303.
15
Thomas 2011: 285.
Minia Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Research Volume 2, special Issue, December 2018
110
the Charmosyna because of his misinterpretation of the cheerful celebrations of the
epiphany of Apis as a sign of the Egyptians‟ happiness due to Cambyses‟ loss of his
soldiers. Since then, the Charmosyna did not appear in the textual evidence
throughout the Hellenistic Period. It was only in 1 BC-AD 1 at Kios of Asia Minor
that the Charmosyna appears in an inscription carved by an association of the
devotees of Isis. This time, and for unclear reasons, the Charmosyna was associated
with the goddess Isis, the consort of Osiris and the searcher of his body. In the early
second century AD, Plutarch similarly connected the Charmosyna with the god
Serapis, who was utterly the fusion of Osiris and the Apis of Memphis. In his view,
the name Serapis is Egyptian since the Egyptians call the Charmosyna, “the Festival
of Joy”, sairei. In the mid-second century AD, the Charmosyna last appears in two
papyri in connection with Soknopaiou Nesos. However, no much information is given
in these documents about the Charmosyna. No certain deity is associated with the
Charmosyna in the festival calendar of Soknopaiou Nesos. Yet there is no room to
doubt that it was connected with the god Serapis (Osiris-Apis) or the goddess Isis, as
earlier literary and other contemporary textual evidence suggest.
Bibliography:
Abdelwahed, Y. 2016: „Two Festivals of the God Serapis in Greek Papyri‟, Rosetta
18, 1-15.
Alvar, J. 2008: Romanising Oriental Gods: Myth, Salvation, and Ethics in the Cults
of Cybele, Isis, and Mithras, Religions in the Graeco-Roman World 165, Leiden.
Ascough, R. S., Philip. A. H., and Kloppenborg, J. S. 2012: Associations in the
Greco-Roman World: A Sourcebook, Berlin.
Bräuninger, F. 1928: „XARMOSUNA‟, Hermes LXIII, 484-5.
Dunand. F. 1973: Le cult d’Isis dans le basin oriental de la Mideterrenean II, Leiden.
Magie, D. 1953: „Egyptian Deities in Asia Minor in Inscriptions and on Coins‟, AJA
57:3, 163-87.
Parmentier, L. 1913: Recherches sur le traits d’Isis et Osiris de Plutarque, Bruxelles.
Perpillou-Thomas, F. 1993. Fêtes d’Égypte ptolémaique et romaine d’àpres la
documentation papyrologique grecque, Studia Hellenistica 31, Leuven.
Thomas, E. M. 2011: Recherches sur les cultes orientaux a Athenes, du Ve siecle avant J.-
C. au IVe siecle apres J.-C, Religions en contact dans la cité athénienne 2, Soutenance.
Minia Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Research Volume 2, special Issue, December 2018
111
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