Issue 23 (2019) – Rosetta

This paper attempts to reconstruct the festival of the Harpokratia and its significance in the Graeco-Roman period based on Greek papyri uncovered from Egypt and other material and written evidence. Despite the popularity of the cult of the god Harpokrates in the Graeco-Roman period, this article suggests that the festival had a local rather than a pan-Egyptian character since it was only confirmed in the villages of Soknopaiou Nesos and Euhemeria in the Arsinoite area. The Harpokratia was celebrated in Tybi and was marked with a banquet of wine and a bread and lentil-meal. Perhaps the most distinguishing feature of the festival was the purificatory public procession, which was a suitable moment for different worshippers to address the god for the fulfilment of their supplications.