A note on the temple of Isis at Beneventum

The article deals with some problems raised by the Iseum built in Beneventum in 88-89 AD by a member of the local elite. The choice of the place where Domitian had met his father on the latter’s return from Egypt, so celebrating the place marking the start of Vespasian’s ‘triumphal journey’ through Italy, may have evoked the exceptional honour paid to Augustus on his return from Gaul and Spain, recorded with celebratory emphasis in the Res Gestae. Since the temple has not been archaeologically preserved, how should we reconstruct its ‘religious landscape’, in which an important (but not exclusive?) role must have been played by the sculptures in materials of Egyptian provenance? Lastly, it is necessary to reconsider the chronological and productive problems posed by some sculptures featuring Egyptian iconographies and materials, evaluating their significance and advancing the conjecture that Domitian and Hadrian – to whose reigns some at least of these sculptures must be dated – intentionally constructed a ‘restored’ image of Egypt.