Spazio urbano e memoria religiosa a Hermoupolis Magna, città cerimoniale dell’Egitto ellenistico-romano

The study of urban space and architecture is an excellent tool to investigate the ancient social and ritual activities: a singular diachronic case-study is provided by Hermoupolis Magna in Middle Egypt, a city distinguished by an extraordinary cultural stratification and a long prosperous life, from Dynastic until Imperial era. The topographic analysis, enhanced by the informations contained in the well-known Repair Papyrus, allows us to reconstruct a city founded on the ancient local traditions, but also receptive to the influence of the Roman empire. This topic is discussed with reference to the dromos of Thoth-Hermes, the processional way directed to the great temple. On this street, at the entrance to the huge urban sanctuary, during the Antonine period new monumental complexes were erected, according to the Roman architectural style: a Corinthian peripteral temple, a big tetrastylon at the streets intersection, an enormous “pseudo-basilical” building, identified as the Komasterion, the place for meetings of the komastai, the priests who took part in the religious processions. This main context shows the long-lasting ceremonial dimension of the city of Hermoupolis, where the ancient religious memory was preserved by means of the perpetual repetition of ritual performances along the dromos. At the same time the restyled monumental complex illustrates a re-shaping of the urban image, according to updated architectural forms and to the Hellenistic and Roman model of city.