BIRDS FOR ISIS

Cicero, Livy, Pliny the Elder, and Aelian, inform us about the use of birds in a number of rituals, the archaeological evidence rarely allows us to associate the collected zooarchaeological remains with a single deity. In 2017, a well-preserved archaeological context located in the vicinity of the temple of Isis in Pompeii and related to a single ritual event (dated to the mid-1st century CE), revealed a number of faunal remains as well as ceramic and archaeobotanical finds. Chicken dominates the assemblage, followed by goose, pigeon, and turtle dove.