'The Nile in Pompeii' shows Egyptian influence

(ANSA) - Rome, April 20 - The exhibition "The Nile in Pompeii", the second phase of a project that began in March at the Egyptian Museum of Turin, opened on Tuesday in Pompeii's Palestra Grande.
    It tells the story of the spread of Egypt and its cults in the Mediterranean, and in particular within the city of Pompeii.
    The show puts a wide range of objects on display, from trinkets dedicated to the cults of Isis and Osiris, to furnishings and frescos from the most beautiful residences of the time.
    The show's focal point is a group of eight statues from the 15th to the 14th century B.C., on special loan from the Turin museum, seven of which depict the solar deity Sekhmet and one which depicts the pharoah Thutmose I.
    The exhibition includes a nine-minute video on the history of the cult of Isis, including the discovery of the temple in Pompeii dedicated to her, which has reopened to the public for the occasion, after having undergone six months of restoration.
    The frescos in the Temple of Isis at Pompeii, one of the best-preserved of its kind, are said to have inspired Mozart's staging of The Magic Flute.
    The tour is enhanced with special loans from the Naples Archeological Museum, including frescoes and copies of statues, as well as multimedia features.
    "We wanted to recreate the same atmosphere that the archaeologists saw when they discovered it in the mid-17th century," said Pompeii Superintendent Massimo Osanna.
    One of the videos in the exhibition stars Italian actor Toni Servillo in the role of priest, and is projected in a multimedia room set up behind the temple.
    There is also a new attraction open, the House of the Pygmies, restored after years of abandoment.
    It includes a fresco of the Nile Valley that dates to the first half of the 1st century A.D., with pygmies shown on the shores of the river.
    The project's third phase will open June 28 at the Naples Archeological Museum with a focus on the cults and Eastern religions that Egypt brought to the region of Campania.