Archaeology

Treia was already known as TREA when the Piceni  allied with the Romans to fight the Gauls  in 291 B.C.

When the Roman world  was attracted by  eastern cults, Treia was amongst those towns who embraced the worship of Iside.Goddess with countless powers, queen of magic, destiny, navigation, love, fertility and maternity, she had many followers in the Italic peninsula.

Egyptian findings  which came to light in the place where the ancient Trea was, are now exhibited in the Archaeological Museum; that area is still  a place of Christian faith with  the Sanctuary of the Holy Crucifix.

Fragments and Egyptian statues were found in 1909. Considered remains of Roman copies, they were placed on the façade of the new bell-tower. Besides a mosaic, a head of the god Serapide and one of the goddess Iside itself, there are two valuable products of Egyptian art of Ptolemaic Era.

The female statue is similar to the one found on the Terrazza degli Dei Stranieri (foreign gods terrace) in the temple of Iside in Delo representing a priestess and to  the one found in Roma, queen Tuia.

The male statue, headless, wears a “shendyt”, the characteristic short skirt, and the royal head cover called “names”. It is 77,5 cm high, like the female one, and is probably made of “diorite”, an uncommon stone.

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