See Temple of Isis

Temple of Isis

Several archaeological sites and ancient complexes have included a temple of Isis, an important goddess in Egyptian mythology:*The Greek island of Delos*The Egyptian complex at Philae*The Roman Temple of Isis at Pompeii...

 for other temples to her.

The Temple of Isis is a Roman

Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....

 temple dedicated to the Egyptian goddess Isis

Isis

Isis or in original more likely Aset is a goddess in Ancient Egyptian religious beliefs, whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. She was worshipped as the ideal mother and wife as well as the matron of nature and magic...

. This small and almost completely intact temple was among one of the first discoveries during the excavation of Pompeii

Pompeii

The city of Pompeii is a partially buried Roman town-city near modern Naples in the Italian region of Campania, in the territory of the comune of Pompei. Along with Herculaneum, Pompeii was destroyed and completely buried during a long catastrophic eruption of the volcano Mount Vesuvius spanning...

 in 1764. Its role as a Hellenized

Hellenization

Hellenization is a term used to describe the spread of ancient Greek culture, and, to a lesser extent, language. It is mainly used to describe the spread of Hellenistic civilization during the Hellenistic period following the campaigns of Alexander the Great of Macedon...

 Egyptian temple in a Roman colony was fully confirmed with an inscription detailed by Francisco la Vega on July 20, 1765. Original paintings and sculptures can be seen at the Museo Archaeologico in Naples http://www.marketplace.it/museo.nazionale/emuseo_home.htm; the site itself remains on the Via del Tempio di Iside. In the aftermath of the temple's discovery many well known artists and illustraters swarmed to the site.

The preserved Pompeian temple is actually the second structure; the original building built under Augustan was damaged in an earlier earthquake of 62 CE

62 Pompeii earthquake

The 62 Pompeii earthquake occurred on 5 February. It had an estimated magnitude of between 5 and 6 and a maximum intensity of XI or X on the Mercalli intensity scale. The towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum were severely damaged. The earthquake may have been a precursor to the eruption of Mount...

. Seventeen years later with the massive volcanic eruption, the Iseum alone was the sole temple to be completely re-built—ahead even of the Capitolium

Temple of Jupiter (Pompeii)

The Temple of Jupiter, Capitolium, or Temple of the Capitoline Triad was a temple in Roman Pompeii, at the north end of its forum...

. Although the Iseum was wedged into a small and narrow space, it received significant foot traffic from theater-goers at the Large Theater, businessmen in the Triangular Forum, and others along the Stabian Gate .

Principal devotees of this temple are assumed to be women, freedmen, and slaves. Initiates of the Isis mystery cult

Greco-Roman mysteries

Mystery religions, sacred Mysteries or simply mysteries, were religious cults of the Greco-Roman world, participation in which was reserved to initiates....

 worshipped a compassionate goddess who promised eventual salvation and a perpetual relationship throughout life and after death. The temple itself was reconstructed in honor of a 6 year-old boy by his freedman father, Numerius, to allow the child to enter elite society . Many scenes from the temple are re-created in the dining rooms of Pompeians, however, indicating that many individuals visited this temple for political, economic, or social reasons .

Worship of Isis

Isis

Isis

Isis or in original more likely Aset is a goddess in Ancient Egyptian religious beliefs, whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. She was worshipped as the ideal mother and wife as well as the matron of nature and magic...

  was a goddess in Ancient Egyptian religious beliefs, whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world

Greco-Roman world

The Greco-Roman world, Greco-Roman culture, or the term Greco-Roman , when used as an adjective, as understood by modern scholars and writers, refers to those geographical regions and countries that culturally were directly, protractedly and intimately influenced by the language, culture,...

. She was worshipped as the ideal mother, wife, the matron of nature and magic. She was the friend of slaves, sinners, artisans, the downtrodden, who also listened to the prayers of the wealthy, maidens, aristocrats and rulers.
Isis worship was concerned about the acquisition of knowledge since knowledge could only be attained from the gifts of the gods. Priests of Isis typically shaved their heads and wore linen garments rather than wool . Isis worship did not include a Messianic

Messiah

A messiah is a redeemer figure expected or foretold in one form or another by a religion. Slightly more widely, a messiah is any redeemer figure. Messianic beliefs or theories generally relate to eschatological improvement of the state of humanity or the world, in other words the World to...

 worldview but it did provide a relationship with the divine that was not ruptured with death. In common with other deities Isis did not demand exclusive worship but in practice her devotees applied, from a modern perspective, an henotheistic outlook. The cult of Isis is thought to arrived in Pompeii around 100 BCE. Following the destruction of the first temple in the earthquake of 62 CE the son of Numerous paid for its complete reconstruction. The setting and adornments provided an attractive backdrop for the liturgical rites. These services occurred daily with a solemn morning opening and a nightly closing filled with singing . A ritual bucket for holy Nile water, the situla, and a rattle, the sistrum, were both used in worship .

Artwork

Egyptian features of this temple include: purgatorium, extensive mythological scenes in the Ekklesiasterian, and Egyptian signs within the sacraium . The purgatorium is a roofless enclosure in the southeast corner of the courtyard that demarcates a subterranean room with a basin for Nile waters . Furthermore, statues of Isis are assumed to line the front with Roman deities along the long walls. The purgatorium itself resembles a miniature temple with pediments and pilasters at the entrance coated with stucco.

The Ekklesiasterian includes scenes of Io's arrival in Egypt and subsequent reception by Isis . The north wall includes scenes with Io (mythology)

Io (mythology)

Io was, in Greek mythology, a priestess of Hera in Argos, a nymph who was seduced by Zeus, who changed her into a heifer to escape detection. His wife Hera set ever-watchful Argus Panoptes to guard her, but Hermes was sent to distract the guardian and slay him...

, Argos, and Hermes

Hermes

Hermes is the great messenger of the gods in Greek mythology and a guide to the Underworld. Hermes was born on Mount Kyllini in Arcadia. An Olympian god, he is also the patron of boundaries and of the travelers who cross them, of shepherds and cowherds, of the cunning of thieves, of orators and...

. This room itself appears to be the most formal with its role in ritual banquets as well as the reunion of initiates. The sacraium is even more Egyptian with a mural of snakes guarding a wicker basket adorned with lunar symbols . This may represent a spring sailing season celebration, navigium Isidis

Navigium Isidis

The Navigium Isidis or Isidis Navigium was an annual ancient Roman religious festival in honor of the goddess Isis. The festival outlived Christian persecution by Theodosius and Arcadius' persecution against the Roman religion.In the Roman Empire, it was still celebrated in Italy at least until...

, since Isis restores her husband-brother to life by towing a boat filled with sacred waters.

Mozart visit

The famous composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...

 is known to have visited the Temple of Isis at Pompeii in 1769, just a few years after it was unearthed and when Mozart was himself just 13 years old. His visit and the memories of the site are considered to have inspired him 20 years later in his composition of The Magic Flute

The Magic Flute

The Magic Flute is an opera in two acts composed in 1791 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. The work is in the form of a Singspiel, a popular form that included both singing and spoken dialogue....

.