How Did The Isis Cults Affect The Roman Empire

The Roman Empire has been well known for its religious believes, mostly being Christianity; however, there in one particular cult name Isis that spread within the Empire through the years. Cults are a small group of people that have religious beliefs toward a particular person or thing. The cults were often based on sacred stories that involve rituals and promise a better afterlife. These cults were called mysterious due to the involvement of secret ceremonies. The mysterious Isis cult had a strong impact in the Roman Empire and all over the Mediterranean. The development, spread, and impact that the Isis cult took upon the Roman Empire is what will be examined.

The spread of the Isis cult was slow in the Mediterranean, and it was developed

In the 4th century B.C, the first temple dedicated to Isis was constructed in Athens. However, it was in the 3rd century B.C that it started to rapidly spread. Ptolemies’ political and military activities were associated with Isis. It wasn’t until the end of the 2nd century B.C. that Isis arrived at Rome and later reached its peak during the 2nd century A.D. The circumstance favored the cult since the nation was in a stay of decay in the early centuries of the Empire. Isis grew in importance as the time progressed and there began to build temples under her name, which means “throne.” The cult of Isis worships an Egyptian goddess, which is the wife of Osiris. There was been many changes of forms over the time. The Egyptian Goddess is worshipped in the Isis cult as the patroness of nature and magic but also as the ideal wife and mother. The Goddess Isis was connected to the

There are the elevations of sacred objects and the tonsure of the priest for example. As previously mentioned, the Emperor Commodus shared the beliefs of the Isis cult and according to Laing, “He is said to have submitted to the tonsure usual among her priests, to have marched in the sacred processions organized in her honor, and to have carried in his hands an image of that grotesque deity which belonged to the circle of Isis, the dog-headed god Anubis, with which either in religious fervor or with royal humor he from time to time smote the head of the high priest who walked in front of him.” Another similarity between these two religions would be that a follower could procure the statue of their religion, in this case the Isis cult statue, and take it home. They took this statues from the churches for a specific period of time as a ritual of some sort of. However, the Isis cult was a mystery religion that promised the secret of life and death to whom initiate and sworn to secrecy. It is very well known that the cult promised eternal life, which attracted a lot of people. However, due to the secrecy of the cult there hasn’t been a lot of information on how was the god worship. The knowledge came from the Roman Empire were people wrote a little about their experiences. The cult was one of the greatest rival to the, by that time young, religion of Christianity. The Isis cult was one of the most popular religions in the