The Oriental Religions in Roman Paganism Part 14

20. This interpretation has already been proposed by Ravaisson (_Gazette archeologique_, I, pp. 55 ff.), and I believe it to be correct, see _Comptes Rendus Acad. Inscr._, 1906, p. 75, n. 1.

21. The power of the Egyptian cult in the Oriental half of the empire has been clearly shown by von Domaszewski (_Rom. Mitt._, XVII, 1902, pp. 333 ff.), but perhaps with some exaggeration. All will endorse the restrictions formulated by Harnack, _Ausbreitung des Christentums_, II, p. 274.

22. The very early spread of Orphic doctrines in Magna Graecia, evidenced by the tablets of Sybaris and Petilia (Diels, {232} _Vorsokratiker_, II^2, p. 480) must have prepared the way for it. These tablets possess many points in common with the eschatological beliefs of Egypt, but, as their latest commentator justly remarks (Harrison, _Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion_, p. 624), these new ideas are fairly overwhelmed in the old mythology. The mysteries of Isis and Serapis seemed to offer a revelation that had been a presentiment for a long time, and the affirmation of a truth foreshadowed by early symbols.

23. _CIL_, X, 1781, I, 15-6.

24. Apul., _Metam._, XI, 30.

25. Wissowa, _op. cit._, p. 292-3; cf. Seeck, _Hermes_, XLIII, 1908, p.

642.

26. Manicheism was later persecuted on a similar pretext, see _Collat. Mos.

et Rom. leg._, 15, 3, -- 4: "De Persica adversaria n.o.bis gente progressa."

27. A full list of the inscriptions and monuments discovered in the various cities is given by Drexler in Roscher, _Lexikon_, s. v. "Isis," II, col.

409 ff.

28. Hirschfeld, _CIL_, XII, p. 382, and _Wiener Studien_, V, 1883, pp.

319-322.

29. Cf. Wissowa, _op. cit._, pp. 294 ff.

30. Minuc. Fel., _Octav._ 22, 2: "Haec aegyptia quondam nunc et sacra Romana sunt."

31. _Carmen contra paganos_ (_Anthol. lat._, ed. Riese, I, 20 ff.) v. 91, 95 ff.; cf. Ps. Aug., _Quaest. Vet. Test._, CXIV, 11 (p. 308, 10 Souter), and _Rev. hist. litt. relig._, VIII, 1903, p. 422, n. 1.

32. Rufin, II, 24: "_Caput ipsum idolatriae._" A miniature from an Alexandrian chronicle shows the patriarch Theophilus, crowned with a halo, stamping the Serapeum under foot, see Bauer and Strzygowski, _Eine alexandrinische Weltchronik_ (_Denkschr. Akad. Wien_, LI), 1905, to the year 391, pp. 70 ff., 122, and pl. VI.

33. Cf. Drexler in Roscher, s. v. "Isis," II, p. 425; Harnack, _Ausbreitung des Christentums_, II, pp. 147 ff.--Some curious details showing the persistence of the Isis cult among the professors and students of Alexandria during the last years of the {233} fifth century are given in the life of Severus of Antioch by Zachariah the Scholastic (_Patrol.

orient._, I, ed. Kugener), pp. 17 ff., 27 ff.

34. Ps.-Apul., 34. Compare with a similar prophecy in the Sibylline oracles, V, 184 f. (p. 127, Geffcken ed.).

35. Iseum of Beneventum; cf. _Notizie debgli scavi di ant._, 1904, pp. 107 ff. Iseum of the Campus Martius: see Lanciani, _Bollet. communale di Roma_, 1883, pp. 33 ff.; Marucchi, _ibid._, 1890, pp. 307 f.--The _signa Memphitica_ (made of Memphian marble), are mentioned in an inscription (Dessau, _Inscr. sel._, 4367-8).--The term used in connection with Caracalla: "Sacra Isidis Romam deportavit," which Spartia.n.u.s (_Carac._, 9; cf. Aur. Vict., _Caes._, 21, 4) no longer understood, also seems to refer to a transfer of sacred Egyptian monuments. At Delos a statue of a singer taken from some grave of the Sas period had been placed in the temple.

Everything Egyptian was looked upon as sacred. (Ruhl, _op. cit._, p. 53).

36. Gregorovius, _Gesch. des Kaisers Hadrian_, pp. 222 ff.; cf. Drexler, _loc. cit._, p. 410.

37. The term is Wiedemann's.

38. Naville, _op. cit._, pp. 89 ff.

39. On the [Greek: hierogammateus] Cheremon, see Otto, _Priester und Tempel_ II, p. 216; Schwartz in Pauly-Wissowa, _Realenc._, III, col. 2025 ff.

40. Doctrines of Plutarch: cf. Decharme, _Traditions religieuses chez les Grecs_, pp. 486 ff. and _supra_, ch. I, n. 20.

41. I did not mention Hermetism, made prominent by the researches of Reitzenstein, because I believe its influence in the Occident to have been purely literary. To my knowledge there is no trace in the Latin world of an Hermetic sect with a clergy and following. The _Heliognostae_ or _Deinvictiaci_ who, in Gaul, attempted to a.s.similate the native Mercury with the Egyptian Thoth, (_Mon. myst. Mithra_, I, p. 49, n. 2; cf. 359), were Christian gnostics. I believe that Reitzenstein misunderstood the facts when he stated (_Wundererzahlungen_, 1906, p. 128): "Die hermetische Literatur ist im zweiten und dritten Jahrhundert fur alle religios-interessierten der allgemeine Ausdruck der Frommigkeit geworden."

I believe that {234} Hermetism, which is used as a label for doctrines of very different origin, was influenced by "the universal spirit of devotion," and was not its creator. It was the result of a long continued effort to reconcile the Egyptian traditions first with Chaldean astrology, then with Greek philosophy, and it became transformed simultaneously with the philosophy. But this subject would demand extended development. It is admitted by Otto, the second volume of whose book has been published since the writing of these lines, that not even during the h.e.l.lenistic period was there enough theological activity of the Egyptian clergy to influence the religion of the times. (_Priester und Tempel_, II, pp. 218-220).

42. Plut, _De Isid._, 9.

43. Apul., _Metam._, XI, 5.

44. _CIL_ X, 3800 = Dessau, _Inscr. sel._, 4362.

45. See the opening pages of this chapter.

46. Plut,. _De Iside et Osir._, 52; cf. Hermes Trismegistus, [Greek: Horoi Asklepiou], c. 16; and Reitzenstein, _Poimandres_, p. 197.

47. Cf. Naville, _op. cit._, pp. 170 ff.

48. Juv., VI, 489: "Isiacae sacraria lenae"; cf. Friedlander, _Sittengeschichte_, I^6, p. 502.

49. In a recent book Farnell has brilliantly outlined the history of the ritual of purification and that of the conception of purity throughout antiquity (_Evolution of Religion_, London, 1905, pp. 88-192), but unfortunately he has not taken Egypt into account where the primitive forms have been maintained with perhaps the fewest alterations.

50. Juv., VI, 522 ff.

51. Friedlander, _Sittengeschichte_, I^6, p. 510.--On this transformation of the Isis cult, cf. Reville, _op. cit._, p. 56.

52. Plut., _De Iside_, c. 2; cf. Apul., _Met._, XI, 6, end.

53. aelius Arist., _In Sarap._, 25 (II, p. 359, Keil ed.); see Diodorus, I, 93, and Apuleius, XI, 6, end.--On future rewards and punishments in Hermetism, see Ps.-Apul., _Asclepius_, c. 28; Lydus, _De mensib._, IV, 32 and 149, Wunsch ed.

54. Porph., _Epist. ad Aneb._, 29. The answer of the Ps.-Iamblichus (_de Myst._, VI, 5-7) is characteristic. He {235} maintained that these threats were addressed to demons; however, he was well aware that the Egyptians did not distinguish clearly between incantations and prayers (VI, 7, 5).

55. Cf. G. Hock, _Griechische Weihegebrauche_, 1905, pp. 65 ff. Ps.-Apul., _Asclep._, 23: "h.o.m.o fictor est deorum qui in templis sunt et non solum inluminatur, verum etiam inluminat"; c. 37: "Proavi invenerunt artem qua efficerent deos." Cf. George Foucart, _loc. cit._ [n. 61]: "La statuaire egyptienne a, avant tout autre, le caractere de creer des etres vivants."

56. Maspero, _Sur la toute-puissance de la parole_ (_Recueil de travaux_, XXIV), 1902, pp. 163-175; cf. my _Recherches sur le manicheisme_, p. 24, n.

2.--The parallelism between the divine and the sacerdotal influence is established in Ps.-Apul., _Asclepius_, 23.

57. Iamblichus, _Myst._, VI, 6; cf. G. Foucart, _La methode comparative et l'histoire des religions_, 1909, p. 131, 141, 149 ff. and infra, n. 66. The Egyptians prided themselves on having been the first "to know the sacred names and to use the sacred speech" (Luc., _De Dea Syr._, 1).

58. This has been proven by Otto, _Priester und Tempel_, I, pp. 114 ff. Cf.

_supra_, chap. II, n. 35. Certain busts have recently inspired Mr. Dennison to give his attention to the tonsure of the votaries of Isis (_American Journ. of Archeology_, V, 1905, p. 341). The Pompeian frescoes representing priests and ceremonies of the Isis cult are particularly important for our knowledge of the liturgy (Guimet, _C. R. Acad. des Inscr._, 1896, pls.

VII-IX. Cf. von Bissing, _Transact. congr. relig. Oxford_, 1908, I, pp. 225 ff.).

59. _CIL_, XII, 3061: "Ornatrix fani."

60. Cf. Kan, _De Iove Dolicheno_, 1901, p. 33.

61. Cf. Moret, _Le rituel du culte divin journalier en Egypte_, Paris, 1902. Just as the ritual of consecration brought the statue to life (_supra_, n. 55), the repeated sacrifices sustained life, and made it _longa durare per tempora_ (Ps.-Apul., _Asclep._, 38). The epithet of [Greek: aeizoos], given to several divinities (_CIG_, 4598; _Griech.

Urkunden_ of Berlin, I, No. 124), expresses it exactly. All this is in conformity with the old ideas prevailing in the valley of the Nile (see George Foucart, _Revue des {236} idees_, Nov. 15, 1908).--When compared with the Egyptian ceremonial, the brief data scattered through the Greek and Latin authors become wonderfully clear and coherent.

62. Apul., XI, 22: "Rituque sollemni apertionis celebrato ministerio." Cf.

XI, 20: "Matutinas apertiones templi."

63. Jusephus, _Ant. Jud._, XVIII, 3, 5, -- 174.