Temple of Isis and Serapis
Temple of Isis and Serapis
The Temple of Isis and Serapis was a double
History
The cult was probably introduced in Rome during the 2nd century BC, as attested by two inscriptions discovered on the Capitoline Hill mentioning priests of Isis Capitolina.[4] Cassius Dio reports that in 53 BC the Senate ordered the destruction of all private shrines inside the pomerium dedicated to Egyptian gods;[5] however, a new temple to Serapis and Isis was voted by the second Triumvirate in 43 BC.[6] Repressive measures against Egyptian cults were decreed by Augustus in 28 BC,[7] Agrippa in 21 BC,[8] and Tiberius who, in 19 AD, had the priests of the goddess executed and the cult statue thrown into the Tiber.[9][10]
The cult was officially reinstalled sometime between the reign of Caligula and 65 AD,[11] and it continued to be practiced until the end of the late imperial period,[12][13] when all pagan cults were forbidden and Christianity became the state religion of the Roman Empire.
The precise date of the construction of the sanctuary in the Campus Martius is not known, but it has been suggested that it was built shortly after the Triumvirate's vote in 43 BC, between 20 and 10 BC,[14] or during the reign of Caligula (37-41 AD).[15] The whole complex was also rebuilt by Domitian after its destruction in the great fire of 80,[16][17] and later restored by Severus Alexander.[18] If still in use during the 4th-century, it would have been closed during the persecution of pagans in the late Roman Empire.
A fire in the 5th century AD left the structure dilapidated,[19] and its last remains were probably destroyed in the following centuries,[14] although parts of it (such as the two entrance arches) might have survived until the Middle Ages.[20]
Placement and architecture
Juvenal[21] mentions the temple being standing next to the Saepta Iulia, a placement confirmed by the depiction on the Forma Urbis Romae showing a southern part comprising a semicircular apse with several exedrae, and a courtyard surrounded by porticoes on the north and southern sides, with an entrance to the East.[22]
It is difficult to gather more precise data about the original aspect of the sanctuary, as its architecture has been completely erased by later buildings and modifications to the area. The generally accepted reconstruction proposes that the whole area was a rectangle measuring about 220 x 70 m[23][24] that comprised wells, obelisks, and Egyptian statues, along with a small temple of Isis in the northern section.[25][26]
Depictions
The only known depictions of the sanctuary apart from the plan on the Forma Urbis are four
Archaeological finds
Several Aegyptiaca, possibly coming from the sanctuary, have been discovered in the area.
Cult statues
It has been suggested that the
Other possible remains of a cult statue from the sanctuary are a head of Serapis in the Capitoline Museums and a statue of Cerberus in Villa Albani.[42]
Plan of the central Campus Martius
Plan of the central Campus Martius |
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See also
References
- ^ Turcan, Robert. The Cults of the Roman Empire. Wiley, 1996. p. 106
- ^ Lollio Barberi, Parola, and Toti, Le antichità egiziane di Roma imperiale, p. 60.
- ^ Donalson, Malcolm Drew. The Cult of Isis in the Roman Empire: Isis Invicta. The Edwin Mellen Press, 2003. pp. 93, 96–102
- ^ CIL VI, 2247, 2248.
- ^ Cassius Dio, Roman History 40, 47
- ^ Cassius Dio, Roman History 47, 15
- ^ Cassius Dio, Roman History 53, 2
- ^ id., 54, 6
- ^ Tacitus, Annales 2, 85
- ^ Suetonius, Tiberius 36
- ^ Lucan, Pharsalia 8, 831
- ^ Takacs, Isis and Sarapis, p. 129
- ^ Ensoli and La Rocca, Aurea Roma, p. 279.
- ^ a b c Versluys, Aegyptiaca Romana, p. 354
- ^ Roullet, The Egyptian and Egyptianizing Monuments of Imperial Rome, p. 23
- ^ Cassius Dio, Roman History 66, 24
- ^ Eutropius, Breviarium ab Urbe condita 7, 23
- Historia Augusta, Alexander 26, 8
- ^ Versluys, "The Sanctuary of Isis on the Campus Martius in Rome", p. 164.
- ^ Ensoli, and La Rocca, Aurea Roma, p. 282.
- ^ Juvenal, Satires 6, 527 f.
- ^ https://formaurbis.stanford.edu/plate.php?plateindex=30
- ^ Lembke, Das Iseum Campense in Rom.
- ^ Lollio Barberi, Parola and Toti, Le antichità egiziane di Roma imperiale, p. 59.
- ^ Lollio Barberi, Parola and Toti, Le antichità egiziane di Roma imperiale, pp. 64-65.
- ^ Roullet, The Egyptian and Egyptianizing Monuments of Imperial Rome, pp. 31-32.
- ^ a b Ensoli, L'Iseo e Serapeo del Campo Marzio, pp. 411-13.
- ^ Lollio Barberi, Parola and Toti, Le antichità egiziane di Roma imperiale, p. 65.
- ^ Ensoli, L'Iseo e Serapeo nel Campo Marzio, p. 411-14
- ^ Castagnoli, "Gli edifici rappresentati in un rilievo del sepolcro degli Haterii", p. 65
- ^ Platner, A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome, "Arcus ad Isis"
- ^ Richardson, A New Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome, p. 212
- ^ Versluys, "The Sanctuary of Isis on the Campus Martius in Rome", p. 160.
- ^ Ten, "Roma, il culto di Iside e Serapide in Campo Marzio", p. 274.
- ^ Takacs, Isis and Sarapis, p. 101.
- ^ Roullet, The Egyptian and Egyptianizing Monuments of Imperial Rome, pp. 34-35
- ^ Platner, A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome, "Obeliscus Isei Campensis"
- ^ Ensoli and La Rocca, Aurea Roma, pp. 276-77.
- ^ Ensoli, L'Iseo e Serapeo del Campo Marzio, pp. 421-23.
- ^ Ensoli, L'Iseo e Serapeo del Campo Marzio, p. 421.
- ^ Ensoli and La Rocca, Aurea Roma, p. 272.
- ^ Häuber and Schütz, "The Sanctuary Isis et Serapis in Regio III in Rome", pp. 90-91.
Further reading
- Häuber, Chrystina and Franz Xaver Schütz. "The Sanctuary Isis et Serapis in Regio III in Rome: Preliminary Reconstruction and Visualization of the ancient Landscape using 3/4D-GIS-Technology." Bollettino di Archeologia Online 2008 [1]
- Lembke, Katja. Das Iseum Campense in Rom : Studie über den Isiskult unter Domitian (in German). Verlag Archäologie und Geschichte, 1994.
- Lollio Barberi, Olga; Parola, Gabriele; Toti, Maria Pamela. Le antichità egiziane di Roma imperiale (in Italian). Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato, 1995.