Jasminia

I think Dan Brown achieved a goal that has received little acclaim: people are talking about it, pro or con. There's little doubt that there are specious facets of the book, but there are apparently also suspicious facets of the evolution of Christianity into an organized religion from Imperial times through Late Antiquity. Dan Brown capitalized on areas with little or debatable historicals records and created alternate theories. People create theories daily, and unless Michaelangelo or Magdalene come back from the dead to confirm or refute Brown's theory, it will remain as viable a theory as evolution or gravity. There's been so much hubub about it, particularly in its denouncement, that it raises the question: why such vehemence and concerted opposition, particularly to a purportedly "fictitious" account?

docoflove1974 -- thank you so much for your detailed comparison of Italian and Latin. I'm starting Italian in the Fall, and this will be a great help. I'm also starting my 4th year of Latin, and have already completed 4 years of spanish, 2 years of ancient greek, and 1 year of modern greek. No doubt your summary will help keep it all straight! Thanks again!

Thank you, Ursus! About direct evidence, I came across this in the Anthropology of Religion book cited in my last post: "And in the church of Saint Germain in Paris, a black image of the Egyptian goddess Isis was displayed as the Madonna until 1514." (157) The text unfortunately does not cite its source for that statement, but it's a lead for further investigation. I've also read (purportedly) definitive accounts of early Black Madonna statues as converted Isis statues as well as Isis shrines throughout Europe being transformed to Marian worship sites (either built above, or simply assumed with Isis and Egyptian motifs removed or modified).

Given Mr Jones' predisposition to naturism, I am relieved to hear he was fully clothed during the signing. I don't recall saying that

Terry Jones came to my campus last year to give his Barbarians talk. Some of the material did seem off-key, but on the whole, he offered provocative new perspectives while keeping the audience laughing their heads off. If nothing else, it was fascinating to think of Rome from the perspective of the vanquished. It also put a startling light on how much money it took to keep the Roman Machine going -- funds that were most often supplied by its conquered provinces. The most important thing that the students who went to see Terry Jones that evening learned was that history can be fun. And for that, I'll forgive any seemingly undue exaggerations. Afterwards, I bought the book, got it autographed, and some faculty and some students went out with him for some cold ones. I've since taken up his line of the evening: "I'll talk to anyone who buys me a beer."

As far as I've discovered, though Isis was the goddess with "a thousand names", no epithet with a "virginity" aspect was ever noted before the similarities were noted between her and the Virgin Mary. Some have suggested that Isis was a virgin because of the myth describing when she discovered and magically assembled Osiris' body parts, scattered by Seth. Isis failed to find Osiris' phallus, so she magically created one in order to conceive Horus. The question of virginity taken by a magic penis remains to be argued. Isis Pelagia (Isis of the Sea) was only one of her many epithets. Her association with waters began with her husband, Osiris, who enjoyed wider worship earlier than Isis. He was "the god who ruled over the cycles of fertility and growth"; in the months before the Nile's inundation "Osiris was effectively dead as a fertilizing power ... and Isis mourns for her lost husband" (Naydler 70-71) It is then the tears of Isis that cause the Nile to rise, revivifying and repotentizing the Nile, the land, and Osiris. Osiris, however, is still "dead" and becomes the god of the underworld (Osiris is depicted in Egyptian art as blue or green, which symbolized a deceased person). Their son, Horus (Harpocrates in Latin), takes the divine throne, and is the "protector of life, the guarantor or order and harmony on earth." (71) What emerges in this trinity is that Isis straddles the bridge between life an death, facilitates passage from one realm to another, heals the sick, brings bounty to the living, and is mother to the high ruler. In Greco-Roman times, Isis became associated with the Mediterranean as well. She is associated with Sirius, the Dog-Star, which nagivators used. All that said, I would argue that it is Osiris, not Isis, that is chthonic. I think that Magna Mater may be as much of a factor in this equation as can or any other deity fit with similar qualities (life-giving, nurturing, etc.). Magna Mater is really just a Romanized form of the Phrygian Cybele and the Greek Rhea. In the same way that Magna Mater has changed, so have other gods with migrational skills. But if you're thinking about the neolithic "mother goddess", well, that's out of my histrocial period I'm not sure what I think about a Roman desire for a "Holy Mother." Rather, I think of it as their perceived need for a "personal savior". Women may have been particularly attracted to Isis because they could fully participate in the religion and attain the highest offices. Religious ideas and practices change through time and locale, especially when attempting to migrate into a "foreign" environment. Religions have to translate "religious elements from a language and culture of origin into a new language and culture and also adapting the religion to the new environment." (Bowen 150) By maintaining a set of core beliefs, while modifying peripheral beliefs or behaviors (mainly by syncretism), they were able to make the new religion less foreign while maintaining its exotic appeal. I know very little about Mithraism, so I can't comment on any lines that can be drawn between the two. But the spread of the cult through the armies needs to be carefully considered. Isis' worship was disseminated through the military, trade, friends, families, slaves, and probably any type of social group you can think of. The military was critical in terms of sheer geography, but aside from that, I think they were neither a less nor a more effective means of transmission. Sources: Bowen, John R. Religions in Practice: An Approach to the Anthropology of Religion. Boston: Pearson Education, 2005. Naydler, Jeremy. Temple of the Cosmos: The Ancient Egyptian Experience of the Sacred. Rochester: Inner Traditions Int'l, 1996.

Great article! I just came across it via this post today. What I offer below is basically pieces of my various paper drafts and notes. Forgive the lack of citations, but I have provided a partial bibliography beneath. Isis was first mentioned in the Pyramid texts, in which a very early and strong association between rulership occurs.

I'll give it a go, though I'm more used to going from Latin to English. As in English, many different words can be used for similar ideas, so I've listed each part separately. dent dii = may the gods give largientur dii = may the gods lavish, bestow, give abundantly praebeant dii = may the gods supply (usu. abstract things) tibi = to you omnem = all, everything quidquid = whatever deberis = you are owed mereris = you are deserved/merited Latin word order is quite flexible and is often used to maximize the impact. Using the definitions above, see how the following phrases could be perceived by a Roman listener: largientur dii tibi omnem deberis tibi praebeant omnem mereris dii. quidquid deberis praebeant dii tibi. dii dent tibi omnem deberis. I'm sure others here can fix it up or offer better alternatives, but it's a start.

I think retsina is great when picnicking under a hot Greek sun, and ideal with octopus salad. Not sure whether Dioscorides had already pointed this out, possibly not. Retsina has to be chilled, though. And somehow it's never so good when you bring it home. Flavors of retsina varies wildly across Greece. Some taste like you're licking a tree, and others like a little piece of heaven. My favorites were the locally fermented retsinas in Herakleion and Athens (the latter was a local family with their groves in Xora). "Commercial" retsinas are way too harsh for my tastes -- local retsinas, made in smaller batches, are infinitely better. Some here may be interested in Patrick McGovern's excellent book "Ancient Wine: The Search for the Origins of Viniculture", which traces wines back 7000 years. In it, he explains that retsina was found in pithoi on Crete, which belonged "to the final destruction level of [Myrtos-Phournou Koryphe] during the Early Minoan IIB period, ca. 2200 B.C." (247) and that "winemaking may go back earlier at the site." (250) Another great book, more in line with the topic of this site, is Stuart Fleming's "Vinum: The Story of Roman Wine", which offered a revised calculation on wine consumption to 19.2 million US gallons, or 27.4 US gallons per capita, based on a population of 700,000 people, not including slaves. (59) That's a lot of wine

Salvete! I'm Jasmine, hailing from Arkansas, USA. Thought I'd finally register and say hello and thank you for all of the fascinating info you offer. I'm an overage undergrad, finally finding my passion in life by going back to school, majoring in Classics and Anthropology with a minor in Philosophy. I am currently focusing on the various aspects of pre-500CE religion: cultural, social, economic, architectural, and political, particularly with the cult of Isis. I'm a senior now, but since it took me over a decade to get back to school, I think I'll stay a bit longer Jasmine