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Ursus

The Cult Of Isis

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Hi Nephele,

 

Happy to share!

 

Regarding talking statues, I did not know that the Isis bust was also thought of in that way. There is one famous talking statue that I did see (I have a photo of it). It is called a talking statue because even up into recent times, people leave anonymous notes and graffiti on it mostly expressing their outrage at the government, religion, etc. Basically, stuff they would not dare say with their own mouths, and that maybe they could get arrested or ostracized for. So, the statue "talks" for them.

 

Lupercus

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Hi Nephele,

 

Happy to share!

 

Regarding talking statues, I did not know that the Isis bust was also thought of in that way. There is one famous talking statue that I did see (I have a photo of it). It is called a talking statue because even up into recent times, people leave anonymous notes and graffiti on it mostly expressing their outrage at the government, religion, etc. Basically, stuff they would not dare say with their own mouths, and that maybe they could get arrested or ostracized for. So, the statue "talks" for them.

 

Lupercus

 

Ah, thanks for that explanation on the talking statues! Do we have any ancient sources that name specific statues that were used for these purposes? (I'd like to see that photo you have of the other famous talking statue.) I guess I could try hunting up some ancient sources on my own, but it's late now, and if you already have some, it would save me the time.

 

-- Nephele

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It's shocking how many churches and cathedrals dedicated to the Virgin are built atop previous temples to Isis in Rome. The most glaring example of this is Santa Maria Maggiore (the only Gothic cathedral in Rome), which is across the street from the Pantheon. The Iseum Campense is underneath that and quite a bit of surrounding (modern) blocks. 4 of the 8 ancient Egyptian obelisks (of Egyptian antiquity, not Roman remakes) that stand in Rome today used to adorn this Iseum.

 

Also, just a side note... the Pantheon is not across the street from Santa Maria Maggiore, it is across from Santa Maria sopra Minerva!!! This is where the confusion comes in!!! This is the church you meant, right? In front of it is an obelisk on top of an elephant. So, I probably have the right information about the Santa Maria Maggiore and the Magna Mater afterall... which makes sense because the Pantheon is built on what had been the Field of Mars, also the location of the Isis Temple I had mentioned. (*pats self on back*)

 

Lupercus

Of course, you're right. I meant Sta Maria sopra Minerva -- the gothic church with the Bernini elephant statue as base to the little obelisk (probably) from the temple of Isis on the Campus Martius. There's just way too many Sta Maria's in Rome to keep up with :wine: I also read in Italy that Sta. Maria Maggiore may have also been a site for a modest shrine to Isis as well.

 

Sorry for the delay in responding -- grad school is slowly sucking out my soul :)

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Ursus

I very much enjoyed reading your article. I think I would like to learn more about Isis and Mithras.

 

Jasminia

I have book marked your thesis to read at a later time.

 

Ursus and Jasminia is there one book you each would recommend about Isis and the Roman journey with Isis?

 

(this site is wreaking havoc with a minuscle book budget!!!!!!)

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Ursus

I very much enjoyed reading your article. I think I would like to learn more about Isis and Mithras.

 

Jasminia

I have book marked your thesis to read at a later time.

 

Ursus and Jasminia is there one book you each would recommend about Isis and the Roman journey with Isis?

 

(this site is wreaking havoc with a minuscle book budget!!!!!!)

 

 

"The Cults of the Roman Empire" by Robert Turcan has a chapter on Isis which forms the major reference for my article.

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UNRV member Jasminia is a now a published author with an entry in an anthology to Isis, entitled Waters of Life.

 

Yours truly also has articles in said publication, and I also served as co-editor. So yay for us!

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UNRV member Jasminia is a now a published author with an entry in an anthology to Isis, entitled Waters of Life.

 

Yours truly also has articles in said publication, and I also served as co-editor. So yay for us!

Cheers and congratulations to both of you :)B) !

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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.

 

The word virgin did not mean to describe the Goddess like we think today, i.e. a woman who had not had sex... it denoted a sexual autonomy, or autonomy from men in general.

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I am not sure this is known by many, but here in carinthia (and also in gaul, and in the balcan) the celts worshipped in pre-roman times a mother goddess called Noreia, (Noreia's name can be derived from the reconstructed proto-Celtic lexical elements: *n

noreiaisis.jpg

noreiatemple.jpg

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