Editing Isis (section)

===Worship===
[[File:NAMA 1193.jpg|thumb|right|150px|Funerary stele of Alexandra priestess of Isis, [[National Archaeological Museum, Athens|NAMA]], [[Athens]].]]

====Adherents and priests====
Like most cults of the time, the Isis cult did not require its devotees to worship Isis [[religious exclusivism|exclusively]], and their level of commitment probably varied greatly.{{sfn|Beard|North|Price|1998|pp=236, 307–309}} Some devotees of Isis served as priests in a variety of cults and underwent several initiations dedicated to different deities.{{sfn|Burkert|1987|pp=46–50}} Nevertheless, many emphasized their strong devotion to her, and some considered her the focus of their lives.{{sfn|Bøgh|2015|pp=279–282}} They were among the very few religious groups in the Greco-Roman world to have a distinctive name for themselves, loosely equivalent to "Jew" or "Christian", that might indicate they defined themselves by their religious affiliation. However, the word—''Isiacus'' or "Isiac"—was rarely used.{{sfn|Beard|North|Price|1998|pp=236, 307–309}}

Isiacs were a very small proportion of the Roman Empire's population,{{sfn|Alvar|2008|pp=32–33}} but they came from every [[social class in ancient Rome|level of society]], from [[slavery in ancient Rome|slaves]] and [[freedmen]] to high officials and members of the imperial family.{{sfn|Takács|1995|pp=5–6}} Ancient accounts imply that Isis was popular with lower social classes, providing a possible reason why authorities in the Roman Republic, troubled by struggles between classes, regarded her cult with suspicion.{{sfn|Orlin|2010|p=206}} Women were more strongly represented in the Isis cult than in most Greco-Roman cults, and in imperial times, they could serve as priestesses in many of the same positions in the hierarchy as their male counterparts.{{sfn|Heyob|1975|p=87}} Women make up much less than half of the Isiacs known from inscriptions and are rarely listed among the higher ranks of priests,{{sfn|Heyob|1975|pp=95–96}} but because women are underrepresented in Roman inscriptions, their participation may have been greater than is recorded.{{sfn|Kraemer|1992|p=76}} Several Roman writers accused Isis's cult of encouraging promiscuity among women. Jaime Alvar suggests the cult attracted male suspicion simply because it gave women a venue to act outside their husbands' control.{{sfn|Alvar|2008|pp=183–184}}

Priests of Isis were known for their distinctive shaven heads and white linen clothes, both characteristics drawn from Egyptian priesthoods and their requirements of [[ritual purity]].{{sfn|Donalson|2003|p=49}} A temple of Isis could include several ranks of priests, as well as various cultic associations and specialized duties for lay devotees.{{sfn|Heyob|1975|pp=93–94, 103–105}} There is no evidence of a hierarchy overseeing multiple temples, and each temple may well have functioned independently of the others.{{sfn|Bowden|2010|p=177}}

====Temples and daily rites====
[[File:Isiac water ceremony.jpg|thumb|right|alt=Refer to caption|Fresco of an Isiac gathering, first century CE. One priest tends a fire while another holds up a vessel of sacred water at the door of a temple flanked by [[sphinx]]es.{{sfn|Witt|1997|p=117}}]]

Temples to Egyptian deities outside Egypt, such as the [[Red Basilica]] in [[Pergamon]], the [[Temple of Isis at Pompeii]], or the [[Iseum Campense]] in Rome, were built in a largely Greco-Roman style but, like Egyptian temples, were surrounded by large courts enclosed by walls. They were decorated with Egyptian-themed artwork, sometimes including antiquities imported from Egypt. Their layout was more elaborate than that of traditional Roman temples and included rooms for housing priests and for various ritual functions, with a cult statue of the goddess in a secluded sanctuary.{{sfn|Bommas|2012|p=430}}{{sfn|Turcan|1996|pp=104–109}} Unlike Egyptian cult images, Isis's Hellenistic and Roman statues were life-size or larger. The daily ritual still entailed dressing the statue in elaborate clothes each morning and offering it libations, but in contrast with Egyptian tradition, the priests allowed ordinary devotees of Isis to see the cult statue during the morning ritual, pray to it directly, and sing hymns before it.{{sfn|Donalson|2003|pp=34–35, 39}}

Another object of veneration in these temples was water, which was treated as a symbol of the waters of the Nile. Isis temples built in Hellenistic times often included underground cisterns that stored this [[Sacred waters|sacred water]], raising and lowering the water level in imitation of the Nile flood. Many Roman temples instead used a pitcher of water that was worshipped as a cult image or manifestation of Osiris.{{sfn|Wild|1981|pp=60–61, 154–157}}

====Personal worship====
Roman ''[[lararia]]'', or household shrines, contained statuettes of the ''[[penates]]'', a varied group of protective deities chosen based on the preferences of the members of the household.{{sfn|Bodel|2008|pp=258, 261–262}} Isis and other Egyptian deities were found in ''lararia'' in Italy from the late first century BCE{{sfn|Alvar|2008|p=192}} to the beginning of the fourth century CE.{{sfn|Bodel|2008|p=261}}

The cult asked both ritual and moral purity of its devotees, periodically requiring ritual baths or days-long periods of sexual abstinence. Isiacs sometimes displayed their piety on irregular occasions, singing Isis's praises in the streets or, as a form of [[penance]], declaring their misdeeds in public.{{sfn|Bøgh|2015|pp=281–282}}

Some temples to Greek deities, including Serapis, practiced [[incubation (ritual)|incubation]], in which worshippers slept in a temple hoping that the god would appear to them in a dream and give them advice or heal their ailments. Some scholars believe that this practice took place in Isis's temples, but there is no firm evidence that it did.{{sfn|Renberg|2017|pp=392–393}} Isis was, however, thought to communicate through dreams in other circumstances, including to call worshippers to undergo initiation.{{sfn|Bøgh|2015|p=278}}

====Initiation====
{{main|Mysteries of Isis}}
Some temples of Isis performed [[Greco-Roman mysteries|mystery rites]] to [[religious initiation rites|initiate]] new members of the cult. These rites were claimed to be of Egyptian origin and may have drawn on the secretive tendencies of some Egyptian rites.{{sfn|Griffiths|1970|pp=42–43}} However, they were mainly based on Greek mystery cults, especially the [[Eleusinian mysteries]] dedicated to Demeter, colored with Egyptian elements.{{sfn|Burkert|1987|p=41}}{{sfn|Bremmer|2014|p=116}}{{refn|group="Note"|The mystery rites may have emerged as part of the Hellenization of Isis under the Ptolemies in the third century BCE,{{sfn|Alvar|2008|pp=58–61}} in Greece under the influence of the cult of Demeter in the first century BCE,{{sfn|Pakkanen|1996|pp=78–82}} or as late as the first or second century CE.{{sfn|Bremmer|2014|pp=113–114}} Even after the initiation ceremony had developed, few texts in Egypt referred to it.{{sfn|Venit|2010|p=90}}}} Although mystery rites are among the best-known elements of Isis's Greco-Roman cult, they are only known to have been performed in Italy, Greece, and Asia Minor.{{sfn|Bremmer|2014|pp=113–114}} By giving the devotee a dramatic, mystical experience of the goddess, initiations added emotional intensity to the process of joining her following.{{sfn|Bøgh|2015|p=278}}

''The Golden Ass'', in describing how the protagonist joins Isis's cult, gives the only detailed account of Isiac initiation.{{sfn|Burkert|1987|p=97}} Apuleius's motives for writing about the cult and the accuracy of his fictionalized description are much debated. But the account is broadly consistent with other evidence about initiations, and scholars rely heavily on it when studying the subject.{{sfn|Bowden|2010|pp=165–167, 179–180}}

Ancient mystery rites used a variety of intense experiences, such as nocturnal darkness interrupted by bright light and loud music and noise, to overwhelm their senses and give them an intense [[religious experience]] that felt like direct contact with the god they devoted themselves to.{{sfn|Bowden|2010|pp=215–216}} Apuleius's protagonist, Lucius, undergoes a series of initiations, though only the first is described in detail. After entering the innermost part of Isis's temple at night, he says, "I came to the boundary of death and, having trodden on the threshold of [[Proserpina]], I travelled through all the elements and returned. In the middle of the night I saw the sun flashing with bright light, I came face to face with the gods below and the gods above and paid reverence to them from close at hand."{{sfn|Hanson|1989|p=341}} This cryptic description suggests that the initiate's symbolic journey to the world of the dead was likened to Osiris's rebirth, as well as to Ra's journey through the underworld in Egyptian myth,{{sfn|Griffiths|1975|pp=315–317}} possibly implying that Isis brought the initiate back from death as she did her husband.{{sfn|Turcan|1996|p=121}}

====Festivals====
Roman calendars listed the two most important [[Roman festival|festivals]] of Isis as early as the first century CE. The first festival was the [[Navigium Isidis]] in March, which celebrated Isis's influence over the sea and served as a prayer for the safety of seafarers and, eventually, of the Roman people and their leaders.{{sfn|Salzman|1990|pp=169–175}} It consisted of an elaborate procession, including Isiac priests and devotees with a wide variety of costumes and sacred emblems, carrying a model ship from the local Isis temple to the sea{{sfn|Donalson|2003|pp=68–73}} or to a nearby river.{{sfn|Alvar|2008|p=299}} The other was the [[Isia (festival)|Isia]] in late October and early November. Like its Egyptian forerunner, the Khoiak festival, the Isia included a ritual reenactment of Isis's search for Osiris, followed by jubilation when the god's body was found.{{sfn|Alvar|2008|pp=300–302}} Several more minor festivals were dedicated to Isis, including the [[Pelusia]] in late March that may have celebrated the birth of Harpocrates, and the [[Lychnapsia]], or lamp-lit festival, that celebrated Isis's own birth on August 12.{{sfn|Salzman|1990|pp=169–175}}

Festivals of Isis and other polytheistic deities were celebrated throughout the fourth century CE, despite the [[Christianization of the Roman Empire|growth of Christianity]] in that era and the [[Persecution of pagans in the late Roman Empire|persecution of pagans]] that intensified toward the end of the century.{{sfn|Salzman|1990|pp=232–236}} The Isia was celebrated at least as late as 417 CE,{{sfn|Turcan|1996|p=128}} and the Navigium Isidis lasted well into the sixth century.{{sfn|Salzman|1990|p=239}} Increasingly, the religious meaning of all Roman festivals was forgotten or ignored even as the customs continued. In some cases, these customs became part of the combined classical and Christian culture of the [[Early Middle Ages]].{{sfn|Salzman|1990|pp=240–246}}