Isis Temple, Philae

Isis Temple, Philae Egyptian Temple The ancient temple of Isis on the island of Philae was the last active temple in Roman Egypt.

It was built in the Ptolemaic era, in the 4th century BC surviving until about 536 AD or thereabouts, long after most other Pagan temples in the Mediterranean had been destroyed, closed, or turned into churches by Roman emperors who outlawed Paganism, after Christianity was declared the only state religion by Theodosius I in 380 A.D. The temple survived until the reign of the byzantine emperor Jus

tinian, who vowed to eradicate paganism once and for all.Justinian sent his commander Narses Kamsarakan down to Philae with a military garrison. The temple was looted and its sacred objects hauled off to Constantinople to fill the imperial coffer. The priests of Isis were imprisoned and not heard from again; they most likely endured torture and eventual ex*****on. The temple was then given over to Theodore, bishop of Philae, who vandalized it with the help of Narses' men, hacking away at the reliefs and sculptures, plastering the walls to hide the hieroglyphs, and then turning into a church. The temple still survives today almost intact - it was once brightly painted, but following the construction of the Aswan dam in the 20th century, it was flooded and all the paint was washed away. It was subsequently dismantled and moved to the island of Agilkia where it stands today.

22/03/2018

"I am Isis, the mistress of every land, and I was taught by Hermes and with Hermes I devised letters, both the sacred (hieroglyphs) and the demotic, that all things might not be written with the same (letters). I gave and ordained laws for men, which no one is able to change. I am eldest daughter of Kronos. I am wife and sister of King Osiris. I am she who findeth fruit for men. I am mother of King Horus. I am she that riseth in the Dog Star. I am she that is called goddess by women. For me was the city of Bubastis built. I divided the earth from the heaven. I showed the paths of the stars. I ordered the course of the sun and the moon. I devised business in the sea. I made strong the right. I brought together woman and man. I appointed to women to bring their infants to birth in the tenth month. I ordained that parents should be loved by children. I laid punishment on those disposed without natural affection toward their parents. I made with my brother Osiris an end to the eating of men. I revealed mysteries unto men. I taught (men) to honor images of the gods. I consecrated the precincts of the gods. I broke down the governments of tyrants. I made an end to murders. I compelled women to be loved by men. I made the right to be stronger than gold and silver. I ordained that the true should be thought good. I devised marriage contracts. I assigned to Greeks and barbarians their languages. I made the beautiful and the shameful to be distinguished by nature. I ordained that nothing should be more feared than an oath. I have delivered the plotter of evil against other men into the hands of the one he plotted against. I established penalties for those who practice injustice. I decreed mercy to suppliants. I protect (or: honor) righteous guards. With me the right prevails. I am the Queen of rivers and winds and sea. No one is held in honor without my knowing it. I am the Queen of war. I am the Queen of the thunderbolt. I stir up the sea and I calm it. I am in the rays of the sun. I inspect the courses of the sun. Whatever I please, this too shall come to an end. With me everything is reasonable. I set free those in bonds. I am the Queen of seamanship. I make the navigable unnavigable when it pleases me. I created walls of cities. I am called the Lawgiver (Thesmophoros). I brought up islands out of the depths into the light. I am Lord of rainstorms. I overcome Fate. Fate hearkens to me. Hail, O Egypt, that nourished me!". Isis Aretalogy from Kyme. Pictured is a statue of the Goddess from Herculaneum

21/03/2018

"Hail, great God, lord of the Two Truths. I have come unto thee, my Lord, that thou mayest bring me to see thy beauty. I know thee, I know the names of the 42 Gods who exist with thee in this broad hall of the Two Truths, who live on supporters of evil and sip of their blood on this day of taking account of characters in the presence of Unnofer. Behold, the Two Daughters, His Two Eyes, (Lord) of Truth, is thy name. Behold, I am come unto thee. I have brought thee truth; I have done away with sin for thee." Book of the Dead, 125. Pictured is the afterlife Judgment Scene, from the tomb of Petosiris, Muzawaka; Greco-Roman period

02/10/2017

Redpath Museum, Montreal Canada

01/08/2017

'Spell for smashing an opening in the sky, (a spell) which Thoth composed for Unnofer when (he) was gaining access to the disk. Rê lives, the turtle dies. The co**se is united with the earth; the bones of Osiris N. are united. Re lives, the turtle dies. Sound stays he who is in the coffin. He who is in the coffin is Osiris N. Re lives, the turtle dies, 'strangled' by the flesh of Qebehsenuf. The one concerned with their needs' is Osiris N. Rê lives, the turtle dies. The reassembled (members) (of Osiris N.) surpass, they surpass his 'original state. As for every mummy for whom (the instructions) are carried out over his inner coffin, the openings in the Sky are opened for him: one for the north wind, that is, Osiris; another for the south wind, that is, the Moon; another for the west wind, that is, Isis; another for the east wind, that is, Nephthys. As for each one of these winds in its (respective) opening, it is its duty to enter his nose. No outsider is to know (this spell, for) it is a secret; the rabble is not to know (it). Do not use it for anybody - even thy father or thy mother-except thine own self. It is a real secret; nobody at all is to know (it).' - Egyptian Book of the Dead, 161

16/07/2017

Statue of Isis, from Passo Corese, Italy

31/12/2016

Hermanubis, serpent-legged, holding the key to Hades in one hand, and a Caduceus, poppies or flower buds, and (palm?) leaves in the other, standing before an adoring worshipper. Provenance unknown, but likely from Roman Egypt. , , ,

06/12/2016

bronze statue (H.29,8 cm) of the Goddess Isis with two uraei twisted around Her wrists;
I century BCE; now in the Walters Art Museum...

13/11/2016

"Who built this holy temple to Hermouthis the greatest? What god remembered the all-holy one of the immortals? How steep and unapproachable an Olympus he marked out for Demeter the Highest, Isis Thesmophoros, and for Anchoes her son, and for the Agathos Daimon, Sokonopis, for (these) immortals he created a most fitting haven! They say he was born a divine ruler of Egypt, who appeared on earth as lord of the whole land, rich, proud and with the greatest power, who had fame and virtue equal to heaven. For to him both earth and sea were obedient, and the waters of all the beautifully flowing rivers, and the breath of the winds and the sun, which when it rises for all shines sweet light brilliantly. The races of winged creatures with one accord listened to him and he was instructing those attendant creatures It is clear that the birds obeyed him, because those who read the script of the holy ones used to assert that once he sent as a messenger a crow, and that she carrying his command with a letter went off. For he was not a mortal man, nor was he the son of a mortal man but rather an offspring of a god, great and eternal, of Souchos, all powerful, great, great, the greatest, a son of the Agathos Daimon he appeared as king. The maternal grandfather of this god is the distributor of life, Ammon, who is also Zeus of Hellas and Asia. For this reason, too, all things obeyed him, those that crawl on earth and the races of the winged creatures of the sky. What is the name of this one? What ruler, what king, or who of the immortals determined it? The one who nurtured him, Sesoösis, who has gone to the western heaven, gave him a fair name of "Beautifully-Shining Sun". When the Egyptians interpret his name they call him "Porramanres the great, immortal" I have heard from others a paradoxical wonder: How he navigated the mountain by wheels and a sail. Reliably learning these facts from the men who study history, I myself, too, by inscribing all of these things interpreted for the Greeks the power of the god and lord, by showing that no mortal ever possessed equal power" (4th hymn of Isidorus to Isis-Hermuthis. Pictured are the remains of her temple in the Fayyum, with a relief of Her)

Serapis, Sarapis, or Oserapis, is a major deity of Greco-Roman Egypt, combining the attributes of Zeus, Helios, Osiris, ...
25/10/2016

Serapis, Sarapis, or Oserapis, is a major deity of Greco-Roman Egypt, combining the attributes of Zeus, Helios, Osiris, Hades, and Dionysos among other Gods. In Greco-Egyptian theology, he often replaces Osiris as the consort of Isis, and is further associated with the Agathos Daimon. His main temple, the Alexandrian Serapeum, was one of the major cultic centres of Roman Egypt, and possibly housed the remains of the library of Alexandria; it was demolished by a Christian mob in the late 4th century. In the magical papyri, Sarapis is called by various secret names, such as O DARGAZAS O DARMAGAS O DAPHAR UAKIABÔTH EPHIA ZELEARTHAR METHOMÊÔS LAMARMERA OPTÊBI PTÊBI MARIANOU. According to an ancient source, Serapis described himself in these words: "The starry heaven is my head, the sea my belly, my ears are in the ether, and the bright light of the sun is my clear piercing eye."

Funerary stele with Isis and Osiris tending to the deceased
20/03/2016

Funerary stele with Isis and Osiris tending to the deceased

02/03/2014

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Aswan

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