User:Mahc2020/Temple of Isis (Pompeii)

Inscription in honour of Numerius Popidius Celsinus from VIII.7.28 Pompeii (The Temple of Isis). It translates to: "Numerius Popidius Celsinus, son of Numerius, at his own expense restored from its foundations the Temple of Isis, which had collapsed in the earthquake. Because of his generosity, although he was six years old, the councillors enrolled him into their number without fee." The inscription is now in the Naples Archeological Museum.

Original section from Temple of Isis (Pompeii) article before my edits: "The preserved Pompeian temple is actually the second structure; the original building built during the reign of Augustus was damaged in an earlier earthquake, in 62 AD. At the time of the 79 AD eruption of Vesuvius, the Iseum was the only temple to have been completely re-built; even the Capitolium had not been.."

Edited: The preserved Pompeian temple is actually the second structure; the original building built during the reign of Augustus was damaged in an earlier earthquake, in 62 AD. Previously to this, in both 54 BCE and 30 BCE, the Roman senate had issued proclamations demanding that the cult of Isis and her temples be demolished. It is reported that there were no volunteers to undertake this process, and that the cult only grew in popularity from this point, so much so that the Temple of Isis was one of the only buildings to be fully rebuilt after the earthquake. At the time of the 79 AD eruption of Vesuvius, the Iseum was the only temple to have been completely re-built; even the Capitolium had not been.."

Original section from Temple of Isis (Pompeii) article before my edits: "Because she was a fertility deity, she was looked up to by women. She was the friend of slaves, sinners, artisans, and the downtrodden, who also listened to the prayers of the wealthy, maidens, aristocrats and rulers."

Edited: "Because she was a fertility deity, she was looked up to by women. She was the friend of slaves, sinners, artisans, and the downtrodden, who also listened to the prayers of the wealthy, maidens, aristocrats and rulers. For women specifically, participation in the cult of Isis provided an opportunity to engage with religion on a level similar to that of men, to enter the public sphere with a role as a priestess that they otherwise could not obtain in Roman state cults, and to earn salvation through a cleansing initiation into the cult. These untraditional options for women began to revolutionize what Roman religion could be."

Original section from Temple of Isis (Pompeii) article before my edits: The Temple of Isis sustained significant damage from the earthquake that affected Pompeii in the first century. When the temple was excavated in 1764 by Karl Jakob Weber, many remnants of temple life were found. Fragments of statues and ritual materials were found scattered in various parts of the temple.

Edited: The Temple of Isis sustained significant damage from the earthquake that affected Pompeii in the first century. Although early excavators of Pompeii found nearly all of the Forum's buildings in disrepair or even in shambles, they discovered that Temple of Isis had been fully restored at some time between 62 CE and the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE. The speed of this particular rebuilding is consistent with suggestions that Isis held an important role in Pompeiian daily life, both religiously and politically. When the temple was excavated in 1764 by Karl Jakob Weber, many remnants of temple life were found. Fragments of statues and ritual materials were found scattered in various parts of the temple.

Original section from Temple of Isis (Pompeii): "The temple also inspired the backgrounds for The Magic Flute opera adaptation..."

Edited: The temple also inspired the backgrounds for The Magic Flute opera adaptation. In the 18th and early 19th centuries, the Temple of Isis in Pompeii served also as the subject of written depictions and illustrations, many of which romanticized and exoticized the Egyptian cult center. One particular book written by Giambattista Piranesi in 1804, Antiquités de Pompeìa, includes illustrations of Egyptian symbols which are not historically accurate to what has been excavated at Pompeii and depictions of the Temple of Isis at a much larger than factual scale. Another illustration of the Temple of Isis from Jean Claude Richard de Saint Non's 1782 volume of Voyage Pottoresque, ou, Description desroyaumes de Naples et Sicile also features a gross misrepresentation of the temple's size. Its intense shadowing and looming clouds only contribute to the Egyptomanian tendency to mystify and marginalize Egypt as it compares to post-Englightenment European notions of religion.

Illustration of the Temple of Isis from Jean Claude Richard de Saint Non's 1782 volume of Voyage Pottoresque, ou, Description desroyaumes de Naples et Sicile

Photographs of the temple's ruins, taken by archeologists and compiled in the "Pompeii in Pictures" webpage demonstrate the disparity in size between these illustrations and the physical space itself.

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