Customer Reviews

Isis in the Ancient World

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This book is extremely interesting if you have any questions about where Western religious traditions come from. This book clearly dispels the myth that the religion of Isis was merely some kind of fringe 'mystery cult'. It was instead the world religion of the Mediterranean before Christianity. Isis is not given enough credit by modern historians of religion. It was highly organized with its priesthood and liturgies. Abstinence from wine, porc and sex was required of priests for the sake of cleanliness. Bathing and ritual washing were performed several times a day. Hymns were sung at specified times; holy water from the Nile was sprinkled about; a baptism was performed when being initiated as a believer; Isis gave birth to Horus, who is really the earthly incarnation of the All-Father Osiris, on the 23rd of December, etc... Its evolution into/influence upon Christianity can be traced. In fact the dog-headed God Anubis is still worshipped as a saint on a Greek Island to this day; and the festival of Isis being carried to the sea-shore to bless the start of the sailing season, called the "Carrus Navalis" has turned into the "Carnival" that we see today all over the Mediterranean (a false etymology was thought up for it to explain it as the 'carne levare' when the original meaning for the celebration was forgotten). This book clearly shows how Christianity was hardly a rude intruder from an overlooked little corner of the world, and how it instead grew feeding upon the millennia of experience of Isis, first as official religion of Egypt under the pharaohs, and then extending to the entire Medditerranean and European worlds through the Ptolemies and through the Empire of Rome. In relgious anthropology, Isis is the 'missing link' between Christianity and paganism, proving that it was a very mild transition from the one to the other. I can hardly express how fascinating this book is.

Witt's study of the Isis cult focuses primarily on her fame outside of Egypt, but his research is impeccable and always fascinating in its detail. Isis in Rome. Isis in Santorini. Isis in Gaul. Isis just about everywhere in the Mediterranean world. Witt does an excellent job when gathering information about her festivals, cult objects and practices, and her place in widespread popular piety as a precursor of the Vigin Mary figure. There's also info on the gods of Isis' Egyptian entourage--Osiris, Anubis, Horus, Nephthys--and their respective places in the cult outside Egypt. All in all, a marvelous and ample treatment of one of the ancient world's most influential and enduring religious traditions.

This book is good as a research or academic book, not really as a book to sit down and read. It has amazing information and is incredibly well-researched and full of useful sources, but it is incredibly dry and can be boring at times. It wasn't what I thought it would be, but still worth the pruchase.

I love the book, It came quickly, it arrived in great shape, and it's a great read. Thanks a lot!