Ancient World Review

The Temple Of Isis In Pompeii

"The Temple of Isis is a Roman temple dedicated to the Egyptian goddess Isis. This small and almost intact temple was among one of the first discoveries during the excavation of Pompeii in 1764." (Wikipedia)

"... The preserved Pompeian temple is actually the second structure; the original building built during the reign of Augustus was damaged in an earlier earthquake of 62 AD. Seventeen years later with the massive volcanic eruption, the Iseum [Isis temple] alone was the sole temple to be completely rebuilt—ahead even of the Capitolium."

Next video shows the standing ruins of the temple as they appeared in 2009. All of its wall paintings and statues were apparently moved to the Archaeological Museum at Naples.

"The worship of Isis was [originally] treated with suspicion in official circles because of its associations with Ptolemaic Egypt," according to Pompeii: The Last Day by Paul Wilkinson (p.47). "After the annexation of Egypt by Augustus in 30 BC, however, attitudes relaxed and by AD 38 Rome itself had a Temple of Isis. The cult of Isis had its own full-time priests, whereas the more official Roman religions did not."

More views of the temple (including the entrance to an underground ritual purification chamber) can be seen in the next video. Turn up the volume.

According to Pompeii: The Last Day (pp. 176-177), "The sanctuary around the Temple of Isis is enclosed by walls on its east and north sides. It adjoins the Samnite Gymnasium [1] to the west and the theaters to the south. Very little is left of the original temple because it had been almost completely destroyed by the earthquake of AD 62. It was completely rebuilt in interesting circumstances by Numerius Popidius Celsinus. He was a six-year-old child who was admitted into the ruling body of Pompeii, the collegium decurionum, as a reward for his generosity (his father having actually provided the finances)." [2]

[1] "In the 5th century BC, the Samnites conquered [Pompeii] (and all the other towns of Campania); the new rulers imposed their architecture and enlarged the town. After the Samnite Wars (4th century BC), Pompeii was forced to accept the status of socium of Rome, maintaining, however, linguistic and administrative autonomy. In the 4th century BC, it was fortified. Pompeii remained faithful to Rome during the Second Punic War." (Wikipedia)

[2] According to Wilkinson, Numerius Popidius Celsinus was the name of the six-year-old child, but other sources give this as the father's name. It's possible that they both had the same name, however. One of the temple inscriptions reads "'Numerius Popidius Celsinus, son of Numerius, rebuilt at his own expense from its foundations, the Temple of Isis, which had collapsed in an earthquake; because of his generosity, although he was only six years old, the town councilors nominated him into their number free of charge.'" Source: The Post Hole. The Latin and an English translation of the inscription can be found here.

Note: The video above is part of a longer lecture series on a variety of ancient history topics.

Isis was an important deity in Pompeii, probably because of the goddess's association with water:

"Because this temple served the Isis cult and was not a public civil space, the Temple of Isis, or Iseum, and Isis herself must have held special meaning and value for the city of Pompeii. Pompeii’s seafaring economy and the rise of personal religion in the Roman world may explain this high value. Since Pompeii relied on commercial seafaring to support its economy, Isis’s emphasis on stable and life-giving water defeating the often treacherous, unpredictable, and sometimes-deadly water of the sea, strengthened the local cult. The confluence of architecture, art, and rituals implies why the Pompeiians so highly valued a cult sanctuary – gentle Isis, offering resurrection and regulated water, provided a comforting counterbalance to unpredictable Neptune." (The Post Hole).

Related: The Temples of Pompeii

Oriental and Mystery Cults in Pompeii

The Sun Temple At Konarak

"On the shores of the Bay of Bengal, bathed in the rays of the rising sun, the [13th cent. Hindu] temple at Konarak [aka Konark] is a monumental representation of the sun god Surya's chariot; its 24 wheels are decorated with symbolic designs and it is led by a team of six horses. Built in the 13th century, it is one of India's most famous Brahman sanctuaries." Source: UNESCO World Heritage List.

According to Myoksha, a provider of pilgrimage tours and temple guides in India, "Konark Temple was referred to as 'Black Pagoda' by European travelers sailing the shores of the Arabian sea. It was so called maybe because of its dark colour due to continuous plastering and subsequent blackening of the surface over many centuries as mentioned by S.P Gupta in his book 'Temples in India'. It may also be that some European scholars believed that the exceptionally frank eroticism [next video] of many of the Konark sculptures has given it the name 'Black Pagoda'."

"The Sun Temple at Konarak was built in about 1250 AD by the East Ganga king Narasimhadeva, It is thought he built the temple to commemorate military successes against Muslim invaders." Source: Sacred Destinations.

"According to local legend, the temple has a great aura of power that comes from two very powerful magnets said to have been built into the tower - magnets that allowed the king's throne to hover in mid-air."

This magnetic aura could also be the reason for the name "Black Pagoda:"

"European mariners sailing off the coast used the temple's tower for navigation, but dubbed it the Black Pagoda for the frequent shipwrecks that occurred along the coast. They attributed the disasters to the legendary magnets' effect on the tidal pattern." (Sacred Destinations)

This is a magnificent temple, but King Narasimhadeva should be especially remembered for the fact that he "defeated the Muslim forces of Bengal who were constantly posing a threat to the Eastern Ganga dynasty's rule over Odisha [ancient Utkala], and because he was "one the few rulers in India who took the offensive against the Islamic expansion over India..." (Wikipedia)

Narasimhadeva should receive the same respect that we give to Charles Martel in the West.

Neanderthals Made Oldest-Known Cave Paintings

Closed-captions useful.

"Neanderthals painted caves in what is now Spain before their cousins, Homo sapiens, even arrived in Europe, according to research published today [2-22-18] in Science. The finding suggests that the extinct hominids, once assumed to be intellectually inferior to humans, may have been artists with complex beliefs." Source: Nature (2018).

"Ladder-like shapes, dots and handprints were painted and stenciled deep in caves at three sites in Spain. Their precise meaning may forever be unknowable, says Alistair Pike, an archaeologist at the University of Southampton, UK, who co-authored the study, but they were almost certainly meaningful to our lost kin. 'It wasn’t simply decorating your living space,' Pike says. 'People were making journeys into the darkness.'"

The Creation & Afterlife Of The King James Bible

"The dramatic story of the King James Bible and the English Bibles that came before it is part of a much larger, even epic, narrative that spans not just centuries, but millennia: the history of the Christian Bible as a book. This gallery offers a look at a wide sampling of early Bibles and psalters (collections of the psalms)." Source: Manifold Greatness.

Comment: I'm not that interested in the Bible itself, but it doesn't really matter. I love everything about old books from their bindings and worn covers to the feel of their pages and the look of their text and engravings. They're works of art, designed to last, and the care that went into their production, not to mention their age, gives their content an almost mystical aura of ancient wisdom.

I've always wanted to collect old books--really old books--but I don't have the slightest idea how to get into something like that and, in any case, I couldn't afford it. If I did know what I was doing and had the money, I know what I'd like to collect, though. Old Bibles may be priceless, but they're a little too tame for me. I'm more interested in dangerous knowledge and forbidden books like the Necronomicon or the Nine Gates Of The Kingdom Of Shadows. Too bad they don't actually exist.

Related: "The Making Of A Medieval Book."

Bloody Gladiator Fresco Unearthed In Pompeii

"Rich, vibrant hues in a fresco recently uncovered at Pompeii illustrate the brutal finale of a violent battle between two gladiators." Source: Live Science

"The unknown artist was generous with the color red; the upright victor is bleeding from several gashes, and the losing fighter's body is striped with gore as bloody drops spray from multiple wounds on his arm and upper body.

"Officials with the Archaeological Park of Pompeii announced the find Oct. 11 on the park's website. The fresco was found on a wall in the ruins of an ancient tavern in Regio V, a zone in the northeastern part of Pompeii, park representatives reported. "

The Guardian Of The Amphipolis Tomb

Video from 2018.

"Alexandros Kochliaridis, the first man to stumble upon the ruins of the Amphipolis [Kasta] tomb, talks about the famed Kasta grave and the ancient treasures hidden in the heart of Alexander the Great’s Macedonia." Source: Greek Reporter (2018).

"The area became famous a few years ago when the Kasta tomb was uncovered leading many to think — wishfully — that it was Alexander the Great’s burial site. Although there are still different unconfirmed theories on who was inside the tomb – Kochliaridis has his own, Amphipolis is full of archaeological treasures described as early as in Thoycydides texts in 4th century BC."

Note: The Kasta Tomb dropped out of the news several years ago around the time of the Greek financial crisis. According to Alexander scholar Andrew Chugg, the Greek government was thwarting all progress on the tomb for political reasons. I'm not sure what happened since then -- I don't know much about Greek politics -- but it looks like things have gotten back on track, more or less. The site has been under restoration and the work is apparently finished:

"Restoration and support works on the Kasta tomb at the Amphipolis site in northern Greece, are set to be completed by August, the Greek culture ministry said this week, adding that the Serres Ephorate of Antiquities will then proceed with studies for support interventions." Source: Greek Travel Pages (July 2019).

"...The ministry adds that work carried out on three of the four sites of the monument have already reveled the 'architecture, size, scale, sculptures and inscriptions of the brilliant ancient construction'."

Also see: Huge Amphipolis monument to open possibly in northern Greece by 2021.

The Archaeological Museum of Amphipolis.

"Τhe Museum of Amphipolis houses the material remains of the ancient city of Amphipolis, covering a time span from the prehistoric times down to the Byzantine period. Findings brought to light during recent archaeological excavations are housed in its storage areas, and studied, classified and restored in its workshops." Source: Greek Travel Pages.

Ruins of the city of Amphipolis. 

Archaeologists In Pompeii Discover "Enchanted" Shrine With Gorgeously Preserved Frescoes

"...archaeologists for the Great Pompeii Project have uncovered yet another impressive discovery: an ancient shrine, or lararium, covered in gorgeously preserved frescoes, in a 16-by-12-foot room containing an altar, a garden, and a small pool." Source: Art Net (2018).

"The Italian media has dubbed the new room, which would have been partially covered by a tile roof, 'the Enchanted Garden.' The figures in the paintings include two serpents, a wild boar fighting unidentified creatures against a blood-red backdrop, and a mysterious man with the head of a dog that may have been inspired by the Egyptian god Anubis. In front of a painted peacock, strolling through the plants, there would have been a planted flower bed, extending the illusionistic decorative design into the real world."

Note: A lecture describing the Great Pompeii Project can be found here, but the audio isn't very clear.

Pompeii Then And Now

An excellent guide to Pompeii can be found at the Pompeii Ruins site.

Paleolithic Cave Art & Shamanism

The El Castillo Cave art -- the oldest of which is thought to be around 40,800 years old -- could be "the oldest known well-dated cave paintings in the world—a title previously held by France's Chauvet cave paintings, believed to be at least 37,000 years old," according to National Geographic (2012). Very ancient cave paintings have also been discovered in Indonesia, but they seem to date to around the same period as the Chauvet paintings:

"Paintings of wild animals and hand markings left by adults and children on cave walls in Indonesia are at least 35,000 years old, making them some of the oldest artworks known." Source: The Guardian (2014). (See next video.)

What does all of this cave art mean? Why was it created in the first place? No one really knows and archaeologists have tended to focus on technical issues like dating the art rather than speculate about its purpose:

"Ever since the beginning of the 20th century, several attempts have been made to find the meaning(s) of Paleolithic rock art. Art for art’s sake, totemism, the Abbe Breuil’s hunting magic and Leroi-Gourhan’s and Laming-Emperaires’s structuralist theories were proposed and then abandoned one after the other .... Since then, most specialists have made up their minds that it would be hopeless to look for the meanings behind the art. They prefer to spend their time and efforts recording it, describing it and dating it, to endeavor to answer the questions 'what?', 'how?' and 'when?', thus carefully avoiding the fundamental question 'why?'." Source: Bradshaw Foundation.

The South African scholar David Lewis-Williams has proposed that Paleolithic cave art provides evidence for Stone Age shamanism. (Next video is from an interview with Graham Hancock.)

"Considering the fact that shamanism is so widespread among hunter-gatherers and that Upper Paleolithic people were admittedly hunter-gatherers, looking to shamanism as a likely religion for them should have been the first logical step whenever the question of meaning arose." (Bradshaw Foundation).

"... shamanic religions evidence several characteristics which can make us understand cave art better. The first one is their concept of a complex cosmos in which at least two worlds - or more - coexist, be they side by side or one above the other. Those worlds interact with one another and in our own world most events are believed to be the consequence of an influence from the other-world(s). The second one is the belief of the group in the ability for certain persons to have at will a direct controlled relationship with the other-world. This is done for very practical purposes : to cure the sick, to maintain a good relationship with the powers in the other-world, to restore an upset harmony, to reclaim a lost soul, to make good hunting possible, to forecast the future, to cast spells, etc." (Bradshaw foundation.)

Stone Age cave paintings are very similar around the world, a striking fact in itself. If Lewis-William's theory is correct, it means that some form of shamanism was the original religion - the primal religion - of the human race. It also suggests that religion may have a pre-human or pre-Homo Sapiens origin since some experts have conjectured that the art discovered in the El Castillo Cave may have been created by Neanderthals.

Egyptian Ritual Images From The Neolithic Period

Video from 2018.

"Egyptologists have discovered rock art from the 4th millennium BC during an excavation at a necropolis near Aswan in Egypt. The paintings were engraved into the rock in the form of small dots and depict hunting scenes like those found in shamanic depictions. They may represent a link between the Neolithic period and Ancient Egyptian culture. The discovery earned the scientists the award for one of the current ten most important archeological discoveries in Egypt from the Minister of Antiquities in Cairo." Source: Science Daily (2017).