"Astounding though it may seem now, the similarities bewteen early Christianity and Isis and Osiris worship were actually recognized by the early church. In fact, the two reli-
gions were open competitors for the hearts and minds of the same people: apart from the Christians' insistence that their founder had been a real man, the doctirnes were vir-
tually identical...
The lower classes of Rome loved the Isis cult and embraced it wholeheartedly. Such mass movements were always treated with suspicion by the authorities, who saw in them the potential for large subversivion, so the Isians of Rome suffered frequent persecutions. Finally, the Senate ordered the destruction of the temples of Isis and Serapis (the Greek form of Isis) in Rome - but despite full knowledge of the consequences, no workman could be found to do the job. The cult was officially abolished by Julius Caesar.
However, in 43 BCE the triumvirate unexpectedly ordered the construction of a new Isis-
Serapis temple...
In the first century CE fortune smiled upon the cult, and it gained some support among the upper classes, and even among emporors. Caligula...promoted the building of tem-
ples and established Isian festivals. Claudius and Nero were both attracted to the mys-
tery cults in general, and expressed interest in that of Isis. Several of the later Roman
emporors were devotees.
Isis worship continued openly until the end of the fourth century, but its greatest rival
was Christianity. In 391 CE the Christians destroyed the Serapeum in Alexandria and took measures to suppress the cult wherever it was found. The last official Isian festival was celebrated in Rome in 394.
"The Templar Revelation" L. Pickett and C. Prince
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