The First Missionary War, Chapter 8
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The Temple of IsisThe worship of Isis was particularly resistant, she had attracted passionate devotion from Germania to the Sudan.35 In 417, an observer remarked on observing peasants, in the countryside, near Rome, rejoicing during her spring holiday. There was an Iseum, that had survived the destruction of the Serapeum and received the statues from Memphis, situated, at Menouthis near Canopus on the coast, about 15 miles from Alexandria. The canal ride from Alexandria was a favored passage, enjoyed as a combination pleasure ride and spiritual pilgrimage, with many monuments along the way including a famous temple of Aphrodite which had been closed. In 414 the Iseum attracted the attention of the Bishop Cyril, who had it shut down and then turned into a church loaded with Christian relics. But the priestesses and priests had managed to cart away and hide many of the old statues, in a neighboring village, they had set up another semi-clandestine temple in a double-walled house, whose sanctuary was entered through a small window like opening that could easily be closed off and hidden. By paying off the village officials they were able to continue there for decades. In 486, a student, named Paralius, who came to study in the area converted to Christ after being disappointed in seeking guidance at the Isis temple and set off a chain of events leading to its destruction. He had gone to the priestess seeking guidance, unhappy with the advice, he turned against her, publicly, proclaiming that she was a prostitute leading orgies. His fellow students turned against him and roughed him up but then he was saved by some Christian students. He pressed charges and went to court where he was received coolly but in the streets Christian agitation erupted into a riot against the pagans. Some of the last scholars fled the area. The Patriarch of Alexandria got involved and called on Paralius to lead a raiding party of monks from a monastery in Canopus This led to the destruction of the sanctuary of Isis at Menouthis (414); the pillaging party was organized by the bishop and formed by Paralius and the monks. Conditions had become hostile enough that the devotees of Isis had walled up their sanctuary and had attempted to disguise it, setting out incense, sweets and a lamp in front on the street like a domestic altar, perhaps hoping the mob would think there was nothing else. The place was full of wooden statues saved from the ancient Iseum in Memphis, the old pharaonic capital of northern Egypt, at its closing (probably in the 390's) after the locals there felt they weren't strong enough to defend the place. The crowds were stalled for a bit and then figured out the ruse and hauled the statues and other sacred art out onto the street. The monks burned some immediately in the street; some were saved for a dramatic public burning the following day; they were guarded in a church building by monks who sang canticles throughout the night to fuel their courage against the 'idols' they were so afraid of. The sanctuary was razed, the Christian mob that had gathered looted and rampaged ; by the end of the day the monks departed for Alexandria with 20 camels loaded up with statues and other loot plus the priest whom had been arrested. Statues had been taken out of the public baths and private homes in the area, as well, and the monks and zealots jumped around breaking the arms and legs off the statues and thinking themselves clever shouting "their gods do not have surgeons"! The statues of Anubis, Thoth, Bastet and Sobek were all shattered by the zealous crowd. They heaped their insults on these gods who drank and were promiscuous according to the pleasure starved Christists. The priest of Isis was restrained and forced to tell the name and attributes of the gods represented by the statues as they were struck. First they destroyed the images of snakes, which to the Christian mob, were the "one that fooled Eve". Remaining pagan intellectuals were harassed by the police. Some were arrested and whipped.36 Notes to this chapter35. see Turcan 36. Chuvin pp109-11, Turcan, p.128 previous chapter - table of contents - next chapter copyright ©1997 Michael Routery |