Athena Review Image Archive ™
Pompeii: Temple of Isis viewed from entrance
Pompeii: Temple of Isis (late 19th c.photo)
The Temple of Isis is located on the Via del Tempio di Iside, near the Large Theater, Triangular Forum, and Stabian Gate. It represents a small Roman temple dedicated to the Egyptian goddess Isis. Devotees of the Isis mystery cult worshipped a compassionate goddess who promised eventual salvation and a meaningful existence after death.
The temple was found virtually intact in 1764 during early excavations at Pompeii. The original temple, built in the period of Augustus (31 BC-12 AD) was damaged in the earthquake of 62 AD, but the temple in its present form had been completely rebuilt by the 79 AD eruption of Vesuvius.
Based on the extant inscription (CIL 10- 00846), now placed over the entrance to the temple zone, the temple was reconstructed in honor of a 6-year-old boy named Numerius Popidius Celsinus by his freedman father, Numerius Popidius Ampliatus, and his mother Corelia Celsa.
This late 19th century photo shows the front of the temple and the stairway leading up to the temple platform. The temple as reconstructed after AD 62 was made of stucco-covered brick and stone, with stucco reliefs on temple walls. It contained numerus paintings in the 4th style, which are now in the National Archaeological Museum in Naples.
Copyright © 1996-2019 Rust Family Foundation (All Rights Reserved).