A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

ISIS. ISMENE. 631
god of the Nile, taught the people the use of the decrees do not appear to* have quite succeeded in
plough, so Isis invented the cultivation of wheat and destroying the worship of Isis, for in a. c. 47 a new'
barley, which were carried about in the processions decree was issued to destroy the temple of Isis and
at her festival. (Diod. i. 14, 27, v. 69, &c.) She Serapis. By a mistake, the adjoining temple of
was the goddess of the earth, which the Egyptians Bellona was likewise pulled down, and in'it were
called their mother (Diod. i. 12; Serv. ad Aen. found pots filled with human flesh. (Dion Cass.
viii. 696; Isid. Orig. viii. 11), whence she and xlii. 26.) As it had thus become evident that the
Osiris were the only divinities that were worshipped people were extremely partial to the worship of
by all the Egyptians. (Herod. ii. 42.) Being those foreign divinities, the triumvirs in B.c. 43
married to Osiris, Isis is the land fertilised by the courted the popular favour by building a new
Nile. (Plut. de Is. et Osir. 32.) This simple and temple of Isis and Serapis in the third region, and
primitive notion of the Egyptians was modified at sanctioning their worship. (Dion Cass. xlvii. 15.)
an early period through the influence of the East, It would appear that after this attempts were made
with which Egypt came into contact, and at a later to erect sanctuaries of Isis in the city itself, for.
time through the influence of the Greeks. Thus Augustus forbade her worship in the city, while
Osiris and Isis came gradually to be considered as outside of it there seem to have been several temrndivinities of the sun and the moon; and while ples, which were subjected to government inspecsome of the Greeks fabled that the worship of Isis tion. (Dion Cass. liii. 2; comp. liv. 6.) The
had been introduced into Egypt by Ogyges and his interference of the government was afterwards re-:
wife Thebe (Schol. ad Aristid. Symb. iii. 128), the peatedly required (Tac. Ann. ii. 85; Suet. Tib.
Egyptian priests described the principal religious 36;'Joseph. Ant. Jud. xviii. 3. ~ 4; Hegesipp. ii.
institutions of Greece as derived from Egypt; and 4); but from the time of Vespasian the. worship of;
after the time of Herodotus, this belief became Isis and Serapis became firmly established, and refirmly established in Greece. Hence Isis was mained in a flourishing condition until the general
identified with Demeter, and Osiris with Dionysus, introduction of Christianity. The most important
and the sufferings of Isis were accordingly modified temple of Isis at Rome stood in the Campus
to harmonise with the mythus of the unfortunate Martius, whence she was called Isis Campensis.
Demeter. Diodorus, Plutarch, and others, treat (Juven. vi. 329; Appul. Met. xi. p. 259.) An
the stories about Isis according to the principles of Isium Metellinum is mentioned by Trebellius
Euhemerus, and represent her, as well as Osiris, as Pollio (Trig. Tyr. 25); and other temples and
rulers of Egypt: but in these, as well as the mys- chapels of Isis occur in many Latin inscriptions.
tical accounts of other writers, the original charac- The priests and servants of the goddess wore linen
ter of Isis may yet be discerned. We cannot garments (dOevat), whence she herself is called
enter here into an examination of the development linigera. (Ov. Ep. e -Pont. i. 1, 51, Amor. ii. 2,
which the worship of Isis underwent in Egypt in 25; comp. Tac. Hist. iii. 74; Martial, xii. 29, 19;
the course of centuries, but must confine ourselves Juven. vi. 533.) Those initiated in her mysteries
to some remarks respecting her worship in Greece, wore in the public processions masks representing
at Rome, and other European parts of the ancient the heads of dogs. (Appian, B. C. iv. 47; Suet.
world. Her worship in all parts of Greece is amply Domit. 1.) As a specimen of the manner in which
attested by express statements of ancient writers the festival of Isis was celebrated in Greece, the
and numerous inscriptions. Under the names of reader may be referred to that of Tithorea, which
Pelagia (the ruler of the sea) and Aegyptia, she is described by Pausanias (x. 32), and the naval
had two sanctuaries on the road to Acrocorinthus sacrifice offered to her at Corinth, as described by
(Paus. ii. 4. ~ 7), and others at Megara (i. 41. Appuleius in his Golden Ass. Isis was frequently
~ 4), Phlius (ii. 13. ~ 7), Tithorea in Phocis (x. represented in works of art (Tibull. i. 3, 27; Juven.
32. ~ 9), Methana and Troezene (ii. 32. ~ 6, 34. xii. 28); and in those still extant she usually ap~ 1), Hermione (ii. 34. ~ 10), and Andros (see pears in figure and countenance resembling Hera:
the hymn to Isis, lately discovered there, in the she -wears a long tunic, and her upper garment is
Class. Mues. vol. i. p. 34, &c.). In the western fastened on her breast by a knot: her head is
parts of Europe the worship of Isis became crowned with a lotus flower, and her right hand
likewise established, and many places in Sicily, holds the sistrum. Her son Horus is often repreItaly, and Gaul, are known to have been the sented with her as a fine naked boy, holding the
seats of it. According to Appuleius (Met. xi. p. fore-finger on his mouth, with a lotus flower on his
262), it was introduced at Rome in the time of head, and a cornucopia in his left hand.
Sulla: at a later time her statue was removed It should be remarked that: Tacitus (Germ. 9)
from the capitol by a decree of the senate (Tertull. speaks of the worship of Isis among the ancient
ad Nation. i. 10, Apolog. 6; Arnob. adv. Gent. ii. Germans, but he there applies the name Isis only
73); but the populace and the consuls Piso and on account of the analogy existing between the
Gabinius, in B. C. 58, resisted the decree. A German divinity and the Isis of his own countryfurther decree of B. c. 53 forbade the private wor- men; and the German goddess whom he had in
ship of Isis, and ordered the chapels dedicated to view was probably no other than Hertha. (Comp.
her to be destroyed. Subsequently, when the c. 39.) [L. S.]
worship was restored, her sanctuaries were to be I'S1MARUS (]Io!apos), a son of Eumolpus, is
found only outside the pomoerium. (Dion Cass. said to have fled with his father from Aethiopia to
xl. 47.) This interference on the part of the go- Thrace, and from thence to Eleusis. (Apollod. iii.
vernnment was thought necessary on account of the 15. ~ 4.) There is one other personage of the same
licentious orgies with which the festivals of the name. (Apollod. iii. 6. ~ 8; AsTAcus.) [L. S.]
goddess were celebrated. In B. C. 50, the consul, ISME'N E ('Ieofvr). 1. A daughter of Asopus
L. Aemilius Paulus himself, was the first to begin and Metope, and wife of Argus, by whom she bethe destruction of her temples, as no one else ven- came the mother of Iasus and Io. (Apollod. ii. 1
tured to do so. (Valk Max. i. 3. ~ 3.) But these ~ 3.)
ss 4