The Iseo

Campense
The Great Temple
of ISIS in Rome
Own Images
and from
Internet

Dr. Guillermo Calvo Soriano

 ISEION, the Name
of the Temple indicates
that it is the shelter
of Knowledge. In this
House we can acquire
the Science of Being
if we piously
and with devotion pass
through the Portals
of the Sanctuaries.
Wisdom is in ISIS
and it is she who
Reveals Divine Things
to those who deserve it.
ISIS moves and advances with Knowledge and by her Movement
it animates and directs Reflection and applied Intelligence, Faculties
that are like a Breath of Spirit, a Movement of the Soul that rises
forward. Understand the Good and the Virtuous. Plutarch.
 The Great Temple of ISIS in Rome, The ISEO, from the year 43
a. C. It occupied an area of ​240 by 60 meters in the Campus
Martius, between the Septa Julia and the Temple of Mirve,
in the area between the Pantheon and the Church of Sant'Ignazio.
Restored and enriched with Works of Art by various Emperors,
according to the Forma Urbis Romae Severiana,
the Iseo Campense was attached to the Temple of Serapis-OSIRIS,
his Consort, in the Central Zone of the Field.
 The “Arcus ad ISIS”
stands in front
of the Two Great Pylons.
Restoration 1918

Its floor plan

with 3 Arches
“Arcus can be found
ad ISIS” both in
the Urbis form
and in Maps
of Rome
of the
16th century,
of
the Tempesta
and of Du Perac
Lafrery.
 It was accessed through an avenue with Obelisks in Red or Rose
of Siena granite in pairs and Sphinxes, to an open Plaza between
Monumental Arches that overlooked the Plaza del Colegio Romano
and the Via de Santa Caterina de Siena. In the center
is a rectangular room, Iseo itself, destined for the Isíaco Cult.
Some of those Sphinxes are preserved in Piazza del Popolo
Avenue of the Sphinxes
The Cult of Isis was introduced to Rome in the 1st century B. C.,
not without the resistance of the Traditionalist Aristocracy:
in 53 a. C. the Senate had decreed the demolition
of the Private Chapels built within the walls,
and the same Iseo in the Campo Marzio was built in 43 a. C.
 In the background was an Esedra, a semicircular structure
with an apse that housed the Serapeum, with a portico and cella,
where today is the Church of San Stefano del Cacco.
 Near the Iseo Campense,
through the Porticus Minucia,
the free administrations
of the Grain of the Nile
were carried out.
The South Western part
of the Campus Martius
was called Isis and Serapis,
for the two famous Temples
dedicated to them.
Their remains are found
under the Palace of the Seminary
and the Church
of Santa Maria sopra Minerva,
The 2nd Plaza Porticada Santo Stefano del Cacco
and the Iseo designed and Santo Ignacio.
by Athanasius Kircher.
 The building was destroyed
by fire in 80 and rebuilt
by Domitian;
Hadrian made later modifications,
while the restoration of most
of the structures dates back
to the Severan period.
The Survival of the Sanctuary
is attested until the 5th century.
Coin of Vespasian. Coin of Aurelius.

Temple of Isis in the Iseum Campense

Thanks to this graphic information we see that the Iseo, the Great
Temple of ISIS was tetrastyle, with four Columns, with the seated
Goddess and the Star Sirius sculpted on the pediment and some
sculptures, supported by supports, framed the Main Staircase.
Temple of ISIS in Pompeii
Temple of ISIS in Herculaneum.
 Iseo
Campense
Area

The Sanctuary, 240 m long by 60 m wide, was divided into three

parts: in the center there was a rectangular enclosure, which was
accessed through Monumental Arches; followed by an open Plaza
decorated with pairs of Obelisks in red Siena granite and Sphinxes,
in the center of which was the Temple of Isis;
a Semicircular Exedra with apse housed the Serapeum,
on which the Church of Santo Stefano del Cacco now stands.
 “The Iseo Campense,
whose Splendor
is such that mere words
cannot help
but diminish it,
is so adorned
with Great Halls
with Columns, Statues
that seem alive
and a multitude
of other Works,
that nothing else,
except the Capitol,
Symbol of the Eternity
of the Venerable Rome,
can be considered
the most Sumptuous
in the World”.
 Reproduction
of Pieter Schenck

The Cult was suspended first by Agrippa (in 23 B.C.) and then
by Tiberius. The Cult was later reintroduced by Caligula
and lasted until the End of the Empire.
Among the Obelisks that adorned the complex,
the one of the Pantheon is still visible.
 a

The Obelisk of Piazza Minerva with the little Elephant.

The Obelisk commemorating the Battle of Dogali
and the one now in Piazza della Rotonda
One in the Amphitheater of the Boboli Gardens, in Florence.
The smallest is in Urbino.
The statue of Isis Sothis, placed in front of the Basilica of San Marco
“Madama Lucrezia”, ​to whom the famous Marble Foot probably
belonged, a fragment located on the street of the same name
that wears a typical shoe of the Isiac Priestesses.
The Statue of the Nile is now admired in the Vatican Museums.
The Tiber Statue is now in the Louvre.
The two Lions that decorate the Fontana dell´Acqua Felice
at the Corner vía XX Settembre.
 In the VII - VIII century AD. Iseo is progressively destroyed.
Remains of the Temple are 5 to 8 m. below the current roads.
The complex Templar Structure was developed following
a North South axis. It currently comprises to the North from
Piazza San Macuto (1) and Via del Seminario (2), to the East from
Via de Sant 'Ignazio (3) to the South from Via San Stefano del Cacco
and to the West in part, from Via Santa Caterina di Siena (4).
 The Pineapple, found near
the Baths of Agrippa,
decorated a Fountain
near the Iseo,
water spouted from its tip.
It was placed in the Atrium
of the ancient
Basilica of San Pietro,
where it fed
“the Cantharus”.
It was flanked by two bronze
Turkeys, the originals
in the Braccio Nuovo,
they came from
Hadrian's Mausoleum.
In the Middle Ages it gives
its name to the Rione Pigna.
 Walking inside the Vicoli del Rione
Pigna, we will return to Sacred Egypt
from via S. Stefano de Pinea called
by the people S. Stefano del Cacco,
because it housed on its façade
a statue of the god Thoth as
Cynocephalus, which they renamed
Macacco and then Cacco,
now exhibited in the Egyptian Section
of the Vatican Museums.

Cacco

Chiesa S. Stefano del Cacco

 Via del Baboon

Fountain
of Baboon Intastato.
Still remembered
today...
 The Table of Isis, exquisitely made, but
the hieroglyphics are meaningless
and the cult scenes seem invented.
We do not know if they represent
a divinity, then their attributes are quite
arbitrary. The Center figure in a Chapel
is Isis. This Table was probably made
by Roman workers, who copied poorly,
unfamiliar with Egyptian religion.
They expressed in their metallurgical art,
what they could, bearing important
testimony to the metallurgical techniques
of ancient Rome, with the surface
decorated with various types of metals,
both precious and vile.
The predominant metals were silver,
The Table of Isis gold combined with copper, also tin.
Egyptian Lions in the Fountains of Piazza del Popolo.
 In the Vatican Gregorian
Egyptian Museum

The Pharaoh lactates

the Stellar Milk
of Hathor
the Divine Cow.
Sphinx of Khenemmaâtrê Achoris Iseum
Isiaco Pillar

In the Capitolium Museum.

Rome
ISIS statues. Roman age
ISIS statues.
Roman age
Ara Isiaca
Sistrum

Sistrum
Lustral
Vessel
Sistula
Sistrum Sistula

Funerary Stele Fabia Stratonice

of Priestess Cantina Procla Cippus
of ISIS 1st century AD. Marmoreus
Now in the Gregorian Egyptian Museum. Vatican.
Now in the Church dei Santi Felice e Regolo de Pisa
 The Cult of ISIS spreads
in Rome from
the Current of Hellenism
and more precisely from
the Egypt
of the Ptolemaic Pharaohs.
At the beginning her name
was ISIS Euploia or Pelagia,
“Lady of the Sea
and of the Winds”.
“Protectress of Navigators”.
Later she is called Panthea
and “Goddess
of a Thousand Names”
as Apuleius underlines
in the verses of his Hymn.
ISIS Pelagia
Her Mystery Cult
is the main one in Rome.
Names of ISIS
In the Roman Empire two Solemn Feasts were celebrated for Isis:
The Navigium, the Ship of Isis, on March 5.
“The Winter Storms Calmed
and tamed the waves and storm of the Sea, meek to navigate.
The Priests of the Temple Sacrifice a New Boat to ISIS,
in Sign and Scoop of Navigation of her”.
 Osiris Isis

The Inventio de Osiris, the Discovery of Osiris, was held from

October 29 to November 1. This Solemnity recalled the Death,
the Discovery and the Resurrection of Osiris, It consisted
of a passage from Funeral Despair to Joy and Exuberant Jubilation
that occurred after the Encounter between Isis and her Husband.
The “Inventio” of OSIRIS
OSIRIS Reborn

Osiris-Apis (Serapis)
Two Faces Front
Born from the Lotus Flower
“I am Mother and Nature of All Things, Lady of All Elements,
Beginning and Generation of Centuries, Eldest of the Gods
and Queen of all the Dead, first and only gola of all the gods
and Goddesses of Heaven,
that I dispense with my Power
and Command the resplendent
Heights of Heaven
and the healthy Waters
of the Sea,
and the Secret Cries of Hell...
To me alone and only goddess
honors and sacrifices
the whole World,
in many Names.
The Trojans, who were the first
born in the world, call me
Pesinunta, Mother of the
Gods”.
 “Hence also the Athenians, call me
Minerva Cecropea, and those of Cyprus,
who dwell near the Sea, Venus Paphia. The
Archers and Sagittarians of Crete, Diana.
Sicilians of three languages
call me Proserpina. The Eleusinians,
the ancient goddess Demeter. Others call
me Hera, others Bellona, others Hecate,
others Ranusia. The Arians,
The Ethiopians, illustrated by the boiling
rays of the Sun, when it is born.
The Egyptians, Powerful and Wise,
where the entire Doctrine was born,
when they honor and sacrifice me
with my own Rites and Ceremonies,
call me my True Name,
which is Queen ISIS...” Apuleius
ISIS
 Iseum of
Herculanum.
Pompeii

ISIS was an Egyptian Divinity and the Mysteries

related to her Cult promised her Initiates Immortality.
 The Sacred Doctrines become
Manifest in the Soul, in dark
parts and as if veiled by Shadows
and in light and bright parts
such as the Sacred Clothes.
The Vestments of ISIS are
of variegated colors because
its Power extends over Matter,
ISIS
which receives all Forms
and suffers all vicissitudes. It can
become Light or Darkness,
Day or Night, Fire or Water,
Life or Death, Beginning
or End... These Vestments are
frequently handled as they are in
Nefertari common use, during the course
of their variable modalities.
 The Vision of what Intelligence,
Purity, Simplicity is, like a Lightning
that shines when crossing our Soul,
cannot be obtained or perceived
more than once, it is the Epoptic
Philosophy or Contemplation.
Osiris is the Origin,
Isis the Receptacle
and Horus the Result. .
Those who have flanked with Reason
Osiris
the confusing mixture of all kinds
of conjectures, approach
The Primordial, Simple
and Immaterial and arrive
without intermediation to the Pure Horus Isis
Truth that surrounds them,
the Supreme End of Philosophy.
Plutarch High Priest of the Temple of Delphi
The Mysteries of ISIS teach that the Soul of Man is not solidly linked
to the Body, it is precipitated in the Regions of the Beyond and must
try to separate from the Body to return to its Creator. The cause
of the Fall is the Beauty of the terrestrial body, by which the Soul is
inflamed with Love, falling on the Earth and penetrating the Body.
only after many
vicissitudes may return
to the Creator, but he needs
the help of the Divinity.
Over time, the purest and
most maternal aspects of
the Goddess prevailed, thus
in the iconography of ISIS,
we frequently see her in
the act of nursing her Son,
her Horus, attributes that
will be repeated in the
Cult of the Virgin Mary.
Isiac Initiation. Cretan relieve.
 Cystophoric Tetra Drachma
The Mystic Basket contains a Serpent within an Ivy Garland.
Two Serpents coiled on each side of the Arch Box.
Cistoforas Proconsulares in the name of C. Fabius.
Roman Province of Asia. 57 - 56 B.C.
 Priestess of Isis.
Hierapolis
Archeology Museum
Pamukkale, Turkey
 This Happy Era ended in 312
with the accession to the Throne of Constantine, 280-336 A.D.
 In 431 the Christian Bishops
ISIS meet in Ephesus, the Holy city
Horus of the goddess Artemis,
a manifestation of the Great Mother.
The Council, tired of murdering and
crucifying the 30,000 Followers of ISIS,
decreed that Mary, Mother of Jesus,
should be called Theotokos, Mater Dei,
Mother of God,
the ancient Title
of the Great Goddess ISIS.

Theotokos, Mater Dei,

Mother of God.
Mother Goddess ISIS
suckles her Son Horus from her.
 The ISIS Temple was
suspended several times,
from Agrippa's ban
in 21 B.C.
Tiberius executed his Priests
and threw his Statue
into the Tiber.
After the reintroduction
of the Cult of Caligula,
and the complete
reconstruction of Domitian
following the Fire of 80 AD.
the Iseo Campense and
the Cult of the Goddess ISIS
continued their life
until the end
of the Imperial Era.
 THE DECLINE AND THE END
After the Edict of Constantine of 313 d. C. Christians began
the persecution of other Religions.
In 380 with the Edict of Thessalonica,
Theodosius declared Christianity the State Religion.
All other Cults were banned, Temples destroyed, Statues shot down,
Priests and Faithful prosecuted by the Authorities or lynched
by the masses led by fanatical bishops and monks.
In 391 Theophilus, Christian Patriarch of Alexandria called
the Monks to “purify” the City of the Serapeum.
In 394 the last Official Rites in Honor of the Great Goddess ISIS
were celebrated in Rome.
In 396 the barbarian Alaric, king of the Goths and Christian Monks
set fire to the Sanctuary of Eleusis…
SAVE MOTHER ISIS …!!!
The Structures
of the Iseo Campense
will have been destroyed,
but its Monumentality is still
widespread in the squares
and Museums. Overcoming
the vicissitudes of Time,
her Presence
and her Sacred Teachings
will remain
in Our Memories...