Isis and Sarapis in the Roman World

Isis and Sarapis in the Roman World deals with the integration of the cult of Isis among Roman cults, the subsequent transformation of Isis and Sarapis into gods of the Roman state, and the epigraphic employment of the names of these two deities independent from their cultic context. The myth that the guardians of tradition and Roman religion tried to curb the cult of Isis in order to rid Rome and the imperium from this decadent cult will be dispelled. A closer look at inscriptions from the Rhine and Danubian provinces shows that most dedicators were not Isiac cult initiates and that women did not outnumber men as dedicators. Inscriptions that mention the two deities in connection with a wish for the well-being of the emperor and the imperial family are of special significance.

Sarolta A. Takács, Ph.D. (1992) in Ancient History, University of California at Los Angeles, is an Assistant Professor of the Classics at Harvard University. She has published several articles dealing with religion in antiquity.

'This book will be of interest to scholars of Greco-Roman religion and those concerned with Roman social and cultural history.'
Richard S. Ascough, Religious Studies Review, 1995.
'...Takács performs an important service in reminding us that the cult of Isis and Sarapis was a complex phenomenon, and that its public and political aspects were just as important as its more well-known personal apects.'
J.B. Rives, Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies, 1995.