The Oriental Religions in Roman Paganism [1911] - Get a Free Blog

232 THE ORIENTAL RELIGIONS.
II 2
Vorsokratiker, , p. 480) must have prepared the way for it.
These tablets possess many points in common with the eschato-
logical beliefs of Egypt, but, as their latest commentator justly
remarks (Harrison. Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Re
ligion, p. 624), these new ideas are fairly overwhelmed in the
old mythology. The mysteries of Isis and Serapis seemed to
offer a revelation that had been a presentiment for a long
time, and the affirmation of a truth foreshadowed by early
symbols.
23. CIL, X, 1781, I, 15-6.
24. Apul., Metam., XI, 30.
25. Wissowa, op. cit., p. 292-3; cf. Seeck, Hermes, XLIII,
1908, p. 642.
26. Manicheism was later persecuted on a similar pretext,
see Collat. Mos. et Rom. leg., 15, 3, 4: "De Persica adver
saria nobis gente progressa."
27. A full list of the inscriptions and monuments discovered
in the various cities is given by Drexler in Roscher, Lc.vikon,
s. v. "Isis," II, col. 409 ff.
28. Hirschfeld, CIL, XII, p. 382, and Wiener Studien, V,
1883, pp. 319-322.
29. Cf. Wissowa, op. cit., pp. 294 ff.
30. Minuc. Fel., Octav. 22, 2 : "Haec ^gyptia quondam mine
et sacra Romana sunt."
31. Carmen contra paganos (Anthol. lat., ed. Riese, I, 20 ff.)
v. 91. 95 ff.; cf. Ps. Aug., Quacst. I
7
et. Test., CXIV, u (p. 308,
10 Souter), and Rev. hist. litt. relig., VIII, 1903, p. 422, n. i.
32. Rufin, II, 24: "Caput ipsum
idolatriae" A miniature
from an Alexandrian chronicle shows the patriarch Theophilus,
crowned with a halo, stamping the Serapeum under foot, see
Bauer and Strzygowski, Eine alexandrinische Wcltchronik
(Denkschr. Akad. Wien, LI), 1905, to the year 391, pp. 70 ff.,
122, and pi. VI.
33. Cf. Drexler in Roscher, s. v. "Isis," II, p. 425; Harnack,
ff. Some curious
Ausbreitung des Christentums, II, pp. 147
details showing the persistence of the Isis cult among the pro
fessors and students of Alexandria during the last years of the