DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61617#0222
THE TEMPLE OF ISIS
took their places in front of the temple. The curtains were
drawn aside and the image of the goddess was presented to the
gaze of her worshippers, who greeted her with prayers and
shaking of the sistrum, a musical rattle, the use of which was
characteristic of the worship of the Egyptian gods. For a time
Fig. 76.— Scene from the worship of Isis — the adoration of the holy water. Wall
painting from Herculaneum.
they remained sitting, engaged in prayer and in the contempla-
tion of the divinity ; an hour after daybreak the service was
closed with an invocation to the newly risen sun. This descrip-
tion throws light on the purpose of the bench in front of the
shrine of Harpocrates.
The second service was held at two o’clock in the afternoon,
but we do not possess exact information in regard to it. It is,
took their places in front of the temple. The curtains were
drawn aside and the image of the goddess was presented to the
gaze of her worshippers, who greeted her with prayers and
shaking of the sistrum, a musical rattle, the use of which was
characteristic of the worship of the Egyptian gods. For a time
Fig. 76.— Scene from the worship of Isis — the adoration of the holy water. Wall
painting from Herculaneum.
they remained sitting, engaged in prayer and in the contempla-
tion of the divinity ; an hour after daybreak the service was
closed with an invocation to the newly risen sun. This descrip-
tion throws light on the purpose of the bench in front of the
shrine of Harpocrates.
The second service was held at two o’clock in the afternoon,
but we do not possess exact information in regard to it. It is,