Did Augustus Persecute Isis Worship?

A common misconception held even by some classics majors who ought to know better is that Rome was tolerant of every foreign god and the idea that Augustus suppressed Isis worship is a fictional literary flourish.

While it's true that Rome generally accorded respect to foreign gods, there are a few religions that fell afoul of the powers-that-be. Rome virtually exterminated the Druids. They burned Christians and fed them to the lions. And we learn from Tertullian, Cassius Dio, Valerius Maximus, Josephus and others, they cracked down on Isis worship too.

The female-centric Alexandrine cult promoted unorthodox ideas about gender roles, war and slavery; it was thought to be a threat to the moral fiber of Rome. Writers like Juvenal and Cattullus propagated the idea that the religion was obscene and orgiastic. Certainly, Isis was a favorite amongst prostitutes, which couldn't have earned her any points with the musty old conscript fathers in Rome.

Valerius Maximus tells us that the authorities attempted to purge the cult from Rome, going so far as to destroy her temples--though none of the workmen would take up an axe so the politician in charge had to remove his toga and start trashing the temple himself. Isis enjoyed a brief reprieve under Julius Caesar and Mark Antony--which may have had something to do with the fact that both men were sleeping with Cleopatra VII of Egypt, the New Isis.

After Cleopatra's defeat, however, Octavian took up the mantle of protecting the moral fiber of Rome from Isis worship which, he apparently believed, subverted the proper relations of the sexes. That is to say, he didn't believe that women should think themselves equal to men, and said so. At first he banned the worship of Isis within the sacred boundary of Rome--an indication of its status as un-Roman. However, while Augustus was away in 21 BC, his second-in-command, Agrippa, pushed the Isiacs out of the city entirely and forbid worship within a mile of Rome.

It should be pointed out that while Augustus set about destroying the Temples of Isis in Rome, he allowed himself to be portrayed making offers to Isis in traditional style on temples in Egypt. But that was Egypt, where he wanted to claim the power of the Pharaohs and make a seamless transition in rule. It's also not clear that all these carvings were made at his direction, or on his behalf by well-meaning priests eager to curry his favor. Moreover, the appearance of Isis in frescoes and artwork on the Palatine should not be taken as an endorsement of the goddess. In the aftermath of Cleopatra's defeat, Egyptomania took hold and it became the fashion to decorate gardens with obelisks and sphinx statues, regardless of their religious significance. That Julia, the daughter of Augustus, may have been an Isis worshipper is an interesting possibility that leads one to wonder if it was an honest spiritual calling or one more rebellion against her overbearing father.

The official Roman antipathy for Isis lasted after Augustus' death. Josephus tells us that after a scandal during his reign, Tiberius (who was Augustus' successor and Julia's husband) crucified Isiac priests and threw a cult statue of Isis into the Tiber.

Much of this happened during Cleopatra's daughter's lifetime. That Cleopatra Selene continued to promote the worship of Isis in spite of this official antipathy for her goddess is an interesting facet of her life considering she would have been the most prominent Isis worshipper and a nominal member of the imperial family. It would be her nephew, Caligula, who would restore Isis worship in Rome where it would eventually flourish until the rise of Christianity.