Iseum Beneventanum
About
Domitian founded this sanctuary to Isis around 88 CE, shipping in genuine Aswan granite rather than local stone. Twin obelisks carved with hieroglyphs flanked its entrance, one hailing the goddess as Lady of Beneventum. The find makes Beneventum home to the largest collection of original Egyptian antiquities anywhere outside Egypt. One obelisk still stands in Piazza Papiniano, moved there in 1872, while its broken twin sits in the Museo del Sannio.
What happened here
The building itself is a house for the god, and most people never go inside. Everything public happens on the steps and at the altar in front: an animal led up, examined, killed cleanly, its organs read, the meat divided and eaten. The priest covers his head and a flute player keeps up a noise so no ill-omened word is heard. Worshippers leave what they can afford — a terracotta figure, a coin, a model of the body part they want healed — and the accumulated clutter is periodically cleared and buried on site. On festival days the doors are opened and the cult statue is dressed, garlanded, and sometimes carried out through the streets. The temple also holds money, which is why towns keep their treasury in one.
Sources
Nearby
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