Pompeii And Herculaneum Cult

The ancient cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum were very open to other cultures compared to other non-roman cities. various buildings for example temples and shrines and artefacts such as cult objects can show the religious and cultural influences of foreign religions and cults in Pompeii and Herculaneum. Due to the volcanic eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79 these buildings and artefacts have been preserved. Due to Pompeii expansive trading with the Hellenic east these foreign religions and cults have appeared in Pompeii and Herculaneum. the existence of these buildings and cult objects shows that Pompeii and Herculaneum were multi cultural societies that integrated other cultures and religions despite the fact that there was an official religion of Rome. The two most predominate religions were The cult of Isis and the and the cult of Bacchus/Dionysus. though evidence from the temple of Isis , frescos from the villa of mysteries …show more content…
The cult of Isis was a very popular foreign cult in Pompeii as it was accessible to slaves, freedmen and women. throughout Pompeii and Herculaneum many shrines and temples have been found many of which were found in private homes. Artefacts such as statues, paintings or other cult objects have been found as well showing that the religion of the Hellenise or Greek adaption of the Egyptian goddess Isis was worshiped in Pompeii and Herculaneum. the Temple of Isis1 found just outside of the forum was the major point of worship of the goddess showing the cults importance and following by the fact that it is so near to the centre of the city. The cult of Isis was introduced through Pompeii's trade with the Hellenic east as Pompeii was a large trading town and archaeologists have evidence to show that the cult was present in Herculaneum it is possible that it had spread throughout the Campania region and possibly throughout Italy. One of the reasons that this