The ''Navigium Isidis'' or ''Isidis Navigium'' (trans. ''the vessel of Isis'') was an annual ancient Roman

religious festival A religious festival is a time of special importance marked by adherents to that religion. Religious festivals are commonly celebrated on recurring cycles in a calendar year or lunar calendar. The science of religious rites and festivals is known ...

in honor of the goddess

Isis Isis (; ''Ēse''; ; Meroitic: ''Wos'' 'a''or ''Wusa''; Phoenician: 𐤀𐤎, romanized: ʾs) was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kin ...

, held on March 5. The festival outlived Christian persecution by

Theodosius Theodosius ( Latinized from the Greek "Θεοδόσιος", Theodosios, "given by god") is a given name. It may take the form Teodósio, Teodosie, Teodosije etc. Theodosia is a feminine version of the name. Emperors of ancient Rome and Byzantium ...

(391) and Arcadius' persecution against the

Roman religion Religion in ancient Rome consisted of varying imperial and provincial religious practices, which were followed both by the people of Rome as well as those who were brought under its rule. The Romans thought of themselves as highly religious, ...

(395). In the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post- Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediter ...

, it was still celebrated in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

at least until the year 416.Streete (2000) p. 370 In

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...

, it was suppressed by Christian authorities in the 6th century. The ''Navigium Isidis'' celebrated Isis' influence over the sea and served as a prayer for the safety of seafarers and, eventually, of the Roman people and their leaders. It consisted of an elaborate procession, including Isiac priests and devotees with a wide variety of costumes and sacred emblems, carrying a model ship from the local Isis temple to the sea or to a nearby river. Modern carnival resembles the festival of the ''Navigium Isidis'',Valantasis (2000) p.378 and some scholars argue that they share the same origin (via ''carrus navalis'', meaning ''naval wagon'', i.e. ''float'' – later becoming ''car-nival''). Many elements of Carnival were in turn appropriated in the ''Corpus Christi'' festival, most prominently in the

Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula (), ** * Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica'' ** ** * french: Péninsule Ibérique * mwl, Península Eibérica * eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, def ...

(Spain and Portugal).

Notes

References

* Alföldi, Andreas (1937) ''A Festival of Isis in Rome under the Christian Emperors of the IVth Century'', Budapest *Forrest, M. Isidora (2001
''Isis magic: cultivating a relationship with the goddess of 10,000 names''
* Griffiths, J. Gwyn (1975
''The Isis-book: Metamorphoses, Book 11''
chapter ''Commentary'' pp. 111–346 * di Cocco, Giampaolo (2007) ''Alle origini del Carnevale: Mysteria isiaci e miti cattolici'' (Florence: Pontecorboli) *Haase, Wolfgang and Temporini, Hildegard (1986) ''

Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt , commonly referred to by its German acronym, ''ANRW'', or in English as ''Rise and Decline of the Roman World'', is an extensive collection of books dealing with the history and culture of ancient Rome. Akin to a journal and published in various ...

'', Volume 16, Part 3 *Rudwin, Maximilian J. (1919
''The Origin of the German Carnival Comedy''
in

The Journal of English and Germanic Philology The ''Journal of English and Germanic Philology'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal of medieval studies that was established in 1897 and is now published by University of Illinois Press. Its focus is on the cultures of English, German ...

Vol. 18, No. 3 (Jul., 1919), pp. 402–454 *Streete, Gail Corrington (2000) ‘An Isis Aretalogy from Kyme in Asia Minor, First Century B.C.E’, in
Religions of Late Antiquity in Practice
'' ed. by Richard Valantasi (Princeton: Princeton University Press), pp. 369-384

See also

Notes

References

Further reading