Isiac Ceremony Mosaic
Antioch mosaic depicting an Isiac ceremony, a rite in the mystery religion of the goddess Isis. The Egyptian goddess, who searched for her murdered husband Osiris and brought him back to life, became popular among Romans. Isis' search for her husband was a central feature of her cult and was relived every year in October in a ceremony linked to the fertility cycle of the earth.
In this mosaic, a female figure on the right holds a sistrum, a sacred rattle. Another person wears a white robe with a stole on which there are sun and moon ornaments. Both celestial bodies are connected to Isis. Isis was also associated with Sothis or Sirius, the Dog Star; her husband Osiris is Orion. In the Syrian pantheon many goddesses were equal to Isis, such as Atargatis, whom the Greeks and Romans knew as Dea Syria.
From the village of Yakto, near Daphne. Antakya Museum, inv. 849.
Photo © Dick Osseman. Information from Antioch: The Lost Ancient City
