The religious purity in an Isiac priest in the works of Plutarch and Apuleius

Abstract

In this article we intend to demonstrate the ideals of “purity” as one of the requirements in a life of an initiate and a priest in the cults of the Egyptian goddess Isis in the works On Isis and Osiris by Plutarch of Queronea and Metamorphoses by Apuleius of Madaura. We maintain that these authors point as an Isiac, that is, a man or woman initiated in the mysteries of Isis or of some god of her family (Serapis, Anubis, etc.) they must behave in order to meet the requirements of these deities and to depart from superstitious practices. Among the expected behaviors of these would be precisely the maintenance of a persevering purity of body and mind.