Egyptian temple unearthed near the Bulgarian Black Sea
Archaeologists have uncovered what is thought to be the remains of a temple complex dedicated to Isis and Osiris in the Paleokastro area, near Pomorie on the Bulgarian Black Sea. The temple was built during the era of Emperor Antoninus Pius around the second century AD, though it was built itself on the remains of a sanctuary from the Thracian era.
The Thracians were an Indo-European tribe that occupied the lands of present-day Bulgaria, northern Greece, part of the Republic of Macedonia, Moldova, Romania, eastern Serbia and north-west Turkey from about 2000 BCE to about the sixth century AD.
The temple complex is the first such to be found in an archaeological dig. Until the discovery of the temple plot, the only evidence of worship of Isis and Osiris to have been found on Bulgarian territory had been in written form.
Book Review: Osiris: Death and Afterlife of a God
Osiris, ruler of the netherworld, played a central part in the religious life of the ancient Egyptians, and his cult grew in popularity down the ages, resonating in all the cultures of the ancient Mediterranean. This is the first book to tell the story of the cult of Osiris from beginning to end. Drawing together the numerous records about Osiris from the third millennium bc to the Roman conquest of Egypt, Bojana Mojsov sketches the development of the cult throughout 3,000 years of Egyptian history. The author proves that the cult of Osiris was the most popular and enduring in any ancient religion. She shows how it provided direct antecedents for many ideas, traits, and customs in Christianity, including the resurrection after three days, the concept of god as trinity, baptism in the sacred river, and the sacrament of the Eucharist. She also reveals the cult’s influence on other Western mystical traditions and groups, such as the Alchemists, Rosicrucians, and Freemasons.
