THE SACRED IN IMPERIAL ROME OF THE SECOND CENTURY AD: SPATIAL AND RITUALISTIC CONSTRUCTION OF THE ISIAC CULT IN THE BOOK THE GOLDEN ASS
Apuleius; Cult of Isis; Ritual; Sacred Space.
The madaurensis Apuleius, author of book The Golden Ass, was an important Roman citizen, diffusor of religious and philosophical conceptions – as the movement of the Second Sophistic and the Middle Platonism – very remarkable in his writings, during the second century AD. Apuleius wrote during the Antonine dynasty, in the imperial time, period during which a considerable cultural diversity flourished in the Empire and reframe their customs. The cult of Isis entered Rome, probably in the first century BC and, after some fases of persecution and reception, in the imperial period it was alredy completely adapted to the Roman needs. Considering this, this study aims to understand the importance of the construction of a sacred space in Apuleius work, reflected as the way the author presents a series of cults considered, mostly, on the margins of the Roman religion and that have been introduced into their reality. The cult dedicated to the goddess Isis, the core of this analysis, is treated by Apuleius in a positive way, since it was already tied to the oficial imperial religion. It is intended, then, to present the cult dedicated to the goddess Isis and the edification of sacred isiac spaces, from the book The Golden Ass, giving emphasis to her cult of Mystery, her festivals and rituals, in order to show the relevance of the deity to this culture and the intention of Apuleius to present positively a cult at the expense of others, with the clear objective of making an apology to the Nilotic goddess.