tian
gods had become entirely Roman.[30]

The climax of their power seems to have been reached at the beginning of
the third century; later on the popular vogue and official support went to
other divinities, like the Syrian Baals and the Persian {85} Mithras. The
progress of Christianity also deprived them of their power, which was,
however, still considerable until the end of the ancient world. The Isis
processions that marched the streets of Rome were described by an eye
witness as late as the year 394,[31] but in 391 the patriarch Theophilus
had consigned the Serapeum of Alexandria to the flames, having himself
struck the first blow with an ax against the colossal statue of the god
that had so long been the object of a superstitious veneration. Thus the
prelate destroyed the "very head of idolatry," as Rufinus put it.[32]

As a matter of fact, idolatry received its death blow. The worship of the
gods of the Ptolemies died out completely between the reigns of Theodosius
and Justinian,[33] and in accordance with the sad prophecy of Hermes
Trismegistus[34] Egypt, Egypt herself, lost her divinities and became a
land of the dead. Of her religions nothing remained but fables that were no
longer believed, and the only thing that reminded the barbarians who came
to inhabit the country of its former piety, were words engraved on stone.

* * * * *

This rapid sketch of the history of Isis and Serapis shows that these
divinities were worshiped in the Latin world for more than five centuries.
The task of pointing out the transformations of the cult during that long
period, and the local differences there may have been in the various
provinces, is reserved for future researches. These will undoubtedly find
that the Alexandrian worship did not become Latinized under the empire, but
that its Oriental character became more and more pronounced. When Domitian
restored the Iseum of the Campus Martius and that of Beneventum, he {86}
transferred from the valley of the Nile sphinxes, cynocephali and obelisks
of black or pink granite bearing borders of hieroglyphics of Amasis,
Nectanebos or even Rameses II. On other obelisks that were erected in the
propyleums even the inscriptions of the emperors were written in
hieroglyphics.[35] Half a century later that true dilettante, Hadrian,
caused the luxuries of Canopus to be reproduced, along with the vale of
Tempe, in his immense villa at Tibur, to enable him to