Priests of Isis perform a water ritual

White-robed priests of Isis perform a water ritual as chanting devotees line the steps of the goddess’s temple in this wall painting from Herculaneum.

Herculaneum was an ancient Roman town, located in the modern-day commune of Ercolano, Campania, Italy. Herculaneum was buried under volcanic ash and pumice in the Eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD.

The mysteries of Isis were religious initiation rites performed in the cult of the Egyptian goddess Isis in the Greco-Roman world. They were modelled on other mystery rites, particularly the Eleusinian mysteries in honour of the Greek goddesses Demeter and Persephone, and originated sometime between the third century B.C and the second century.