Ancient Order of the Pyramids

ANCIENT ORDER OF THE PYRAMIDS (MYSTERIES OF ISIS) - The mysteries of Isis were religious initiation rites performed in the cult of the goddess Isis in the Greco-Roman world.   They were modeled on other mystery rites, particularly the Eleusinian Mysteries in honor of the Greek goddess Demeter, and originated sometime between the third century BCE and the second century CE.   Despite their mainly Hellenistic origins, the mysteries did allude to beliefs from ancient Egyptian religion, in which the worship of Isis arose.  By undergoing the mystery rites, initiates signaled their dedication to Isis, although they were not required to worship her exclusively.  The rites were seen as a symbolic death and rebirth, and they may have been thought to guarantee that the initiate's soul, with the goddess's help, would continue after death in a blissful afterlife.

Some aspects of the mysteries of Isis and of other mystery cults, particularly their connection with the afterlife, resemble important elements of Christianity.  The question of whether the mysteries influenced Christianity is controversial and the evidence is unclear; some scholars today attribute the similarities to a shared cultural background rather than direct influence.  Many pieces of evidence suggest that the mysteries of Isis were connected in some way to salvation and the guarantee of an afterlife.  The Greek conception of the afterlife included the paradisiacal Elysian Fields, and philosophers developed various ideas about the immortality of the soul, but Greeks and Romans expressed uncertainty about what would happen to them after death.