In the Roman Empire, the Lychnapsia was a festival of lamps on August 12, widely regarded by scholars[2] as having been held in honor of Isis.[3] It was thus one of several official Roman holidays and observances that publicly linked the cult of Isis with Imperial cult.[4] It is thought to be a Roman adaptation of Egyptian religious ceremonies celebrating the birthday of Isis. By the 4th century, Isiac cult was thoroughly integrated into traditional Roman religious practice,[5] but evidence that Isis was honored by the Lychnapsia is indirect, and lychnapsia is a general word in Greek for festive lamp-lighting.[6] In the 5th century, lychnapsia could be synonymous with lychnikon (lamp-lighting at vespers) as a Christian liturgical office.[7]
- ^ Related to the Lychnapsia by Margaret O'Hea, "Glass in Late Antiquity in the Near East", in Technology in Transition: A.D. 300–650 (Brill, 2007), pp. 240–241.
- ^ Including Georg Wissowa, Theodor Mommsen, and Franz Cumont, as noted by M.S. Salem, "The Lychnapsia Philocaliana and the Birthday of Isis", Journal of Roman Studies 27 (1937), p. 165, and by Michel Malaise, Les Conditions de pénétration et de diffusion des cultes égyptiens en Italie (Brill, 1972), p. 229.
- ^ Salem, "The Lychnapsia Philocaliana", p. 165.
- ^ Michele Renee Salzman, On Roman Time: The Codex Calendar of 354 and the Rhythms of Urban Life in Late Antiquity (University of California Press, 1990), pp. 174–175.
- ^ Salzman, On Roman Time, p. 175.
- ^ Michael McCormick, Eternal Victory: Triumphal Rulership in Late Antiquity, Byzantium and the Early Medieval West (Cambridge University Press, 1986, 1990), p. 110.
- ^ McCormick, Eternal Victory, p. 110.
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