02/06/2026
Apuleius' The Golden Ass is an ancient Latin novel written in the 2nd century CE.
🌹It tells the story of Lucius, who accidentally turns into a donkey after applying a magic ointment. He can turn back into a human only if he eats roses. But this turns out to be no easy task.
🌹Thus begins Lucius’s journey to try to find roses and become human again. Meanwhile, Lucius is passed from owner to owner and suffers cruel treatment at the hands of almost everyone who is in charge of him. During his time as a donkey, he repeatedly fails to eat the roses until he has an epiphany of the goddess Isis, who reveals herself to him in a magnificent speech.
🌹The epiphany builds towards the story's happy ending, when Lucius eats the roses during a procession in honour of Isis herself.
He then turns back into a human and consecrates himself to the goddess.
🌟Isis’ words are astounding to someone used to Roman thinking: she presents herself as the source of all divinity and nature, the Queen of Heaven and the principal of all the gods and goddesses.
This form of religion is strikingly different from the classical pantheon headed by the male deity Zeus.
🌹Here, Isis appears as majestic as an ancient goddess, uniting all the oldest cults. She is reminiscent of the ancient Neolithic goddesses who existed before any male deities.
Apuleius' novel provides a unique insight into a cult that was widespread in the late Roman Empire and which may have had very ancient origins. 📜
Hailing from North Africa, the author incorporates traces of ancient matrarchal cults into his writing. His unique artwork reveals part of our forgotten history. 📜
Our for us to treasure. 🗝️
Teresa Apicella
www.matriforum.com
Source: Lucius Apuleius, Metamophoses or The Golden Ass. Book 11, Chap 47. Adapted by Paul Halsall.
Picture: Ernst Seger, The Veiled Image of Sais
