Isis and Magna Mater in Aquileia

Recent studies have been guided by four survey paradigms: the topography of cults, aimed at identifying their urban visibility; the archaeological and epigraphic documentation of the cults, in order to identify their characteristics, timeline and foundations; the participants to the cults, both priests and worshippers, to clarify their juridical conditions and role in the cult’s organization; and, lastly, the ritualistic practices of the cults, in order to verify their possible ‘indigenous’ specificity. The application of such paradigms to the context of Aquileia, which up to now has been researched in a non-systematic and mostly non-homogeneous way when it comes to the so-called ‘archaeology of the sacred’ (16), is destined to produce highly interesting result