Note 50 — CHAP. VIII.

No festivals, perhaps, were so universally adopted and so far extended, as those in honour of Isis. They not only found their way into every part of the East, but from Greece they were also received by the Romans, and from these they passed into Gaul. It has even been conjectured, that the modern name of Paris has its derivation from a temple that was dedicated to this goddess, ϖαρα ισιν, not very distant from this ancient capital of Gaul. The city arms are a ship, which Isis was depicted to hold in her hand, as the patroness of navigation. In fact, a statue of Isis[51] is said to have been preserved with great care in the church of Saint Germain until the beginning of the sixteenth century, when the zeal of a bigotted cardinal caused it to be demolished as an unsanctified relick of pagan superstition.