Pastophori
Pastophori were Egyptian priests, so called because they carried in processions small shrines (παστοὺ) of their deity. They formed an inferior order of the priesthood: according to Diodorus (1.29), the Egyptian ἱερεῖς corresponded in rank to the Eumolpidae, the παστοφόροι of Isis to the κήρυκες of the Eleusinian worship. They were introduced into Italy along with the worship of Isis, and formed into collegia in various towns. Apuleius (Met. 11.17), speaking of pastophori, says, quod sacrosancti collegii nomen est.
In an inscription (C. I. L. 5.2806) the tablet seems to be dedicated by a perpetuus sacerdos Isidis Augustae pastophorus;
and in another (C. I. L. 5.7468) we have a tablet of Industria in the plain of the Po, dedicated to their patronus, the Curator calendarii in that town, by the Collegium Pastophorum Industriensium.
Their lodgings, attached to the temple which they served, were called παστοφόριον, whence this name was sometimes given by the LXX. and by Josephus to the priests' apartments attached to the Jewish temple. (Jer. 25.4; Joseph. B. J. 4.12.)
From William Smith (ed.), Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities. Text provided under a CC BY-SA license by Perseus Digital Library, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu, with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities and Tufts University. Data accessed from https://github.com/PerseusDL/canonical-pdlrefwk/ on 17 October 2026.