Yesterday this Morning this was the Inform,
(I have yet to read either story - future referenced for Sake)
Isis (
Ancient Greek:
Ἶσις, original
Egyptian pronunciation more likely "Aset" or "Iset") is a goddess in
Ancient Egyptian religious beliefs, whose worship spread throughout the
Greco-Roman world. She was worshipped as the ideal mother and wife as well as the patroness of nature and magic. She was the friend of
slaves,
sinners,
artisans and the downtrodden, but she also listened to the prayers of the wealthy, maidens, aristocrats and rulers.
[1] Isis is often depicted as the mother of
Horus, the hawk-headed god of war and protection (although in some traditions Horus's mother was
Hathor). Isis is also known as protector of the dead and goddess of children.
The name Isis means "Throne".
[2] Her headdress is a throne. As the personification of the throne, she was an important representation of the pharaoh's power. The pharaoh was depicted as her child, who sat on the throne she provided. Her
cult was popular throughout Egypt, but her most important
temples were at Behbeit El-Hagar in the
Nile delta, and, beginning in the reign with Nectanebo I (380–362 BCE), on the island of
Philae in Upper Egypt.
In the typical form of her myth, Isis was the first daughter of
Geb, god of the Earth, and
Nut, goddess of the Sky, and she was born on the fourth
intercalary day. She married her brother,
Osiris, and she conceived Horus with him. Isis was instrumental in the resurrection of Osiris when he was murdered by
Set. Using her magical skills, she restored his body to life after having gathered the body parts that had been strewn about the earth by Set.
[3]
This myth became very important during the Greco-Roman period. For example it was believed that the
Nile River flooded every year because of the tears of sorrow which Isis wept for Osiris. Osiris's death and rebirth was relived each year through rituals. The worship of Isis eventually spread throughout the Greco-Roman world, continuing until the suppression of
paganism in the Christian era.
[4] The popular motif of Isis suckling her son Horus, however, lived on in a Christianized context as the popular image of Mary suckling the infant son
Jesus from the fifth century onward.
[5]
Etymology[edit]
The name
Isis is the Greek version of her name, with a final
-s added to the original Egyptian form because of the grammatical requirements of the Greek language (
-s often being a marker of the
nominative case in ancient Greek).
The Egyptian name was recorded as
ỉs.t or
ȝs.t and meant "She of the Throne". The true Egyptian pronunciation however remains uncertain, because
hieroglyphs do not indicate
vowels.
For convenience,
Egyptologists arbitrarily choose to pronounce her name as "ee-set" or "ah-set". Sometimes they may also say "ee-say" because the final "t" in her name was a feminine
suffix, which is known to have been dropped in
speech during the last stages of the Egyptian language.
Principal features of the cult[edit]
Origins[edit]
Isis depicted with outstretched wings (wall painting, c. 1360 BCE)
Most Egyptian deities were first worshipped by very local cults, and they retained those local centres of worship even as their popularity spread, so that most major cities and towns in Egypt were known as the home of a particular deity. The origins of the cult of Isis are uncertain, but it is believed that she was originally an independent and popular deity in
predynastic times, prior to 3100 BCE, at
Sebennytos in the Nile delta.
[3]
The first written references to Isis date back to the
Fifth dynasty of Egypt. Based on the association of her name with the throne, some early Egyptologists believed that Isis's original function was that of throne-mother.
[citation needed] However, more recent scholarship suggests that aspects of that role came later by association. In many African tribes, the throne is known as
the mother of the king, and that concept fits well with either theory, possibly giving insight into the thinking of ancient Egyptians.
Classical Egyptian period[edit]
During the
Old Kingdom period, Isis was represented as the wife or assistant to the deceased pharaoh. Thus she had a funerary association, her name appearing over eighty times in the pharaoh's funeral texts (the
Pyramid Texts). This association with the pharaoh's wife is consistent with the role of Isis as the spouse of Horus, the god associated with the pharaoh as his protector, and then later as the deification of the pharaoh himself.
But in addition, Isis was also represented as the mother of the "four sons of Horus", the four deities who protected the
canopic jarscontaining the pharaoh's internal organs. More specifically, Isis was viewed as the protector of the
liver-jar-deity,
Imsety.
[6] By the
Middle Kingdom period, as the funeral texts began to be used by members of Egyptian society other than the royal family, the role of Isis as protector also grew, to include the protection of nobles and even commoners.
[citation needed]
By the
New Kingdom period, in many places, Isis was more prominent than her spouse. She was seen as the mother of the pharaoh, and was often depicted breastfeeding the pharaoh. It is theorized that this displacement happened through the merging of cults from the various cult centers as Egyptian religion became more standardized.
[citation needed] When the cult of
Ra rose to prominence, with its cult center at
Heliopolis, Ra was identified with the similar deity, Horus. But Hathor had been paired with Ra in some regions, as the mother of the god. Since Isis was paired with Horus, and Horus was identified with Ra, Isis began to be merged with Hathor as
Isis-Hathor. By merging with Hathor, Isis became the mother of Horus, as well as his wife. Eventually the mother role displaced the role of spouse. Thus, the role of spouse to Isis was open and in the Heliopolis pantheon, Isis became the wife of Osiris and the mother of Horus/Ra. This reconciliation of themes led to the evolution of the
myth of Isis and Osiris.
[6]
Temples and priesthood[edit]
In Egypt, Isis would have received the same sort of rituals as other Egyptian Deities, including daily offerings. She was served by both priests and priestesses throughout the history of her cult. By the Greco-Roman era, many of her priests and priestesses had a reputation for wisdom and healing, and were said to have other special powers, including dream interpretation and the ability to control the
weather, which they did by braiding or not combing their hair.
[citation needed] The latter was believed because the Egyptians considered
knots to have magical powers.
The cult of Isis and Osiris continued up until the 6th century CE on the island of Philae in Upper Nile. The
Theodosian decree (in about 380 CE) to destroy all pagan temples was not enforced there until the time of
Justinian. This toleration was due to an old treaty made between the Blemyes-Nobadae and the emperor
Diocletian. Every year they visited Elephantine and at certain intervals took the image of Isis up river to the land of the Blemyes for
oracular purposes before returning it. Justinian sent
Narses to destroy the sanctuaries, with the priests being arrested and the divine images taken to Constantinople.
[7] Philae was the last of the ancient Egyptian temples to be closed.
Iconography[edit]
Associations[edit]
Due to the association between knots and magical power, a symbol of Isis was the
tiet or
tyet (meaning
welfare/
life), also called the
Knot of Isis,
Buckle of Isis, or the
Blood of Isis, which is shown to the right. In many respects the
tyet resembles an
ankh, except that its arms point downward, and when used as such, seems to represent the idea of
eternal life or
resurrection. The meaning of
Blood of Isis is more obscure, but the
tyet often was used as a funerary
amulet made of red
wood,
stone, or
glass, so this may simply have been a description of the appearance of the materials used.
[8][9][10]
The star
Sopdet (
Sirius) is associated with Isis. The appearance of the star signified the advent of a new year and Isis was likewise considered the goddess of rebirth and reincarnation, and as a protector of the dead. The Book of the Dead outlines a particular ritual that would protect the dead, enabling travel anywhere in the underworld, and most of the titles Isis holds signify her as the goddess of protection of the dead.
Probably due to assimilation with the goddess Aphrodite (
Venus), during the Roman period, the
rose was used in her worship. The demand for roses throughout the empire turned rose production into an important industry.
Depictions[edit]
In art, originally Isis was pictured as a woman wearing a long sheath dress and crowned with the
hieroglyphic sign for a
throne. Sometimes she is depicted as holding a
lotus, or, as a
sycamore tree. One pharaoh,
Thutmose III, is depicted in his tomb as nursing from a sycamore tree that had a breast.
After she assimilated many of the roles of Hathor, Isis's headdress is replaced with that of Hathor: the horns of a cow on her head, with the solar disk between them, and often with her original throne symbol atop the solar disk. Sometimes she also is represented as a cow, or with a cow's head. She is often depicted with her young child, Horus (the pharaoh), with a
crown, and a
vulture. Occasionally she is represented as a
kite flying above the body of Osiris or with the dead Osiris she works her magic to bring him back to life.
Most often Isis is seen holding an
ankh, the sign for "life" and a simple lotus staff, but in late images she is sometimes seen with items usually associated with Hathor, the sacred
sistrum rattle and the fertility-bearing
menat necklace. In
The Book of Coming Forth By Day Isis is depicted standing on the prow of the
Solar Barque with her arms outstretched.
[1]
Mythology[edit]
Sister-wife to Osiris[edit]
During the
Old Kingdom period, the pantheons of individual Egyptian cities varied by region. During the
5th dynasty, Isis entered the pantheon of the city of
Heliopolis. She was represented as a daughter of Nut and Geb, and sister to Osiris,
Nephthys, and Set. The two sisters, Isis and Nephthys, often were depicted on coffins, with wings outstretched, as protectors against evil. As a funerary deity, she was associated with Osiris, lord of the underworld, and was considered his wife.
A later myth, when the cult of Osiris gained more authority, tells the story of
Anubis, the god of the underworld. The tale describes how Nephthys was denied a child by Set and disguised herself as her twin, Isis, to seduce him. The plot succeeded resulting in the birth of Anubis.
In fear of Set's retribution, Nephthys persuaded Isis to adopt Anubis, so that Set would not find out and kill the child. The tale describes both why Anubis is seen as an underworld deity (he becomes the adopted son of Osiris), and why he could not inherit Osiris's position (as he was not actually the son of Osiris but his brother Set), neatly preserving Osiris's position as lord of the underworld.
The most extensive account of the Isis-Osiris story known today is Plutarch's Greek description written in the 1st century CE, usually known under its Latin title
De Iside et Osiride.
[12]
In that version, Set held a banquet for Osiris in which he brought in a beautiful box and said that whoever could fit in the box perfectly would get to keep it. Set had measured Osiris in his sleep and made sure that he was the only one who could fit the box. Several tried to see whether they fit. Once it was Osiris's turn to see if he could fit in the box, Set closed the lid on him so that the box was now a coffin for Osiris. Set flung the box in the Nile so that it would drift far away. Isis went looking for the box so that Osiris could have a proper burial. She found the box in a tree in
Byblos, a city along the Phoenician coast, and brought it back to Egypt, hiding it in a swamp. But Set went hunting that night and found the box. Enraged, Set chopped Osiris's body into fourteen pieces and scattered them all over Egypt to ensure that Isis could never find Osiris again for a proper burial.
[13][14]
Isis and her sister Nephthys went looking for these pieces, but could only find thirteen of the fourteen. Fish had swallowed the last piece, his
phallus. She created a golden phallus, with the help of Thoth, and attached it to Osiris’s body. She then transformed into a kite and with the aid of Thoth’s magic conceived Horus the Younger. The number of pieces is described on temple walls variously as fourteen and sixteen, and occasionally
forty-two, one for each
nome or district.
[14]
Mother of Horus[edit]
Yet another set of late myths detail the adventures of Isis after the birth of Osiris's posthumous son,
Horus. Isis was said to have given birth to Horus at Khemmis, thought to be located on the Nile Delta.
[15] Many dangers faced Horus after birth, and Isis fled with the newborn to escape the wrath of
Set, the murderer of her husband. In one instance, Isis heals Horus from a lethal scorpion sting; she also performs other miracles in relation to the
cippi, or the plaques of Horus. Isis protected and raised Horus until he was old enough to face Set, and subsequently, became the pharaoh of Egypt.
It was said that Isis tricked
Ra into telling her his "secret name" by causing a
snake to bite him, the antidote to whose venom only Isis possessed. Knowing his secret name thus gave her power over him. The use of secret names became central in many late Egyptian magic spells. By the late Egyptian historical period, after the occupations by the Greeks and the Romans, Isis became the most important and most powerful deity of the Egyptian pantheon because of her magical skills.
Magic is central to the entire mythology of Isis, arguably more so than any other Egyptian deity.
Isis had a central role in Egyptian magic spells and ritual, especially those of protection and healing. In many spells her powers are merged with those of her son Horus. His power accompanies hers whenever she is invoked. In Egyptian history the image of a wounded Horus became a standard feature of Isis's healing spells, which typically invoked the curative powers of Isis' milk.
[16]
Greco-Roman world[edit]
Interpretatio graeca[edit]
Isis
(seated right) welcoming the
Greek heroine Io as she is borne into Egypt on the shoulders of the personified Nile, as depicted in a Roman wall painting from
Pompeii
Using the comparative methodology known as
interpretatio graeca, the Greek historian
Herodotus (5th century BCE) described Isis by comparison with the Greek goddess
Demeter, whose
mysteries at
Eleusis offered initiates guidance in the afterlife and a vision of rebirth. Herodotus says that Isis was the only goddess worshiped by all Egyptians alike.
[17]
After the conquest of Egypt by
Alexander the Great and the
Hellenization of the Egyptian culture initiated by
Ptolemy I Soter, Isis became known as
Queen of Heaven.
[18] Other Mediterranean goddesses, such as Demeter,
Astarte, and
Aphrodite, became identified with Isis, as was the Arabian goddess Al-Ozza or Al-Uzza (العُزّى al ȝozza) through a similarity of name, since etymology was thought to reveal the essential or primordial nature of the thing named.
[19]An alabaster statue of Isis from the 3rd century BCE, found in
Ohrid, in the
Republic of Macedonia, is depicted on the
obverse of the Macedonian 10
denar banknote, issued in 1996.
[20]
Isis in the Roman Empire[edit]
Roman Isis holding a sistrum and
oinochoe and wearing a garment tied with a characteristic knot, from the time of
Hadrian (117–138 CE)
Tacitus writes that after the
assassination of Julius Caesar, a temple in honour of Isis had been decreed, but was suspended by Augustus as part of his program to restore
traditional Roman religion. The emperor
Caligula, however, was open to Eastern religions, and the
Navigium Isidis, a procession in honor of Isis, was established in Rome during his reign.
[21] According to the Jewish historian
Josephus, Caligula donned female garb and took part in the mysteries he instituted.
Vespasian, along with
Titus, practised
incubation in the Roman
Iseum.
Domitian built another Iseum along with a
Serapeum. In a
relief on the Arch of Trajan in Rome, the emperor appears before Isis and Horus, presenting them with votive offerings of wine.
[21] Hadrian decorated his villa at
Tibur with Isiac scenes.
Galerius regarded Isis as his protector.
[22]
The religion of Isis thus spread throughout the
Roman Empire during the formative centuries of Christianity. Wall paintings and objects reveal her pervasive presence at
Pompeii, preserved by the
eruption of Vesuvius in 79 CE. In Rome, temples were built and obelisks erected in her honour. In Greece, the cult of Isis was introduced to traditional centres of worship in
Delos,
Delphi,
Eleusis and
Athens, as well as in northern Greece. Harbours of Isis were to be found on the Arabian Sea and the Black Sea. Inscriptions show followers in Gaul, Spain, Pannonia, Germany, Arabia, Asia Minor, Portugal and many shrines even in Britain.
[23] Tacitus interprets a goddess among the Germanic
Suebi as
a form of Isis whose symbol
(signum) was a ship.
[24] Bruce Lincoln regards the identity of this Germanic goddess as "elusive."
[25]
The Greek antiquarian
Plutarch wrote a treatise on
Isis and Osiris,
[26] a major source for Imperial theology concerning Isis.
[12] Plutarch describes Isis as "a goddess exceptionally wise and a lover of wisdom, to whom, as her name at least seems to indicate, knowledge and understanding are in the highest degree appropriate... ." The statue of Athena in
Sais was identified with Isis, and according to Plutarch was inscribed "I am all that has been, and is, and shall be, and my robe no mortal has yet uncovered."
[27] At Sais, however, the patron goddess of the ancient cult was
Neith, many of whose traits had begun to be attributed to Isis during the Greek occupation.
The Roman writer
Apuleius recorded aspects of the cult of Isis in the 2nd century CE, including the
Navigium Isidis, in his novel
The Golden Ass. The protagonist Lucius prays to Isis as
Regina Caeli, "Queen of Heaven":
You see me here, Lucius, in answer to your prayer. I am nature, the universal Mother, mistress of all the elements, primordial child of time, sovereign of all things spiritual, queen of the dead, queen of the ocean, queen also of the immortals, the single manifestation of all gods and goddesses that are, my nod governs the shining heights of Heavens, the wholesome sea breezes. Though I am worshipped in many aspects, known by countless names ... the Egyptians who excel in ancient learning and worship call me by my true name...Queen Isis.
[28]
Ruins of the Temple of Isis in Delos
Greco-Roman temples[edit]
Temple of Isis at Philae. The Court. 1893. Wilbour Library of Egyptology,
Brooklyn Museum
On the Greek island of
Delos a
Doric Temple of Isis was built on a high over-looking hill at the beginning of the Roman period to venerate the familiar trinity of Isis, the Alexandrian
Serapis and
Harpocrates. The creation of this temple is significant as Delos is particularly known as the birthplace of the Greek gods
Artemis and
Apollo who had temples of their own on the island long before the temple to Isis was built.
In the Roman Empire, a well-preserved example was discovered in
Pompeii. The only sanctuary of Isis
(fanum Isidis) identified with certainty in
Roman Britain is located in
Londinium (present-day London).
[30]
Isis in black and white marble (Roman, 2nd century CE)
Late antiquity[edit]
The cult of Isis was part of the
syncretic tendencies of religion in the Greco-Roman world of
late antiquity. The names Isidoros and Isidora in Greek mean "gift of Isis" (similar to "
Theodoros", "God's gift").
The sacred image of Isis with the Horus Child in Rome often became a model for the Christian
Mary carrying her child
Jesus and many of the epithets of the Egyptian Mother of God came to be used for her.
[31]
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/will-isis-plan-a-911-style-terror-plot-against-the-u-s/,
