Isis

Isis


 * Other Names:**

Aset, Iset, Eset


 * Meaning of Name:**

Her name means “Throne” or “Seat,” indicating the seat of pharaohs, as her lap was the first seat of her son, the pharaoh-god Horus.


 * Hieroglyphics:**

or


 * Titles:**

“Queen of Heaven”

“Mother of the Gods”

"Lady of Bread"

“The One Who is All"

“Lady of Green Crops”

//Ankhat// ("She Who Gives Life")

“The Brilliant One in the Sky”

“Great Lady of Magic”

“Star of the Sea”

“Mistress of the House of Life” “Maker of Kings”

“She Who Knows How To Make Right Use of the Heart”

“Light-Giver of Heaven”

“Lady of the Words of Power”

“Moon Shining Over the Sea”


 * Family:**

Isis was thought to be the daughter of Geb and Nut, the sister of Nephthys and Set, the sister-wife of Osiris, the mother of Horus and the Apis bull, and the adopted mother of Anubis. Sometimes Isis was considered to be the daughter of Taweret or Hathor, the mother of Bast, Sopedu, Duamutef, Imsety, Hapy, and Qebhsenuef, and the mother-wife of Min, Anhur, and Horus.

One of the Ennead, Isis was one of the earliest and most important goddesses in ancient Egypt. This great mother goddess was the patron of royalty, magicians, the essence of womanly charms, and the essence of eternal love. Isis is credited with teaching the Egyptian people how to grind barley, spin flax, make bread, weave cloth, and cure disease. The patron of mothers and wives, Isis was much loved for her nurturing and forgiving attributes, and represented the mighty wife of the pharaoh.

Isis was said to be “cleverer than millions of gods” and a better guardian of Egypt’s borders “than millions of soldiers.” To the ancient Egyptians, she was all that a mother should be - loving, clever, loyal, and brave. There are literally hundreds of thousands of statues and images that show Isis holding the infant Horus on her lap, suckling the young god. To the Egyptians, she was the purest example of the loving wife and mother, and that was how they worshiped her - and loved her - the most.

Although the malicious god Set murdered Isis' husband Osiris and tore his body into fourteen pieces, Isis patiently searched and found them all. She then changed herself into a kite and hovered over the body of Osiris, singing magic spells to make him live again, then begot a child by him. She raised her son Horus in secret, protecting him from many dangers, until he defeated Set and became the king of all Egypt.

Isis was pictured as a woman wearing a headdress in the shape of a throne, the Headdress of Hathor, or the Vulture Headdress, sometimes holding a lotus. She was also depicted as a sycamore tree, a cat, a cobra, a cow, a swallow, a scorpion, a gazelle (thought to be her especial pet, and called “Isis’ Plaything”), a goose, or as a white sow. In hymns Isis was described as “she of black hair and coppery skin.”

In The Book of the Dead Isis is depicted standing on the prow of the solar barque with arms outstretched. Sometimes Isis was pictured as a kite, or as a woman with the wings of a kite. As a winged goddess she may represent the wind. Hymns describe Isis as “she who made light with her feathers and wind with her wings,” sending fresh air to the Duat. Isis’ winged form was often painted on coffins in order to catch the departing soul in her wings and shepherd it to a new life.

The wings of Isis could also become the sails of barques, as Isis was invoked as the patron of seafarers. Barque-shaped votive lamps made of gold, featuring the image of Isis, were offered in hopes of safe voyaging upon the sea. The Roman Phillip of Salonica wrote a poem in Isis’ honor and brought gifts of spikenard and frankincense to her temple for having saved him from shipwreck. The barques of the Nile often had the image of this goddess on either side of the prow, to protect against wreaks and crocodiles. Being given “Isis names,” such as //Isopharis// or //The Isis// was believed to protect barques from harm.

In the Book of the Dead Isis was described as “She who gives birth to heaven and earth, knows the orphan, knows the widow, seeks justice for the poor, and shelter for the weak. She gives bread to the hungry man, and water to the thirsty man, and clothing to the naked person, and a barque to the shipwrecked mariner.” Associations attached to her temples were formed to help needy parishioners.

Isis was thought to “overflow with affection and compassion,” especially for mothers and children. She was venerated as a special protector of children, and her name was often called upon in magical spells to cure childhood aliments. Children were present in Isiac rituals, and images from the Temple of Isis in Herculanum show children dancing and holding sistrums. Amulets of Isis, made of gold, faience, bronze, glass, and lapis lazuli, were popular with women and children, and have been found on nearly every mummy.

Children, young girls especially, were often named after Isis. Stillborn infants and deceased children were placed under Isis’ protection. Excavations of some of these children’s graves have revealed that many had been buried wearing a ribbon and a pendant bound about their heads, to mimic Horus’ Sidelock of Youth so that Isis would recognize the child as her own.

From her breasts sprang forth the milk of life for whatever drew breath. Numerous images show Isis baring her breast (usually the left one, the traditional nursing side of Egypt) to suckle her son Horus. In their tomb art nobles are promised that they will be fed by the Milk of Isis and become "as enduring as stars."

In eighteen-century, post-revolutionary France, a statue was erected over the place where the Bastille had once stood, a symbol intended to help heal the wounds of the revolution. Called the “Fountain of Regeneration,” it was an enormous statue of Isis as Nature, sitting upon her throne, pressing milk from her breasts to nourish and heal her children.

An important symbol of Isis is the //tyet//, also known as the "Knot of Isis." Red henna that adorned the heads of women in Egypt was called “Isis’ magic blood.” Cheeks and lips were brushed with her paint. Even mummy clothes were sometimes dipped in henna as a sign of rebirth from the blood of Isis.

Magic is central to the entire mythology of Isis, arguably more so than any other Egyptian deity. Thus it is not surprising that Isis had a central role in Egyptian magic spells and ritual, especially those of protection and healing. Plutarch writes of Isis: "She is both wise, and a lover of wisdom; as her name appears to denote that, more than any other, knowing and knowledge belong to her.” Isis was thought to have “separated heaven from earth, showed the path of the stars, and regulated the course of the sun and the moon.” The Latin writer Apuleius invoked Isis as “The Mother of the Stars, the Parent of Seasons, and Mistress of the Whole World.”

The priestesses of Isis were healers and midwives, and were said to have many special powers, including dream interpretation, love spells, and the ability to control the weather by braiding or combing their hair, the former of which was because the ancient Egyptians considered knots to have magical power. Spells and love charms invoking Isis claimed to make a woman love a man as Isis loved Osiris, or hate her present partner as Isis hated Set. Isis’ followers were thought to have the gift of tongues, as Isis controlled the various tongues (dialects) that prevailed in the ancient world: “I am become as sounding brass, or as a tinkling cymbal. . .”

Women would walk barefoot through scorpions and wear live snakes around their necks, protected by their belief in the power of Isis. It was claimed that scorpions respected Isis so much that they never stung the women who went to the temple of the goddess to pray, even though they walked with feet bare or prostrated themselves on the ground. Isis’s priests were dedicated missionaries like soldiers crusading on hallowed service. Like zealous Christians would thousands of years later, her priests wandered the world, seeking converts and spreading the lore of Isis.

Isis was associated with dawn, while her sister Nephthys was associated with twilight. An annual “Lamentations of Isis” was held yearly in Egypt, commemorating when Isis and Nephthys bewailed the death of Osiris. According to Herodotus, the Sorrowing Ladies were shown in pantomime by female mummers in their tens of thousands, tearing their hair and clothes, beating their breasts, and morning aloud the loss of Osiris. Two chief mourners represented Isis and her sister Nephthys. Many copies of the Lamentations have been found, one of them tucked inside a statue of the god Osiris. The Lamentations were so powerful that many of the participants actually fell into ecstatic trances during the performances. Worshipers of Isis in the town of Coptos were said to be inhabited by the spirit of the Goddess herself.

Says James Dennis in his translations of the traditional Lamentations: “The grief for the lost one, the hope of again beholding him, the cry from the heart for help, the reliance upon the divine all-ruling destiny that shall bring the trial to a happy ending, and the triumph of a desire realized and a hope fulfilled: these sentiments are as much a part of human nature now as then.”

The ancient Egyptians believed that the Nile flooded every year because of Isis’ tears of sorrow for her dead husband, Osiris. Mourning for her husband, Isis cries: "Behold thou my heart, which grieveth for thee! I love thee more than all the earth! Why does thou not hear my voice, though I am thy wife who loved thee? I cry to the height of heaven, I weep for thee!" The Pyramid Texts imply that Isis had the power of prophecy, and even prophesied the murder of Osiris, although she was unable to prevent it.

As a goddess of mourning, Isis often takes the form of a cow. Ploutarchos describes a mourning ceremony that took place after the recession of the Nile in which Egyptian priests wrapped a gilded image of a cow in black linen as a symbol of the mourning of Isis. The cow was called //Shentayet//, “The Widow.” In texts from Denderah, the Isis Cow is called //Remenet//, “The Bearer.” There, the hollow image of a cow was carved from sycamore wood and the mummy of Osiris was carried within it – a reference to Osiris’ coming rebirth from Isis, the Divine Cow.

In another part of the ceremony, a live cow played the role of Isis. Ploutarchos says that at the Winter Solstice, the priests led a cow around the Temple of the Sun seven times and called this journey the “Search for Osiris.” A letter from the Ptolemaic Period discusses the burial of an Isis cow. Herodotus noted that the Egyptians sacrificed only bulls, never cows, “for these are sacred to Isis. . . and for that reason all Egyptians are alike in treating cows far more holy than other beasts.”

Plutarch hailed Isis as “wise and wisdom-loving,” and described her as the “Patron of Pardon and Peace.” She was the friend of slaves and sinners, of the artisans and the downtrodden, at the same time she heard the prayers of the wealthy, the maiden, the aristocrat and the emperor. Isis spread her wings and enfolded those who were oppressed and sick at heart. She pressed to her bosom all those in need of divine love and understanding. She comforted all those who doubted, wailed, and lamented, yet called upon her for salvation. “In short,” says R. E. Witt, “she promised her believers the satisfaction of their deepest needs.”

Texts describe Isis’s pregnancy as unusually long and her labor as hard and painful. In myths Isis is depicted as oppressed by powerful males, struggling with poverty, and in constant fear of losing her child Horus. Texts raise the question that must be answered by every religion: if god is good, why do innocent children suffer? An angry attitude towards divine indifference is put in the mouth of Isis - her challenge to the sun god to help her dying child is one of the most powerful emotional passages of all Egyptian literature. Ra responds by sending the god Thoth to cure Horus. Isis as everywoman has triumphed, and the spell promises that every child will be saved because Horus was saved.

In the mysteries of Isis, women found a deity who spoke directly to women’s concerns, to the loss and sacrifice required of being a wife and mother. The mysteries and lamentations especially appealed to those who identified a deceased husband, brother, or son with Osiris. The mourning rites provided them with an outlet for their grief and assured them that the deceased had a future life.

People were drawn to a divinity who had known suffering and who thus was bound to be sympathetic to their personal tragedies. How different it was from trying to climb Mount Olympus! There dwelt the exalted but remote hierarchy of the Greek pantheon in splendid isolation, quite unconcerned with ordinary human affairs. The Greek gods seemed aristocratically aloof to the lowly folk who needed help at their own level. Isis, in contrast, did not dwell in the clouds of Olympus, away from the ills and sorrows of men and women. Pilgrims left amulets decorated with ears for //Isis Epekoos// – "Isis, the One Who Listens."


 * Feast and Holy Days:**

July 17th (Birthday of Isis)

July 19th (Opet Festival: the Marriage of Isis and Osiris)

August 12th (Feast of the Lights of Isis)

August 13th (Isis Gains the Horns of Hathor

September 24th (Going Forth of Isis) October 3rd (Lamentations of Isis and Nephthys)

October 10th (Coming Forth of Isis)

November 12 (Isis Seeks the Body of Osiris)

November 13th (Isis Grieves the Loss of Osiris)

November 14 (Isis Rejoices as She Finds Osiris)

December 24th (Feast of Isis)

January 7-10th (Festival of Isis)

March 23rd (Festival of Isis)


 * Quotes from the Book of the Dead and other sources:**

Hymns of Isis


 * Egyptian Names Honoring This Deity:**

Ta-Isis, Isetnofret ("Beautiful of Isis"), Iset ("Lady Isis"), Mery-Isis ("Beloved of Isis")


 * Outside of Egypt:**

No other Egyptian deity has stood the test of time as well as Isis. Her cult was not extinguished with the other Egyptian gods, but was embraced by the Greeks and Romans (who called her “Isis of Ten Thousand Names”), and her worship has even lasted into the present day. Throughout the Graeco-Roman world, the worship of Isis became one of the most significant of the mystery religions, and many classical writers refer to her temples, cults, and rites. She took possession of the traditional Greek centers of worship – Delos, Delphi, Eleusis, and Athens. In the first century B.C.E., Isis was perhaps the most popular goddess in Rome, from which her cult spread to the furthest limits of the Roman Empire.

In the Roman Period, probably due to assimilation with the goddesses Aphrodite, Demeter, and Venus , the rose was used in Isis’ worship. The Roman poet Ovid tells a tale in which a mother and daughter who pray to Isis in her temple see the statue of the goddess animate, shake its altar, shoot forth rays of light, and rattle its sistrum. In the time of Lucian hallowed relics such as the “Hair of Isis” and “Ark of Osiris” were on display on temples. At Chaerona, only a few miles from Delphi, a young virgin is recorded in an inscription to have vowed herself to Isis for the whole of her earthly life.

Wealthy Roman matrons traveled all the way to Aswan on Egypt's southern border, an incredibly long and difficult pilgrimage in that time, to visit Isis' sacred shrine on the island of Philae whence they brought back holy water of the Nile, so profound was their reverence for this goddess. The lighthouse of “Isis Pelagia” on the Island of Pharos was one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world. Isis' temple at Philae was called the "Jewel of the Nile." A colossal statue of Isis, weighing 18 tons, was recently found in the Bay of Alexandria.

Roman rulers favored Isis - Caligula and Otho were her worshipers. Domitian built her a temple. Hadrian adorned his villa at Tibur with Isiac scenes. Commodus took part in the rite of Isis and wore the mask of Anubis. Philadelphus offered to her temples. At Thessalonica Galerius held Isis as his divine protector. Cleopatra, the last of the Ptolemaic queens, regarded herself as an incarnation of Isis.

At Pompeii, as the archeological evidence revels, Isis played a major role. In the capital, temples were built in her honor, obelisks were set up, and emperors bowed to her name. Women groveled on their knees in lamentation to her. In Italy itself the Egyptian faith was a dominant force. Harbors of Isis were found on the Arabian Gulf and the Black Sea. Inscriptions show that she had faithful followers in Gaul and Spain, in Iraq and India, in Syria and Palestine, in Pannonia and Germany. She held sway from Arabia and Asia Minor in the east to Portugal and Britain in the west and shrines were hallowed to her in cities large and small. There were even temples to Isis on the River Themes in Southwark, London. At Philae her worship persisted until the sixth century, long after the rise of Christianity and the suppression of paganism. The name “Isis” is still a beloved name among modern Coptic Egyptians, and in Europe the name Isadora ("Gift of Isis") is common.

The relationship between Isis and Horus certainly influenced the Christian conception of the relationship between Mary and the infant Jesus Christ. There is a strong resemblance to the depiction of the seated Isis holding or suckling the child Horus and the seated Mary and the baby Jesus. The historian Will Durant has claimed that “Early Christians sometimes worshiped before the statues of Isis suckling the infant Horus, seeing her as a form of Mary.” Mary and Isis share several titles, such as “Blessed One,” “Mistress of the World,” and “Mother of God.” Astonishingly, the Egyptian word for “beloved,” also one of the titles of Isis, is “Mery.”

However, while Mary is perhaps best described as a passive vessel who was not considered to have any power independent of her child, Isis was not only a mother, but a confident and skilled queen and a very powerful sorceress. It has been suggested by scholars that the reason Isis worship appears to abruptly end, despite the vast number of its adherents, is due to her having been identified as Mary, and her temples having been merely renamed in consequence. Evidence suggests that this allowed the Catholic Church to absorb a huge number of converts who had formerly believed in Isis, and would not have converted unless Catholicism offered them an “Isis-like” female focus for their faith. If this is true then it could be said that, in a way, Isis is still worshiped today, and has been for at least 5,000 years.

Egyptian Deities - I