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Isis - goddess in Ancient
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Example of Authentic Ancient
Coin of:
Julia Domna - Roman Empress Wife of Emperor
Septimius Severus 193-211 A.D. -
Silver Denarius Rome mint: 201 A.D.
Reference: RIC 577 (Septimius Severus), S 6606
IVLIAAVGVSTA - Draped bust right.
SAECVLIFELICITAS - Isis standing right, stepping on galley prow, nursing
baby Horus; rudder in front of altar to left.
|
Isis |
The goddess Isis portrayed as a woman, wearing a headdress
shaped like a throne and with an Ankh in her hand |
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Goddess of motherhood, magic and fertility |
|
Major cult center |
Philae, Abydos |
|
Symbol |
the throne, the sun disk with
cow's horns, the sycamore tree |
|
Consort |
Osiris |
|
Parents |
Geb and Nut |
|
Siblings |
Osiris, Set,
and Nephthys |
Temple of Isis in Philae,
Egypt
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, and she listened to the prayers of the wealthy,
maidens, aristocrats, and rulers. 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". 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 cultwas
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 (380362
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.
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. 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.
Etymology
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 remains
uncertain, however, because hieroglyphs do
not indicate vowels.
Based on recent studies which present us with approximations based on
contemporary languages (specifically, Greek) and Coptic evidence,
the reconstructed pronunciation of her name is *Usat [*ˈʔyːsəʔ].
Osiris's name, *Usir also
starts with the throne glyph ʔs.
For convenience, Egyptologists arbitrarily
choose to pronounce her name as "ee-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 speechduring
the last stages of the Egyptian and Greek languages.
Principal
features of the cult
Origins
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.
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. 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
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
jars containing
the pharaoh's internal organs. More specifically, Isis was viewed as the
protector of the liver-jar-deity,Imsety. 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.
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. 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.
Temples and
priesthood
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. 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. Philae was
the last of the ancient Egyptian temples to be closed.
Iconography
Associations
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.
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
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 only the generic ankh sign
and a simple staff, but in late images she is seen sometimes with items
usually associated mainly 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.
Mythology
Sister-wife to
Osiris
Isis Nursing Horus.The Walters Art Museum.
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 the much more attractive 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. It should be
remembered, however, that this new myth was only a later creation of the
Osirian cult who wanted to depict Set in an evil position, as the enemy
of Osiris.
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.
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.
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,
so Isis made him a new one with magic, putting his body back together
after which they conceived Horus. The number of pieces is described on
temple walls variously as fourteen and sixteen, and occasionally forty-two,
one for each nome or
district.
Mother of Horus
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. 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.
Magic
It was said that Isis tricked Ra (i.e. Amun-Ra/Atum-Ra)
into telling her his "secret name," by causing a snake to
bite him, for which only Isis had the cure. Knowing the secret name of a
deity enabled one to have power of the deity. 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, she also is completely
merged even with Horus, where invocations of Isis are supposed to
involve Horus's powers automatically as well. 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 the milk of Isis.
Greco-Roman world
Interpretatio
graeca
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.
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. 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. 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 denars banknote,
issued in 1996.
Isis in the
Roman Empire
Roman Isis holding a sistrum and oinochoe and
wearing a garment tied with a characteristic knot, from the
time of Hadrian(117138
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. 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, the emperor appears before Isis and Horus,
presenting them with votive offerings of wine. Hadrian decorated
his villa at Tibur with
Isiac scenes. Galerius regarded
Isis as his protector.
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. Tacitus
interprets a goddess among the Germanic Suebi as a
form of Isis whose
symbol (signum) was
a ship. Bruce
Lincoln regards
the identity of this Germanic goddess as "elusive."
The Greek antiquarian Plutarch wrote
a treatise on Isis and
Osiris, a major source
for Imperial theology concerning Isis. 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." 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.
Ruins of the Temple of Isis in Delos
According to Apuleius, these other names include manifestations of the
goddess as Ceres,
"the original nurturing parent"; Heavenly Venus (Venus
Caelestis); the "sister of Phoebus",
that is, Diana or Artemis as
she is worshipped
at Ephesus; or Proserpina (Greek Persephone)
as the triple goddess of the underworld. From
the middle Imperial period, the title Caelestis,
"Heavenly" or "Celestial", is attached to several goddesses embodying
aspects of a single, supreme Heavenly Goddess. The Dea
Caelestis was identified
with the constellation
Virgo (the Virgin), who holds the divine
balance of justice.
Greco-Roman temples
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).
Isis in black and white marble (Roman, 2nd century CE)
Late antiquity
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 Madonna with
the Child Jesus and
many of the epithets of the Egyptian Mother of God came to be used for
the Christian Mother of God.
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