Originally, the goddess Isis was portrayed as a woman, wearing a headress shaped like a throne. Goddess of motherhood, magic and fertility Major cult center Philae, Abydos Symbol the throne, the sun disk with cow's horn,
Originally, the goddess Isis was portrayed as a woman, wearing a headress shaped like a throne. Goddess of motherhood, magic and fertility Major cult center Philae, Abydos Symbol the throne, the sun disk with cow's horn, the sycamore tree Parents Geb and Nut Siblings Osiris, Set and Nephthys Consort Osiris Isis (Ancient Greek: Ἶσις) was a goddess in Ancient Egyptian religious beliefs, whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. She was worshiped as the ideal mother and wife as well as the matron of nature and magic. She was the friend of slaves, sinners, artisans, the downtrodden, as well as listening to the prayers of the wealthy, maidens, aristocrats and rulers. Isis is the Goddess of motherhood, magic and fertility. The goddess Isis (the mother of Horus) was the first daughter of Geb, god of the Earth, and Nut, the goddess of the Overarching Sky, and was born on the fourth intercalary day. At some time Isis and Hathor had the same headdress. In later myths about Isis, she had a brother, Osiris, who became her husband, and she then was said to have conceived Horus. Isis was instrumental in the resurrection of Osiris when he was murdered by Set. Her magical skills restored his body to life after she gathered the body parts that had been strewn about the earth by Set. This myth became very important in later Egyptian religious beliefs. Isis is also known as the goddess of simplicity, protector of the dead and goddess of children from whom all beginnings arose. In later myths, the Ancient Egyptians believed that the Nile River flooded every year because of her tears of sorrow for her dead husband, Osiris. This occurrence of his 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.
Temple of Isis in Philae, Egypt
1 Origin of the name 2 Early history 3 Temples 4 Priesthood 5 Iconography 5.1 Associations 5.2 Depictions 6 Isis in literature 7 Mythology 7.1 Sister-wife to Osiris 7.2 Assimilation of Hathor 7.2.1 Mother of Horus 7.2.2 Magic 7.3 Assimilation of Mut 8 Greco-Roman world 9 Titles 10 Notes 11 References 11.1 Primary sources 11.2 Secondary sources
Origin of the name
The pronunciation for this deity is a mispronunciation of the Greek name which itself changed the original Egyptian name spelling by the addition of a last "-s" because of the grammatical requirements of Greek endings. 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 their writing system usually did not feature vowels. Based on recent studies which present us with approximations based on contemporary languages and Coptic evidence, the reconstructed pronunciation of her name is *Usat [*ˈʔyː.səʔ]. Osiris's name—that is, *Usir 'Osiris' (ws-ỉr) also starts with the throne glyph ʔs ("-s"). The name survived in Coptic dialects as Ēse or Ēsi, as well as in compound words surviving in names of later people such as "Har-si-Ese", literally, "Horus, son of Isis". For convenience, Egyptologists arbitrarily choose to pronounce her name as "ee-set". Sometimes they may also say "ee-sa" 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. Literally, her name means "she of the throne". Her original headdress was a throne. As the personification of the throne, she was an important representation of the pharaoh's power, as the pharaoh was depicted as her child, who sat on the throne she provided. Her cult was popular throughout Egypt, but the most important sanctuaries were at Giza and at Behbeit El-Hagar in the Nile delta, which was in Lower Egypt.
Her origins are uncertain, but are believed to have come from the Nile Delta. Like other Egyptian deities she did have a centralized Cult of Isis (New cults) in the Hellenistic Civilization. First mentions of Isis date back to the Fifth dynasty of Egypt which is when the first literary inscriptions are found, but her cult became prominent late in Egyptian history, when it began to absorb the cults of many other goddesses with strong cult centers. This is when the cult of Osiris arose and she became such an important figure in those beliefs. Her cult eventually spread outside Egypt. During the formative centuries of Christianity, the religion of Isis drew converts from every corner of the Roman Empire. In Italy itself, the Egyptian faith was a dominant force. At Pompeii, archaeological evidence reveals that Isis played a major role. In Rome, temples were buil