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Isis (Greek version; Egyptian is Aset) is the goddess of motherhood and fertility in ancient Egypt. She is a life-death-rebirth deity (see Legend of Osiris and Isis), as well as one of the Ennead. Later, she acquired the goddess Sopdet.
Originally, she was a goddess of royalty (her hieroglyph includes the word for "throne"). Later, during the period of Greek dominance, she was the patron goddess of sailors.
She was a close companion of Arensnuphis.
Isis was the daughter of Nuit, goddess of the sky, and Seb, god of earth. She married Osiris, her brother and the father of her son Horus. Osiris was murdered by Seth but she reassembled his body (leading to her association with the underworldFor other meanings of the word "underworld" see Underworld (disambiguation In the study of mythology and religion, the underworld is a generic term approximately equivalent to the lay term afterlife, referring to any place to which newly-dead souls go. and the funerary cultThis article discusses only religious or sociological cultist groups, and small or new religious groups considered harmful or strange by the public, media or anti-cult activists. This article does not discuss "cult" in its original sense of "religious pra), impregnated herself with his body and gave birth to Horus in Khemnis , a swampA swamp is a wetland that features permanent inundation of large areas of land by shallow bodies of water, generally with a substantial number of hummocks, or dry-land protrusions. Swamps usually are regarded as including a large amount of woody vegetatio. In addition to Horus, Isis was the mother of MinMin was an ancient fertility god and the patron of traveling caravans in Egyptian mythology. As a god of male sexual potency, he was honored during the coronation rites of the New Kingdom Pharaohs. Festivals in his honor included offerings of wheat and le (alternatively, they were lovers).
Isis, with her sister NephthysIn Egyptian mythology, Nephthys is a goddess of the underworld, as well as childbirth. The name was also used as a title for the oldest woman in any household. She may have been another form of Bat or Neith. In Egyptian art, her hair is similar to or the, can be seen on the sides of coffins in human form, their wings outstreched protecting the dead. The sisters also had magical powers.
Isis helped her husband, killed by Seth, to come back to life and rule in the land of the dead.
Isis is often symbolised by a cow, or a cow's head or horns (illustrating a connection with HathorIn Egyptian mythology, Hathor ("the house of Horus") was an extremely popular fertility goddess, associated with the cow. Her name refers to her position as the celestial cow which encircles the sky and hawk god, Horus. She was also a goddess of royalty.). In art, she was depicted with her son, Horus, with a crown and a vultureNubian Vulture Vultures are scavenging birds, feeding mostly from carcasses of dead animals. Vultures are found in almost every continent. A particular characteristic of many vultures is a bald head, devoid of feathers. This is likely because a feathered, and sometimes as a kite flying above Osiris' body.
Alternatively, Isis was identified as the scorpion goddess Serq or Selk.
The cult of Isis rose to prominence in the Hellenistic world beginning in the last centuries BC, until it was eventually banned by the Christians in the 6th century AD. Despite the Isis mystery cult's growing popularity, there is evidence to suggest that the Isis mysteries were not altogether welcomed by the ruling classes in Rome. Her rites were considered by the princeps Augustus to be "pornographic" and capable of destroying the Roman moral fibre. It is not surprising, therefore, that part of Augustus' programme for reconstruction after the fall of the Roman Republic was an attempt to infuse new life into the old gods of Rome. Tacitus writes that after Julius Caesar's assassination, a temple in honour of Isis had been decreed; Augustus suspended this, and tried to turn Romans back to the Roman gods who were closely associated with the state. Eventually the Roman emperor Gaius abandoned the Augustan wariness towards Oriental cults, and it was in his reign that the Isiac festival was established in Rome. According to Josephus, Gaius himself donned female garb and took part in the mysteries he instituted, and Isis acquired in the Hellenistic age a "new rank as a leading goddess of the Mediterranean world."
Roman perspectives on cult were syncretic, seeing in a new deity merely local aspects of a familiar one. For many Romans, Egyptian Isis was an aspect of Phrygian Cybele, whose orgiastic rites were long naturalized at Rome. In the Golden Ass ( 1st century AD), Apuleius' goddess Isis is identified with the Phrygian Cybele:
Among these names of Roman Isis, ' Queen of Heaven' is outstanding for its long and continuous history.
Some scholars argue that aspects of Isis worship have influenced the practices of some Christians in regards to the Virgin Mary.
There has recently been a revival of Isis worship among neo-pagans and feminists who are attracted by the matriarchal notions of goddess worship.
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