Isis

 

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Egyptian Gods

Isis

Isis

The Goddess Isis, is one of the most important Egyptian deities, considered as the "Matron of Life" or the "Great Magician".

The Goddess Isis, is one of the most important Egyptian deities, considered as the 'Matron of Life' or the 'Great Magician.' The temple of Philae on the island of Aguilkya is entirely dedicated to her. She is represented in the form of a woman with a seat on her head (her hieroglyph) or, from the New Kingdom onwards, breast-feeding Horus with the Sun framed within two cow horns, borrowed from the Goddess Hathor. Daughter of Geb and Nut and sister to Orisis (also her husband), Set and Nephthys, Isis enjoys great fervour thanks to the myth of Orisis, mentioned for the first time in the Pyramid Texts (2350 BC). According to the legend, Set, who was jealous of his brother Osiris for reigning over Egypt, assassinated him and threw him into the Nile. Isis retrieved the body of her husband at Byblos (present-day Lebanon) and brought it back to Egypt. Fuming with rage, Set dismembered the deceased and scattered the body parts all over Egypt. Isis managed to recover the dispersed members and with the help of Anubis undertook the first mummification and gave life back to the corpse. She would have one posthumous child with Osiris, Horus.

On bringing back her husband Osiris to life, Isis opened the way for the resurrection of all mortals. She is the symbol of the faithful wife and of the loving mother whose cult would transcend Egypt’s borders and spread to the Mediterranean basin. After the advent of Christianity, Isis would inspire the representation of the Virgin breast-feeding Jesus.

What characterised Isis were her wings, which, when set in motion, would breathe new life into the deceased and introduce them into the beyond.

From the New Kingdom onwards Isis is adorned with cow horns which surround the solar disc (borrowed from the Goddess Hathor).

On some occasions we see Isis holding the ???, symbol of eternity, for example on the sarcophagus of Hatshepsut.
Category : Egyptian Gods
items Date : 01/08/2009
Author of items : Charles Rossignol