Post by bluefedish on Jan 9, 2008 16:22:12 GMT -5
A goddess in Egyptian mythology. She is the wife and sister of Osiris and mother of Horus, and was worshipped as the archetypal wife and mother.
Her name literally means "(female) of throne", that is, "Queen of the throne", which was portrayed by the emblem worn on her head, that of a throne. However, the hieroglyph of her name originally meant "(female) of flesh", i.e. mortal, and she may simply have represented deified, historical queens.
Origins
Queen Isis was married to her brother Osiris who was ruler of the throne. They were the children of Nut and Geb, and had an additional sister named Nephthys and brother Set. Isis was supposed to marry Set, not Osiris. When a jealous Set slew the beloved Osiris and dropped his body into the Nile, Isis did not simply mourn her lost love, but moved all forces of nature and rescued the body of her husband from where it had come to rest in Byblos.
Isis, with her sister Nephthys were preparing for the ceremonial burial of Osiris when his murderer Set stole the body and hacked it into fourteen pieces. Isis searched the length and breadth of Egypt, gathering together his pieces and, with the god Anubis, bound him together to make him whole, save for his phallus. In one version of the myth Isis formed a new phallus and attached it to her deceased husband’s body. For this and her unfathomable skills of re-creation, she is called Isis, ‘great of magic.’
She made magic wings for herself and became a desert kite, circling the sky, wailing and lamenting over the deceased Osiris. The wings and the wind they created wafted the breath of life into the dead Osiris. The devoted wife mounted her husband and with their union, conceived a son, Horus. Fearful that the jealous Set would seek out and injure her son, she bid her husband farewell. Osiris descended into the underworld to rule over the Netherworld. Isis went out into the wilderness, gave birth to Horus and hid him in the papyrus marshes, guarding him from Set and the natural forces and dangers, such as snakes and predators, until he came of age.
Ever after, kings were the incarnation of Horus and the kings sought the protection of the goddess. The ancient regents saw the goddess with a throne upon her head and reached out to the divine essence of royalty. As wife of Osiris associated with kingship and the deceased kings of Egypt, and as mother of Horus, the falcon god, always associated with the living Pharaoh, Isis with her powers of love and magic became the epitome of the rights of kings.
Isis is often seen with a sistrum, a ceremonial musical rattle tambourine-like instrument. Her priestesses carried the sistrum and tied their robes with the Knot of Isis, a sash around the waist tied in an ankh-like knot with two loops.
Her origins are uncertain but are believed to have come from the Nile Delta; however, unlike other Egyptian deities, she did not have a centralized cult at any point throughout her worship. 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. It eventually spread outside Egypt throughout the Middle East and the Roman Empire, with temples dedicated to her built as far away as the British Isles. Pockets of her worship remained in Christian Europe as late as the 6th century.
Temples
Most Egyptian deities started off as strictly local, and throughout their history retained local centers of worship, with most major cities and towns widely known as the hometowns to their deities.
However, no traces of local Isis cults are found; throughout her early history there are also no known temples dedicated to her. Individual worship of Isis does not begin until as late as the 30th dynasty; until that time Isis was depicted and apparently worshipped in temples of other deities. However, even then Isis is not worshipped individually, but rather together with Horus and Osiris -- the latter of whom being both her brother and husband (marriage between siblings of the Royal family were common in Ancient Egypt to keep the Royal bloodline 'intact' ). Temples dedicated specifically to Isis become wide-spread only in Roman times.
By this period, temples to Isis begin to spread outside of Egypt. In many locations, particularly Byblos, her cult takes over that of worship to the Semitic goddess Astarte, apparently due to the similarity of names and associations. During the Hellenic era, due to her attributes as a protector, and mother, and the lusty aspect originally from Hathor, she was also made the patron goddess of sailors.
Likewise, the Arabian goddess AlOzza or Al-Uzza ÇáÚõÒøì (al ȝozza) whose name is close to that of Isis is believed to be a manifestation of her. This however is based on similarity in the name.
Throughout the Graeco-Roman world, Isis becomes one of the most significant of the mystery religions, and many classical writers refer to her temples, cults and rites. Temples to Isis were built in Iraq, Greece, Rome, Pompeii. At Philae her worship persisted until the 6th century, long after the wide acceptance of Christianity. Philae was the last of the ancient Egyptian temples to be closed, and its fall is generally accepted to mark the end of ancient Egypt.
Priesthood
Little information on Egyptian priests of Isis survives; however it is clear there were both priests and priestesses of her cult throughout her history. By the Graeco-Roman era, many of them were healers, and were said to have many other special powers, including dream interpretation and the ability to control the weather by braiding or combing their hair, the latter of which was believed because the Egyptians considered knots to have magickal powers.
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 holding a lotus, as a sycamore tree. After her assimilation of Hathor, Isis's headdress is replaced with that of Hathor: the horns of a cow on her head, and the solar disc between them. She was also sometimes symbolised by a cow, or a cow's head. Usually, she was depicted with her young son, the great god Horus, with a crown and a vulture, and sometimes as a kite bird flying above Osiris's body or with the dead Osiris across her lap.
Isis is most often seen holding only the generic ankh sign and a simple staff, but is sometimes seen with Hathor's attributes, the sacred sistrum rattle and the fertility bearing menat necklace.
Isis is depicted by the star Sept (Sirius) which is the star of the new year. The appearance of the star signified the advent of a new year and so Isis was considered the goddess of rebirth and re-incarnation and also as a protector of the dead. The Book of the Dead outlines a particular ritual that would protect the dead so that he can go any where in the under world. Most of the names Isis holds signify her as the goddess of protection of the dead.
Selected Source:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isis
Her name literally means "(female) of throne", that is, "Queen of the throne", which was portrayed by the emblem worn on her head, that of a throne. However, the hieroglyph of her name originally meant "(female) of flesh", i.e. mortal, and she may simply have represented deified, historical queens.
Origins
Queen Isis was married to her brother Osiris who was ruler of the throne. They were the children of Nut and Geb, and had an additional sister named Nephthys and brother Set. Isis was supposed to marry Set, not Osiris. When a jealous Set slew the beloved Osiris and dropped his body into the Nile, Isis did not simply mourn her lost love, but moved all forces of nature and rescued the body of her husband from where it had come to rest in Byblos.
Isis, with her sister Nephthys were preparing for the ceremonial burial of Osiris when his murderer Set stole the body and hacked it into fourteen pieces. Isis searched the length and breadth of Egypt, gathering together his pieces and, with the god Anubis, bound him together to make him whole, save for his phallus. In one version of the myth Isis formed a new phallus and attached it to her deceased husband’s body. For this and her unfathomable skills of re-creation, she is called Isis, ‘great of magic.’
She made magic wings for herself and became a desert kite, circling the sky, wailing and lamenting over the deceased Osiris. The wings and the wind they created wafted the breath of life into the dead Osiris. The devoted wife mounted her husband and with their union, conceived a son, Horus. Fearful that the jealous Set would seek out and injure her son, she bid her husband farewell. Osiris descended into the underworld to rule over the Netherworld. Isis went out into the wilderness, gave birth to Horus and hid him in the papyrus marshes, guarding him from Set and the natural forces and dangers, such as snakes and predators, until he came of age.
Ever after, kings were the incarnation of Horus and the kings sought the protection of the goddess. The ancient regents saw the goddess with a throne upon her head and reached out to the divine essence of royalty. As wife of Osiris associated with kingship and the deceased kings of Egypt, and as mother of Horus, the falcon god, always associated with the living Pharaoh, Isis with her powers of love and magic became the epitome of the rights of kings.
Isis is often seen with a sistrum, a ceremonial musical rattle tambourine-like instrument. Her priestesses carried the sistrum and tied their robes with the Knot of Isis, a sash around the waist tied in an ankh-like knot with two loops.
Her origins are uncertain but are believed to have come from the Nile Delta; however, unlike other Egyptian deities, she did not have a centralized cult at any point throughout her worship. 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. It eventually spread outside Egypt throughout the Middle East and the Roman Empire, with temples dedicated to her built as far away as the British Isles. Pockets of her worship remained in Christian Europe as late as the 6th century.
Temples
Most Egyptian deities started off as strictly local, and throughout their history retained local centers of worship, with most major cities and towns widely known as the hometowns to their deities.
However, no traces of local Isis cults are found; throughout her early history there are also no known temples dedicated to her. Individual worship of Isis does not begin until as late as the 30th dynasty; until that time Isis was depicted and apparently worshipped in temples of other deities. However, even then Isis is not worshipped individually, but rather together with Horus and Osiris -- the latter of whom being both her brother and husband (marriage between siblings of the Royal family were common in Ancient Egypt to keep the Royal bloodline 'intact' ). Temples dedicated specifically to Isis become wide-spread only in Roman times.
By this period, temples to Isis begin to spread outside of Egypt. In many locations, particularly Byblos, her cult takes over that of worship to the Semitic goddess Astarte, apparently due to the similarity of names and associations. During the Hellenic era, due to her attributes as a protector, and mother, and the lusty aspect originally from Hathor, she was also made the patron goddess of sailors.
Likewise, the Arabian goddess AlOzza or Al-Uzza ÇáÚõÒøì (al ȝozza) whose name is close to that of Isis is believed to be a manifestation of her. This however is based on similarity in the name.
Throughout the Graeco-Roman world, Isis becomes one of the most significant of the mystery religions, and many classical writers refer to her temples, cults and rites. Temples to Isis were built in Iraq, Greece, Rome, Pompeii. At Philae her worship persisted until the 6th century, long after the wide acceptance of Christianity. Philae was the last of the ancient Egyptian temples to be closed, and its fall is generally accepted to mark the end of ancient Egypt.
Priesthood
Little information on Egyptian priests of Isis survives; however it is clear there were both priests and priestesses of her cult throughout her history. By the Graeco-Roman era, many of them were healers, and were said to have many other special powers, including dream interpretation and the ability to control the weather by braiding or combing their hair, the latter of which was believed because the Egyptians considered knots to have magickal powers.
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 holding a lotus, as a sycamore tree. After her assimilation of Hathor, Isis's headdress is replaced with that of Hathor: the horns of a cow on her head, and the solar disc between them. She was also sometimes symbolised by a cow, or a cow's head. Usually, she was depicted with her young son, the great god Horus, with a crown and a vulture, and sometimes as a kite bird flying above Osiris's body or with the dead Osiris across her lap.
Isis is most often seen holding only the generic ankh sign and a simple staff, but is sometimes seen with Hathor's attributes, the sacred sistrum rattle and the fertility bearing menat necklace.
Isis is depicted by the star Sept (Sirius) which is the star of the new year. The appearance of the star signified the advent of a new year and so Isis was considered the goddess of rebirth and re-incarnation and also as a protector of the dead. The Book of the Dead outlines a particular ritual that would protect the dead so that he can go any where in the under world. Most of the names Isis holds signify her as the goddess of protection of the dead.
Selected Source:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isis
