Isis Egyptian Goddess
Isis is a goddess in Egyptian mythology. She was most prominent
mythologically as the wife of Osiris and mother of Horus, and was worshipped as
the archetypical wife and mother.
Her name literally means (female) of throne, i.e. 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.
Her origins are uncertain but are believed to have come from the Nile Delta;
however, unlike other Egyptian deities, she did not have a centralised 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 Europe, 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.
The Egyptian name was recorded as ỉs.t or ȝs.t and meant '(She of the) Throne'.
However the true Egyptian pronunciation remains uncertain because their writing
system omitted vowels. Based on recent studies which present us with
approximations based on contemporary languages and Coptic evidence, the
reconstructed pronunciation of her name is *ʔŪsat (ooh-saht). Later, the name
survived into Coptic dialects as Ēse or Ēsi, as well as in compound words
surviving in names of later people like Har-si-Ese, literally "Horus, son of
Isis".
For convenience and arbitrarily, Egyptologists choose to pronounce the word 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.
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 brothers and sisters 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
the 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.
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, even as far north
as England where the remains of a temple were discovered at Hadrian's Wall. At
Philae her worship persisted until the 6th century, long after the wide
acceptance of Christianity- this 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
Priestess of Isis, Roman statue 2nd Century C.E.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 magical powers.