2023

The Egyptian Goddess Isis

Isis is among the ancient Egyptian goddesses who was the most extensively worshiped and longest-existing of all the Egyptian gods. She derived her name from the word "est" which was translated to "seat" in order to refer to her steadfastness and to Egypt's throne. She was the mother of pharaohs because the king was equated with Horus, Isis' son.
Her symbol is the "scorpion" that guarded her while she was in concealment and the "hadda," a bird of prey, that took her form to restore her husband. Her symbols are also the "empty throne" and the musical instrument, the sistrum.
Isis was typically portrayed as a benefactress, wife, mother, and protector who kept others' welfare and interests at her own cost. She was also known as "Great Magic" for power, "Mother of the Gods," and other many titles based on what role she filled then.
Isis grew increasingly popular over time, and all the goddesses were seen as aspects of Isis; she was the only Egyptian goddess worshiped by every citizen of the country. She, her husband Osiris, and her son Horus replaced the Theban triad of Amun, Mut, and Khonsu, the most popular sacred trinity of Egypt. Osiris, Isis, and Horus are also referred to as the Abydos Trinity.
Isis cult originated in the Nile Delta, and her most prominent temple was the Shrine of Bahbet of Stone, and then she spread throughout Egypt.
The temple of Isis was served by male and female priests who carried out her rituals in her temple, which was her initial home and contained a statue of her like the temples of other goddesses. The priest and priestesses maintained the image of the temple with respect and invited the Egyptians to visit the temple to make offerings and prayers, and only the high priestess and high priest could enter the sanctuary where the statue of Isis was stored.

Isis was associated with the sea and was a protector of sailors and merchants who wore amulets in her name and to help them when they were threatened. Isis, unlike other Egyptian goddesses, transcended international borders. She was being worshiped by the Greeks and Romans, who believed in her as the supreme world creator goddess. Her cult in Rome was in competition with that of early Christianity, which borrowed the icon of Isis and the child god Horus in depicting the Virgin Mary with Christ.
Her cult was the most universal in the ancient Mediterranean until Christianity conquered the pagan religions between the fourth and sixth centuries AD, and the cult of Isis was prohibited along with the cult of other pagan deities.

The origin of Isis legend

Isis, it is said according to mythology, was born once the world existed. The most common myth talks of a time when there was chaos and darkness in the world, and suddenly, on a particular day, a wave surfaced from the seas, and standing on it was the god Atum. Atom gazed into the boundless emptiness and perceived that he was alone, and thus Atom married his shadow and fathered Shu (the god of breeze) and Tefnut (the goddess of moisture). Then he left them alone on the boundless hill (which is named Ben-Ben) and proceeded to create the world.
Atum stayed alone on the hill among the uproar, worried for the safety of his children, so he withdrew his eye that was stationary and sent it in search of them. This eye, the all-seing eye, was one of the most recognizable Egyptian symbols subsequently, known as the "Eye of Odjat" or the "Eye of Ra." Shu and Tefnut returned with the Eye, losing their task to make the world, and Atum was so happy to accept them, that he began crying. Men and women were brought forth from his tears that dropped on the fruitful ground of Tell Ben Ben.
Shu and Tefnut were married and produced Jeb (earth) and Nut (sky). Jeb and Nut grew to love each other in due time and were inseparable, frustrating Atom because they were brother and sister, so he pushed Nut up above Jeb, tying her there, so the two lovers could gaze at each other without ever touching again.
Nut had become pregnant with Jeb and then gave birth to five children, Osiris, Isis, Set, Nephthys, and Horus the Elder. The five gods were assigned the task of ruling over human activities on earth, and from them all other Egyptian gods came into existence.

Isis and the legend of Maat

The myth of Maat and balance and harmony presents the predominant virtue of Egyptian civilization. The gods, as Egypt believed, counted on them to behave according to eternal standards, the primary of which was Maat, depicted by the goddess of the same name who was adorned with a white feather of truth upon her head.
A person who lives according to Maat enjoys a peaceful existence on earth and is also rewarded in the afterlife, when his heart is discovered to be lighter than the feather of truth, and he is welcomed into the paradise known as the Field of Reeds.
Photographs of Isis and her twin sister Naftis together present this concept of balance, where Isis is light and Naftis is darkness. Naphtis was not depicted as a bad symbol to counter Isis' goodness but was associated with death while Isis was associated with life, thus presenting cosmic balance.

Isis legend goes beyond Egypt's boundaries

When Alexander the Great conquered Egypt in 331 BC, his troops equated Isis with the famous Greek goddess Demeter. This rendered her known to the Greeks, who conducted their own rituals to venerate the Egyptian goddess. Upon Alexander's death, his general Ptolemy I Soter took over, using Egypt as his power base while allocating the spoils and continuing to Hellenize Egyptian society.
The similarities between the myths of Isis and Demeter led to Isis's strong identification with Demeter. The two myths equated Demeter's lost daughter Persephone with Isis's lost husband, and the two separate stories into each other. The Eleusinian Mysteries, ancient Greece's finest religious rite, elevated Demeter to the position of supreme guardian of mysteries of life and death, and Isis subsequently adopted the same role.
Isis's myth spread to Rome and was called the Queen of Heaven and associated with the goddess Circe, Demeter's counterpart, and subsequently Venus. After the assassination of Julius Caesar in 44 BC, during the chaos of civil war, the Romans wanted to build a temple in a bid to worship Isis, believing she would protect and guide them through dark times. Augustus Caesar would not allow this and believed worshiping Isis an unsafe act to perform, which would weaken Rome.