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ISIS (Egyptian Ese)
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See also:ISIS (See also:Egyptian Ese) , the most famous of the Egyptian goddesses. She was of human See also:form, in See also:early times distinguished only by the hieroglyph of her name II upon her See also:head. Later she commonly wore the horns of a cow, and the cow was sacred to her; it is doubtful, however, whether she had any See also:animal See also:representation in early times, nor had she See also:possession of any considerable locality until a See also:late See also:period, when See also:Philae, Behbet and other large temples were dedicated to her See also:worship. Yet she was Of See also:great importance in See also:mythology, See also:religion and magic, appearing constantly in the very See also:ancient See also:Pyramid texts as the devoted See also:sister-wife of See also:Osiris and See also:mother of See also:Horus. In the divine genealogies she is daughter of Keb and See also:Nut (See also:earth and See also:sky). She was supreme in magical See also:power, cunning and know-ledge. A See also:legend of the New See also:Kingdom tells how she contrived to learn the all-powerful hidden name of Re' which he had confided to no one. A snake which she had fashioned for the purpose stung the See also:god, who sent for her as a last resort in his unendurable agony; whereupon she represented to him that nothing but his own mysterious name could overcome the venom of the snake. Much Egyptian magic turns on the healing or See also:protection of Horus by Isis, and it is chiefly from magical texts that the myth of Isis and Osiris as given by See also:Plutarch can be illustrated. The Metternich stela (XXXth See also:Dynasty), the finest example of a class of prophylactic stelae generally known by the name of " Horus on the crocodiles," is inscribed with a See also:long See also:text See also:relating the adventures of Isis and Horus in the marshes of the See also:Delta. With her sister See also:Nephthys, Isis is frequently represented as watching the See also:body of Osiris or See also:mourning his See also:death. Isis was identified with See also:Demeter by See also:Herodotus, and described as the goddess who was held to be the greatest by the Egyptians; he states that she and Osiris, unlike other deities, were worshipped throughout the See also:land. The importance of Isis had increased greatly since the end of the New Kingdom. The great See also:temple of Philae was begun under the XXXth Dynasty; that of Behbet seems to have been built by See also:Ptolemy II. The cult of Isis spread into See also:Greece with that of See also:Serapis early in the 3rd See also:century B.C. In See also:Egypt itself Isea, or shrines of Isis, swarmed. At See also:Coptos Isis became a leading divinity on a See also:par with the early god See also:Min. About 8o B.C. See also:Sulla founded an Isiac See also:college in See also:Rome, but their altars within the See also:city were overthrown by the consuls no less than four times in the See also:decade from 58 to 48 B.C., and the worship of Isis at Rome continued to be limited or suppressed by a See also:succession of enactments which were enforced until the reign of Caligula. The Isiac mysteries were a representation of the See also:chief events in the myth of Isis and Osiris—the See also:murder of Osiris, the See also:lamentations of Isis and her wanderings, followed by the See also:triumph of Horus over See also:Seth and the resurrection of the slain god—accompanied by See also:music and an exposition of the inner meaning of the spectacle. These were traditional in ancient Egypt, and in their later development were no doubt affected by the Eleusinian mysteries of Demeter. They appealed power-fully to the See also:imagination and the religious sense. The initiated went through See also:rites of See also:purification, and practised a degree of See also:asceticism; but for many the festival was believed to be an occasion for dark orgies. Isis See also:nursing the See also:child Horus (Hatpokhrates) was a very See also:common figure in the Deltaic period, and in these later days was still a favourite representation. The Isis temples discovered at See also:Pompeii and in Rome show that ancient monuments as well as See also:objects of small See also:size were brought from Egypt to See also:Italy for See also:dedication to her worship, but the goddess absorbed the attributes of all See also:female divinities; she was goddess of the earth and its fruits, of the See also:Nile, of the See also:sea, of the underworld, of love, healing and magic. From the See also:time of See also:Vespasian onwards the worship of Isis, always popular with some sections, had a great See also:vogue throughout the western See also:world, and is not without traces in See also:Britain. It proved the most successful of the See also:pagan cults in maintaining itself against See also:Christianity; with which it had not a little in common, both in See also:doctrine and in emblems. But the destruction of the Serapeum at See also:Alexandria in A.D. 397 was a fatal See also:blow to the See also:prestige of the Graeco-Egyptian divinities. The worship of Isis, however, survived in Italy into the 5th century. At Philae her temple was frequented by the barbarous Nobatae and Blemmyes until the See also:middle of the 6th century, when the last remaining See also:shrine of Isis was finally closed. See G. Lafaye, See also:art. " Isis " in Daremberg et Saglio, Dictionnaire See also:des antiquites (1900) ; id. Hist. du culte desdivinites d'Alexandrie hors de l'Egypte (1883); See also:Meyer and Drexler, art. " Isis " in See also:Roscher's See also:Lexicon der griech. and rom. Mythologie (1891–1892) (very elaborate) ; E. A. W. Budge, Gods of the Egyptians, vol. ii. ch. xiii.; Ad. Rusch, De Serapide et Iside in Graecia cultis (dissertation) (See also:Berlin, 1906). (The author especially collects the See also:evidence from See also:Greek See also:inscriptions earlier than the See also:Roman See also:conquest; he contends that the mysteries of Isis were not equated with the Eleusinian mysteries.) (F. LL. Additional information and CommentsIsis transformed from a local deity in nile-delta to a cosmic deity who invaded the whole ancient world specially Rome and Athen.This provokes an important question :WHETHER ISIS AND HER SON "HORUS" ARE A PROTOTYPES OF VIRGIN MARY AND HER SON "JESUS" TAKING INTO COSNIDERATION THAT JESUS PLAYS DOUBLE ROLE OF FATHER AND SON OR HORUS AS A DELIVERER AND OSIRIS AS A MARTYR WHILE MARY STILL GATHER TOGETHER ALL FACULTIES AS A COSMIC MOTHER? Dr PHILIP ATTIYA In the famous work by Apulius known as ,,Transformation of Lucius,,We must read carefully the description of Isis by herself,,I am Nature,the universal Mother,mistress of all the elements,primordial child of time,sovereign of all things spiritual,queen of dead,queen also of the immortals,the single manifestation of all gods and goddesses that are,my nod governs the shining heights of Heavens..though I am worshipped in many aspects,in countless names..the primeval PHRYGIANS call me PESSINUNTICA,the ATHENIANS call me Cecropian ARTEMIS,for the islanders of CYPRUS I am PAPHIAN APHRODITE.......but EGYPTIANS who excel in ancient learning and worship me with ceremonies proper to my godhead ,call me by my true name,namely QUEEN ISIS.
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