The goddess Isis is the most famous goddess of antiquity, who was said to have a thousand names. She was revered in ancient Egypt as the patroness of fertility and navigation, the mistress of wind and water. They worshiped her as a symbol of femininity and selfless fidelity to her husband.
Isis - the most revered pre-Christian goddess
The goddess Isis enjoyed great love and respect in ancient Egypt, which cannot be said about other beautiful goddesses. She is the only one of the cults of Egypt that has gone beyond this civilization. During the Hellenistic period, and later in Rome, she was worshiped throughout the Mediterranean. In addition, the cult of the goddess Isis competed with early Christianity. She was included in the pantheon of gods - patrons of medicine.
In early mythology, Isis appears as the mistress of scorpions. The ancients believed that she gave mankind bees and wedding dresses. She gave women the ability to spin yarn, weave fabrics, reap bread. Isis patronized women in childbirth and predicted the fate of the born pharaohs.
I wonder what her name istranslates as "throne". Isis, thanks to her son, spiritualized the power of the king and was revered as the heavenly mother of any pharaoh who gave him the throne.
Like the Babylonian Ishtar, the Egyptian goddess Isis was initially evil and fought even with her son. But over time, she becomes a beneficent ruler, a loving mother and wife.
Birth of Isis: myth
In mythology, Isis is the daughter of Geb and Nut, the great-granddaughter of Ra, the twin sister of Osiris and his beloved wife. Almost all myths and legends about her are closely intertwined with the legends about Osiris. In the mythology of various nationalities, the marriage of gods - brothers and sisters - was one of the indicators of their divine essence.
Surprisingly, the "mistress of life", which the ancient Egyptians worshiped, could not be born, due to an event that happened at the very dawn of time. At the time when Ra formed the world, his children - the god Shu (air) and the goddess Tefnut (water) - fell in love with each other, and from this beautiful love two gods were born - Geb (earth) and Nut (sky), who also fell in love other arcs.
Love was so strong that heaven and earth joined! The sun, air, water froze, their movement stopped. The fury of Ra knew no bounds, he ordered his son Shu to punish the rebellious lovers, because of this, several catastrophic earthquakes occurred. But it was too late, Nut was already carrying five gods in her womb.
Among them were the Egyptian goddess Isis and Osiris. Enraged Ra determined that these children could not be born in any of the 12 months of the year. God came to the rescueThat one, he bartered five extra days from the Moon. They were located after twelve months. Nut gave birth to Isis on the fourth day.
The myth of Isis and Osiris
The content of the myth about the god Osiris and the goddess Isis has survived to our time thanks to the work of Plutarch. In it, the goddess appears in the image of the selflessly devoted wife of the god Osiris. Her life was marked by a terrible tragedy, the cause of which was the envy of the evil god Seth to his brother Osiris. And Isis failed to prevent Set from doing a dirty deed.
After the murder, Set threw the body of his hated brother into the Nile, and the ancient Egyptian goddess Isis put a lot of effort into finding the remains. Her sister Nephthys helped the unfortunate woman in this. Two beautiful goddesses found Osiris and hid him in the swampy places of Khemmis.
But Seth did not stop his attempts to end his brother, found a cache and divided his remains into 14 parts, after which he scattered them all over Egypt. And yet the goddess did not give up. After collecting all the parts of Osiris, she created the very first mummy out of them with the help of Anubis.
Isis sculpted a phallus out of clay, which could not be found, because, according to legend, it was eaten by fish. After that, she consecrated him. And with the help of magic spells, she grew it to her husband's body. With the help of magic, transformed into a female kite called Hut, Isis spread her wings on her husband's mummy, whispered magic words and became pregnant.
Cult buildings depicting Isis and Osiris
In the temples of Hathor in Dendra andOsiris in Abydos, the oldest relief compositions have survived to this day. They depict a divine act in which the son of the goddess was conceived, when she took the form of a female falcon, sprawled over a mummy. According to the myth, Osiris became king in the afterlife, and Isis gave birth to a son - Horus. It happened in the swampy reeds of Hemmis (Delta).
And now in Egypt you can see countless statues and bas-reliefs showing Isis breastfeeding her son, who took the form of a pharaoh. Together with the sisters Nut, Tefnut and Nephthys, the goddess Isis received the epithet "beautiful". She was always there when the pharaohs were born.
Great Ra and Isis: myth
In ancient texts about Isis, it is said that she has a heart that is more rebellious than that of all people, and more intelligent than that of all gods. Isis was considered a sorceress by people. She tried her skills on the gods.
Thus, with an indomitable desire, the goddess wanted to know the secret name of the god Ra, who created the world, as well as heaven and light. This would give her power over the most powerful god, and subsequently over all gods. In order to find out the secret of the head of the pantheon of the gods of Egypt, the goddess Isis used a trick. She knew that Ra was old and that when he rested, saliva flowed from the corners of his lips and dripped under his feet.
She scraped off these droplets, mixed them with road dust and fashioned a snake. With the help of her spells, she revived and threw her onto the road along which Ra was supposed to pass. After some time, the supreme god was bitten by a snake. Frightened, he called for help from the children and explained to themthat he was bitten by something unknown, and his heart flutters, and his limbs are filled with cold.
Isis, submissive to his will, also came to her father and said: “Reveal your name to me, father, because the one whose name will be mentioned in the spell will live!” Ra was confused - he knew about it, but he was afraid. He, pretending to give in to his daughter, read out a list of random names. But Isis could not be fooled, and she insisted that her father say his real name.
Ra, unable to bear the terrible pain, dedicated her to a terrible secret. Then he was healed by his daughter. Interestingly, none of the texts currently known, this name was not indicated. In Christianity, no one knows the name of God either.
Cult of Isis, centers of worship and symbols
The cult of the goddess of fertility Isis becomes widespread over time. She was revered everywhere: from all the lands of Ancient Egypt to remote Roman provinces. Among the Greeks and Romans, the goddess of Egypt Isis, the photo of whose images you can see in the article, was also a symbol and enjoyed everyone's attention. The Ptolemies of Egypt built many temples in her honor. So, in the south of Aswan, the sanctuary of Debod was erected. And with the decline of the era of the pharaohs and with the heyday of the era of Rome, temples were built in Nubia. An example is the temple of Kalabsha (antique - Talmis). But the most famous temple of Isis, located on about. Fillet (Pilak).
Pharaoh Nectaneb I of the XXX dynasty decided to build a majestic temple of the goddess Isis, which became the largest cult center of the goddess. Nextpharaohs and emperors of Rome in every way contributed to the maintenance of this cult. The temple was closed during the spread of Christianity in 537, by order of Emperor Justinian. All the statues were transported to Constantinople, and the Hypostyle Hall was converted into a Christian church, which once again confirmed its connection with the Mother of God.
Symbols of Isis
The main symbol of the described goddess is the royal throne. His sign is quite often located on her head. The sacred animal of Isis was the great white cow of Heliopolis, who was the mother of the sacred Apis.
A widely used symbol of Isis is the amulet Tet, which is called the “Knot of Isis”. It is made from red minerals - jasper and carnelian.
The heavenly symbol of the goddess is Sirius. With the rising of this star, the Nile floods from the tears of the goddess, mourning her beloved husband.
