Isis (part 1/2)
Isis (/ˈaɪsɪs/; Ancient Greek: Ἶσις IPA: [îː.sis]; original Egyptian pronunciation more likely
"Aset" or "Iset") is a goddess from the polytheistic pantheon of Egypt. She was first
worshiped in Ancient Egyptian religion, and later her worship spread throughout the Roman Empire and the greater Greco-Roman world. Isis is still
widely worshiped by many pagans today in diverse religious
contexts; including a number of distinct pagan religions, the modern Goddess movement, and
interfaith organizations such as the Fellowship of Isis.
Isis was
worshipped as the ideal mother and wife as well as the patroness of nature and
magic. She was the friend of slaves, sinners, artisans and the downtrodden, but she also listened to the
prayers of the wealthy, maidens, aristocrats and rulers. Isis is often depicted
as the mother of Horus, the
falcon-headed deity associated with king and kingship (although in some
traditions Horus's mother was Hathor). Isis is also known as protector of the dead and
goddess of children.
The name Isis
means "Throne". Her headdress is a throne. As the personification of
the throne, she was an important representation of the pharaoh's power. The
pharaoh was depicted as her child, who sat on the throne she provided. Her cult was popular throughout Egypt, but her most important temples were at Behbeit El-Hagar in the Nile delta, and, beginning in the reign
with Nectanebo I (380–362 BCE), on the island of Philae in Upper Egypt.
In the typical
form of her myth, Isis was the first daughter of Geb, god of the Earth, and Nut, goddess of the Sky, and she was
born on the fourth intercalary day. She married
her brother, Osiris, and she
conceived Horus with him. Isis was instrumental in the resurrection of Osiris
when he was murdered by Set. Using her magical skills, she
restored his body to life after having gathered the body parts that had been
strewn about the earth by Set.
This myth
became very important during the Greco-Roman period. For example, it was
believed that the Nile River flooded every year because of the tears of sorrow which Isis wept for
Osiris. Osiris's death and rebirth was relived each year through rituals. The
worship of Isis eventually spread throughout the Greco-Roman world, continuing
until the suppression of paganism in the Christian era. The popular motif of Isis suckling her son Horus,
however, lived on in a Christianized context as the popular image of Mary suckling her infant son Jesus from the fifth century onward.
Etymology
The Greek name
version of Isis is close to her original, Egyptian name spelling (namely Aset).
Isis' name was originally written with the signs of a throne seat (Gardiner
sign Q1, pronounced "as" or "is"), a bread loaf
(Gardiner sign X1, pronounced "t" or "tj") and with
an unpronounced determinative of a sitting woman. A second version of the original was also written with
the throne seat and the bread loaf, but ended with an egg symbol (Gardiner sign
H8) which was normally read "set", but here it was used as a
determinative to promote the correct reading. The grammar, spelling and used
signs of Isis' name never changed during time in any way, making it easy to
recognize her any time.
However, the
symbolic and metaphoric meaning of Isis' name remains unclear. The throne seat
sign in her name might point to a functional role as a goddess of kingship, as
the maternal protector of the ruling king. Thus, her name could mean "she
of the kings' throne". But all other Egyptian deities have names that
point to clear cosmological or nature elemental roles (Râ = the sun; Ma'at
= justice and world order), thus the name of Isis shouldn't be connected to the
king himself. The throne seat symbol might alternatively point to a meaning as
"throne-mother of the gods", making her the highest and most powerful
goddess before all other gods. This in turn would supply a very old existence
of Isis, long before her first mentioning during the late Old Kingdom, but this
hypothesis remains unproven. A third possible meaning might be hidden in the
egg-symbol, that was also used in Isis' name. The egg-symbol always represented
motherhood, implying a maternal role of Isis. Her name could mean "mother
goddess", pointing to her later, mythological role as the mother of Horus.
But this remains problematic, too: the initial mother-goddess of Horus was
Hathor, not Isis.
Principal features of the cult
Origins
Most Egyptian
deities were first worshipped by very local cults, and they retained those
local centres of worship even as their popularity spread, so that most major
cities and towns in Egypt were known as the home of a particular deity.
However, the origins of the cult of Isis are very uncertain. In fact,
Egyptologists such as Maria Münster and Jan Assmann point to the lack of
archaeological evidences for a goddess 'Isis' before the time of the late Old
Kingdom of Egypt.
The first
secure references to Isis date back to the 5th dynasty, when her name appears in the sun temple of king Niuserre and on the statue of a priest named Pepi-Ankh, who worshipped at the very
beginning of 6th dynasty and bore the title "high priest of Isis and
Hathor". Also, according to Veronica Ions book "Egyptian
Mythology" from 1981 on page 56, "Isis (or Eset) was also originally
an independent and popular deity whose followers were established in pre- dynastic
times in the northern Delta, at Sebennytos."
Classical Egyptian period
During the Old Kingdom period, Isis was represented as the wife or assistant to the deceased
pharaoh. Thus she had a funerary association, her name appearing over eighty
times in the pharaoh's funeral texts (the Pyramid Texts). This association with the
pharaoh's wife is consistent with the role of Isis as the spouse of Horus, the
god associated with the pharaoh as his protector, and then later as the
deification of the pharaoh himself.
But in
addition, Isis was also represented as the mother of the "four sons of Horus",
the four deities who protected the canopic jars containing the pharaoh's
internal organs. More specifically, Isis was viewed as the protector of the liver-jar-deity, Imsety. By the Middle Kingdom period, as the funeral texts began to be used by
members of Egyptian society other than the royal family, the role of Isis as
protector also grew, to include the protection of nobles and even commoners.
By the New Kingdom period, in many places, Isis was
more prominent than her spouse. She was seen as the mother of the pharaoh, and
was often depicted breastfeeding the pharaoh. It is theorized that this
displacement happened through the merging of cults from the various cult
centers as Egyptian religion became more standardized. When the cult of Ra rose to prominence, with its cult center at Heliopolis, Ra was identified with the similar deity, Horus.
But Hathor had been paired with Ra in some regions, as the mother of the god.
Since Isis was paired with Horus, and Horus was identified with Ra, Isis began
to be merged with Hathor as Isis-Hathor. By merging with Hathor, Isis
became the mother of Horus, as well as his wife. Eventually the mother role
displaced the role of spouse. Thus, the role of spouse to Isis was open and in
the Heliopolis pantheon, Isis became the wife of Osiris and the mother of
Horus/Ra. This reconciliation of themes led to the evolution of the myth of Isis and Osiris.
Temples and priesthood
Isis worship
typically took place within an Iseum. In Egypt, Isis would have
received the same sort of rituals as other Egyptian Deities, including daily
offerings. She was served by both priests and priestesses throughout the
history of her cult. By the Greco-Roman era, the majority of her priests and priestesses
had a reputation for wisdom and healing, and were said to have other special
powers, including dream interpretation and the ability to control the weather, which they did by braiding or not combing their
hair. The latter was believed because the Egyptians considered knots to have magical powers.
No comments:
Post a Comment