Isis – Queen, mother, woman, and king maker

Isis was the prototype for women to follow in Ancient Egypt. It didn’t matter what rank you were, she was an example.

Isis was the daughter of Geb and Nut and a member of the ennead*. She was known as the ‘mistress of the house of life’, whose creative and nurturing functions made her the most popular divinity of the Late period in the Egyptian Fayûm and delta (Gordon, 2012).

She was often relegated to a supporting role of her husband and son. Even though she played a supporting role to her husband /Brother Osiris, she was still independent. It was her independence and Initiative that saved and restored Osiris.

She was a very powerful goddess. She could bring the dead back to life. She was reckoned to be more powerful than a thousand soldiers” at the same time she was the archetypal mother (Fletcher, 2009). The view of her as a powerful mother goddess is supported by the hymns to her which call her “Mother of god, Lady of heaven, Mistress of all the gods!” She is also called the “Divine Mother of Horus”(Bianchi & Žabkar, 1990).

The hymns also mention how the King comes before “ his mother Isis“

She was always seeking and promoting the cause of the men in her family. When her husband was killed by their brother, it was Isis who went about to restore him (and his body) to life and power. She was also his protector.

The Pyramid Texts mention that Isis preserved Osiris alive. (172. Pyramid text)

It is through her magic that Osiris makes her pregnant (Hart, 2005) she did this so that his power was secure. She was the woman behind the throne. Isis’ powerful magical and maternal protective power was the archetype of medical help in ancient Egypt (Assmann, 2001.).

Isis stands out from the other married female goddess of the surrounding nations because of her close ties to the power of the monarchy.(Griffiths, 2005)

While she was a powerful, magical protector she was also a mother. After bringing her husband back to life and becoming pregnant with his child, Horus, she becomes the vital link between the gods and pharaoh – who was the living image of Horus (Hart, 2005).

It was the view of Isis being a healer and protector within the family setting that made her popular with the Graeco- Roman world (Gordon, 2012). To put it simply – A married woman who was a mother was what made her popular.

During the Roman period the cult of Isis spread across the empire. Relics and statues of Isis have been found as far away as Britain. In 2004, a lead bust of Isis was found in Swindon, Wiltshire. The bust was 86 mm high, 49 mm wide and shows the head, shoulders, and breasts of the goddess (J.Schuster, 2011 ). The lead bust of Isis has been described as being crudely made which suggested a local origin (J.Schuster, 2011 ). As the cult of Isis spread across the empire she was absorbed, or was equated with, many other divinities,  in Greek she was descrided as μυριώνυμος (myriónymos), ‘invoked by innumerable names’ (Gordon, 2012).

The Goddess is often depicted holding the Ankh in one hand as a symbol for life. This fits in with the image of motherhood and giving birth to life. She is sometimes shown with a sun disk atop her head, between two cow’s horns. Playing on the theme of motherhood she is also depicted nursing the God Horus as a child.

The image of Isis suckling her child on her lap would have been a powerful narrative to the ancient Egyptians. It would have reminded them of how she fed, healed, and saved her child. Her breastmilk was a milk that feeds but also confirmed kingship. She was a healer and kingmaker (Assmann, 2001.). Some pharaohs were depicted sitting on Isis’s lap and sucking her breast.

Isis was a mother who healed, protected, and made kings. Isis may also have given a religious overtone to a positive view of female sexuality (Gordon, 2012).

Cleopatra, the last queen of Egypt, was a devout follower and patron of Isis. Her patronage of the cult of Isis helped to root the Hellenistic version firmly in Egypt, and after her death at least some images of Isis seem to have been inspired by representations of Cleopatra. Her posthumous images as Isis were revered in Egypt for many centuries (Miles, 2011). Queen Cleopatra presented herself and associated herself closely with both Aphrodite and Isis.

The Queen was even worshipped as goddess in her own lifetime (Miles, 2011). As far as Cleopatra was concern, she was the “New Isis” (Nea Isis). On dedicatory stelai and public inscriptions, the text fused Pharaonic tradition and Greek text, she was Queen Cleopatra, the Goddess (Thea), the Younger (Neotera). Keeping in line with the tradition of Isis, Cleopatra said that her son was the “New Horus”. (Miles, 2011)

* In  Egyptian mythology the Ennead (“the Nine”) is the name given to the pantheon of the great theological center Heliopolis (Leeming, 2005). It was made up of nine Gods, Atum, Shu, Tefnut, Geb, Nut,Osiris, Isis, Seth, and Nephthys.

Bibliography:

Assmann, J . (2001). The search for God in ancient Egypt. New York: Cornell University press.

Bianchi, R., & Žabkar, L. (1990). Hymns to Isis in Her Temple at Philae. Journal Of The American Research Center In Egypt, 27, 229. doi: 10.2307/40000111

Fletcher, J. (2009). The Egyptian book of living & dying. London: Duncan Briad

Gordon, R. (2012). Isis. In The Oxford Classical Dictionary. : Oxford University Press,.

Hart, G. (2005). The Routledge Dictionary of Egyptian Gods and Goddesses. New York: Routledge.

Miles, M. (2011). . University of California Press.

Schuster,J. ( 2011). A Lead Bust of the Goddess Isis from Groundwell Ridge, Swindon, Wiltshire., in Britannia, Vol. 42 (2011), pp. 309-314. Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies.