Isis
Sign in to savethumb|Isis wall painting in the tomb of Seti I (KV17)
AI overview
Isis was an ancient Egyptian goddess depicted in religious artwork and tomb paintings, such as this example from the tomb of Pharaoh Seti I. She was one of the most important deities in Egyptian religion and culture, symbolizing motherhood, magic, and the protective power of the divine.
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Key facts
- Deity.type
- Egyptian
- Deity.name
- Isis
- Deity.image
- Isis.svg
- Deity.alt
- Profile of a woman in ancient Egyptian clothing. She has yellow skin and wears a headdress shaped like a tall chair.
- Deity.caption
- Composite image of Isis's most distinctive Egyptian iconography, based partly on images from the tomb of Nefertari
- Deity.hiero
- Egyptian: Q1-X1:H8-B1 Meroitic: or V4-F1-M8
- Deity.cult_center
- Behbeit el-Hagar, Philae
- Deity.symbol
- Tyet
- Deity.consort
- Osiris, Min, Serapis, Horus the Elder
- Deity.offspring
- Horus, Min, Four Sons of Horus, Bastet
- Deity.parents
- Geb and Nut
- Deity.siblings
Article
35 sectionsContents
- In Egypt and Nubia
- Name and origins
- Roles
- Wife and mourner
- Mother goddess
- Goddess of kingship and protection of the kingdom
- Goddess of magic and wisdom
- Sky goddess
- Universal goddess
- Iconography
- Worship
- Relationship with royalty
- Temples and festivals
- Funerary
- Popular worship
- In the Greco-Roman world
- Spread
- Roles
- Relationships with other deities
- Iconography
- Worship
- Adherents and priests
- Temples and daily rites
- Personal worship
- Initiation
- Festivals
- Possible influence on Christianity
- Influence in later cultures
- See also
- Notes
- References
- Citations
- Works cited
- Further reading
- External links
thumb|Isis wall painting in the tomb of Seti I (KV17)
Isis was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kingdom () as one of the main characters of the Osiris myth, in which she resurrects her slain brother and husband, the divine king Osiris, and produces and protects his heir, Horus. She was believed to help the dead enter the afterlife as she had helped Osiris, and she was considered the divine mother of the pharaoh, who was likened to Horus. Her maternal aid was invoked in healing spells to benefit ordinary people. Originally, she played a limited role in royal rituals and temple rites, although she was more prominent in funerary practices and magical texts. She was usually portrayed in art as a human woman wearing a throne-like hieroglyph on her head. During the New Kingdom (), as she took on traits that originally belonged to Hathor, the preeminent goddess of earlier times, Isis was portrayed wearing Hathor's headdress: a sun disk between the horns of a cow.