Isis was an ancient Egyptian goddess who embodied many divine attributes. She was associated with fertility, nature, magic, healing and kingship. As the goddess of nature, she was connected to the flooding of the Nile and the agricultural cycles. Isis also represented the throne and royal authority. Her cult originated in the Nile Delta and she absorbed the traits of other goddesses over time, becoming one of the most prominent deities in late Egyptian religion. Her worship eventually spread throughout the Mediterranean world.
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Isis was an ancient Egyptian goddess who embodied many divine attributes. She was associated with fertility, nature, magic, healing and kingship. As the goddess of nature, she was connected to the flooding of the Nile and the agricultural cycles. Isis also represented the throne and royal authority. Her cult originated in the Nile Delta and she absorbed the traits of other goddesses over time, becoming one of the most prominent deities in late Egyptian religion. Her worship eventually spread throughout the Mediterranean world.
Isis was an ancient Egyptian goddess who embodied many divine attributes. She was associated with fertility, nature, magic, healing and kingship. As the goddess of nature, she was connected to the flooding of the Nile and the agricultural cycles. Isis also represented the throne and royal authority. Her cult originated in the Nile Delta and she absorbed the traits of other goddesses over time, becoming one of the most prominent deities in late Egyptian religion. Her worship eventually spread throughout the Mediterranean world.
Copyright:
Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
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Download as TXT, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
Isis was an ancient Egyptian goddess who embodied many divine attributes. She was associated with fertility, nature, magic, healing and kingship. As the goddess of nature, she was connected to the flooding of the Nile and the agricultural cycles. Isis also represented the throne and royal authority. Her cult originated in the Nile Delta and she absorbed the traits of other goddesses over time, becoming one of the most prominent deities in late Egyptian religion. Her worship eventually spread throughout the Mediterranean world.
Copyright:
Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
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Download as TXT, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
She was the light-giver at this season of the year and was called Khut.
As the mighty earth-goddess her name was Usert.
As the Great Goddess of the Underworld she was Thenenet. As the power which shot forth the Nile flood, she was Sati, and Sept. As the embracer of the land and producer of fertility by her waters she was Anqe t. As the producer and giver of life she was Ankhet. As the goddess of cultivated lands and fields she was Sekhet. As the goddess of the harvest she was Renenet. As the goddess of food which was offered to the gods, she was Tcheft, and lived in the Temple of Tchefau. As the great lady of the Underworld, who assisted in transforming the bodies of the blessed dead into those wherein they were to live in the realm of Osiris, sh e was Ament - the "hidden" goddess. As Ament she was declared to be the mother o f Ra. In this last capacity she shared with Osiris the attribute of 'giver of life,' a nd she provided food for the dead as well as for the living. At a comparatively early period in Egyptian history Isis had absorbed the attrib utes of all the great primitive goddesses, and of all the local goddesses such a s Nekhebet, Uatchet, Net, Bast, Hathor, etc., and she was even identified as the female counterpart of the primeval abyss of water from which sprang all life. It is manifestly impossible to limit the attributes of Isis, for we have seen th at she possesses the powers of a water goddess, an earth goddess, a corn goddess , a star goddess, a queen of the Underworld, and a woman, and that she united in herself one or more of the attributes of all the goddesses of Egypt known to us . Origins Her origins are uncertain but are believed to come from the Nile Delta; however unlike other Egyptian deities she did not have a centralised cult at any point t hroughout her worship. First mentions of Isis date back to the 5th dynasty, but her cult became prominent late in Egyptian history, when it began to absorb the cults of many other goddesses. It eventually spread outside Egypt throughout the Middle East and Europe, with temples to her built as far away as the British Is les. Pockets of her worship remained in Christian Europe as late as the 6th cent ury. Priesthood Little information on Egyptian priests of Isis survives; however it is clear the re were both male and female priests of her cult throughout her early history. B y the Graeco-Roman era, all priestesses of Isis are female. Many of them were he alers and midwives, and were said to have many special powers, including dream i nterpretation and the ability to control the weather by braiding or combing thei r hair, the latter of which was because the ancient Egyptians considered knots t o have magical power.