Roman merchants operating on Delos adopted the Isis cult they found there and took it back with them when they returned to Naples, Campania, Ostia, Rome, and Sicily. The impressive Doric Temple of Isis, whose ruins still stand on the island, was built in the early second century B.C. Among them was the Temple of Isis on Delos in the Aegean, a tiny, arid island that became an important trading post in the Ptolemaic era. Temples to Isis were erected throughout the Mediterranean world. ( Here's how the Greeks changed the way we think about life after death.) writer Plutarch likened her to Persephone, consort of Hades, the lord of the underworld. In Roman cities she was linked with Fortuna, goddess of luck, and Venus, goddess of love. In and around Lebanon she was associated with the Middle Eastern goddess Astarte. In Greece Isis was originally linked with Demeter, goddess of agriculture. To Alexandrian merchants, Isis and Serapis became associated with prosperity in addition to the afterlife, healing, and fertility.Īs Ptolemaic influence spread throughout the eastern Mediterranean, worship of Isis also travelled along the trade routes to the coastlines of modern-day Syria, Israel, and Turkey. Their hub of worship was in Alexandria, a major commercial centre under the Ptolemies. His association with the underworld, and therefore with Osiris, helped the framers of the new Ptolemaic cult settle on Isis as Serapis’s consort. Under Ptolemaic rule, aspects of Osiris and Apis were combined with traits of Greek gods, including Zeus and Hades, to create a syncretic deity, Serapis. Construction on an impressive new temple for Isis began shortly before Alexander’s conquest and was finished by Ptolemy II Philadelphus and his successor, Ptolemy III Euergetes, in the third century B.C. Temples had been built to her there since the sixth century B.C. Located in Upper Egypt near the border of modern Sudan, the island of Philae was sacred to Isis. This dynasty, the so-called Ptolemies, would continue to unite the new Macedon elite with the local Egyptian population through faith. ( These are the sacred and secret rituals in the Book of the Dead.)Īt first Isis was only worshipped in the Nile Delta where she originated, but she grew to become an important deity for the whole of ancient Egypt.įollowing Alexander’s death in 323 B.C., one of his generals, Ptolemy I Soter, took control of Egypt and continued the practice of religious tolerance. Among the most ancient sacred writings, these texts centre on pharaonic funerary rituals and beliefs about the journey of kings through the afterlife. The earliest mention of Isis can be found in the Pyramid Texts, sacred inscriptions carved in tomb walls of pyramids in Saqqara dating back to the Old Kingdom (circa 2575-2150 B.C.). ( Explore a Greek cave that legend says is the entrance to the underworld.) Horus grows up to banish Set, restoring order to the world. Isis gives birth to a son, Horus (a popular art motif depicts Isis nursing her infant son). Osiris is revived, but rather than being the lord of the living, Osiris becomes lord of the dead. Grieving, Isis searches the world to collect the pieces and puts him back together. Osiris is murdered by his jealous younger brother Set, who dismembers the body and scatters it. She marries one of her brothers, the god Osiris, and the pair rule the world. In one of the most popular tellings of the Isis myth, she is one of the children of the gods Geb, god of the earth, and Nut, goddess of the sky. Isis’s ability to absorb new traits would prove valuable to the longevity and spread of her worship throughout the ancient world. As Isis became closely linked to maternity, her headdress morphed and became like Hathor’s. Hathor, an early Egyptian goddess of motherhood, was often shown with a solar disk and cow horns. As her divine roles diversified, her appearance would change. Isis is the Greek form of the goddess’s name, which in ancient Egyptian was Aset, meaning “seat” or “throne.” Depicted as a slim woman wearing a sheath dress, she is often shown with a throne on her head. ( In ancient Egypt, women rulers kept society stable in times of trouble.) Egyptian origins Then as Roman power expanded, worship of Isis went even farther afield.īy the second century A.D., the Roman writer Apuleius would glorify her as the “mother of stars, the parent of seasons, and the mistress of all the world.” Yet while she meant many things to many cultures across the Roman world, her roots lie in a very specific place and time: the Nile Delta at the dawn of ancient Egyptian history. Her cult first began to spread around the Mediterranean following the establishment of Hellenist rule in Egypt in the fourth century B.C. Isis was loved by ancient Egyptians for her fierce devotion to her husband Osiris and her son Horus.
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