The Ennead (Ancient Greek: ἐννεάς, meaning a collection of nine things) was a group of nine deities in Egyptian mythology. The Ennead were worshipped at Heliopolis and consisted of the god Atum, his children Shu and Tefnut, their children Geb and Nut and their children Osiris,Isis, Set and Nephthys. Sony VAIO VGN-Z790DMR Battery
Terminology
Egyptian mythology established multiple such groupings of deities, known as Pesedjets. The Pyramid Texts of the 5th and 6th dynasties mention the Great Pesedjet, the Lesser Pesedjet, the Dual Pesedjet, plural Pesedjets, and even the Seven Pesedjets. Sony VAIO VGN-Z790DND Battery
Some pharaohs established pesedjets that incorporated themselves among the deities. The most notable case is Seti I of the 19th dynasty, who in his temple at Redesiyah worshipped a pesedjet that combined six important deities with three deified forms of himself. Sony VAIO VGN-Z820DB Battery
The Greek term Ennead, denoting a group of nine, was coined by Greeks exploring Egypt, its culture and religion, especially after the conquest by Alexander the Great and during the subsequent rule of the Ptolemaic Dynasty. Sony VAIO VGN-Z820G/B Battery
Greek became the language of learned studies and hence Greek terms were used by Greek and Roman authors to describe Egyptian phenomena. These others also made use of parallels between Egyptian and Greek deities to identify the two. Sony VAIO VGN-Z890GLX Battery
Development of the Ennead
Among Egyptian pesedjets, the most important was the Great Pesedjet, also called the Ennead of Heliopolis, after its centre of worship. Heliopolis (Egyptian: Aunu, "place of pillars") was dedicated to the worship of the god Atum and thrived from the Old Kingdom until its decline under the Ptolemaic rulers. Sony VAIO VGN-Z890GMR Battery
The development of the Ennead remains uncertain. Egyptologists have traditionally theorised that the priesthood of Heliopolis established this pesedjet in order to stress the preeminence of the sun-god above other deities, incorporating gods which had been venerated elsewhere for centuries while ignoring others. Sony VAIO VGN-Z898H/X Battery
The most prominent of such deities was Osiris, god of vegetation and of the netherworld, who was incorporated into the Ennead as Atum's great-grandson. However, in the 20th century, some Egyptologists[who?] question the whole scenario. Sony VAIO VGN-Z90FS Battery
What appears almost certain is that the Ennead first appeared when the cult of the sun god Ra, which had gained supreme ascendency during the 5th dynasty, declined during the 6th dynasty. After propagation of the Ennead, the cult of Ra - identified with Atum - Sony VAIO VGN-Z90NS Battery
saw a great resurgence until being superseded by the worship of Horus and the identification of the two as Ra-harakhty (Ra, who is Horus of the Two Horizons).
The Ennead faced competition by other groupings: At Memphis, the priests of Ptah identified their deity with the primeval mound,Sony VAIO VGN-Z90PS Battery
the place on which Atum arose first, giving him precedence over the Ennead.
Accounts of the Ennead
The creation account of Heliopolis relates that from the primeval waters represented by Nun, a mound appeared on which the self-begotten deity Atum sat. Sony VAIO VGN-Z90S Battery
Bored and alone, Atum spat or, according to other stories, masturbated, producing Shu, representing the air and Tefnut, representing moisture. Some versions however have Atum - identified with Ra - father Shu and Tefnut with Iusaaset, who is accordingly sometimes described as a "shadow" in this pesedjet. Sony VAIO VGN-Z90US Battery
In turn, Shu and Tefnut mated and brought forth Geb, representing the earth, and Nut, representing the nighttime sky. Because of their initial closeness, Geb and Nut engaged in continuous copulation until Shu separated them, lifting Nut into her place in the sky. Sony VAIO VGN-Z91DS Battery
The children of Geb and Nut were the sons Osiris and Set and the daughters Isis and Nephthys, which in turn formed couples.
Atum /ɑ-tum/, sometimes rendered as Atem or Tem, is an important deity in Egyptian mythology. Sony VAIO VGN-Z91JS Battery
Name
Atum's name is thought to be derived from the word tem which means to complete or finish. Thus he has been interpreted as being the 'complete one' and also the finisher of the world, which he returns to watery chaos at the end of the creative cycle. Sony VAIO VGN-Z91PS Battery
As creator he was seen as the underlying substance of the world, the deities and all things being made of his flesh or alternatively being his ka.[2]
Origins
Atum is one of the most important and frequently mentioned deities from earliest times, as evidenced by his prominence in the Pyramid Texts, where he is portrayed as both a creator and father to the king.[2] Sony VAIO VGN-Z91YS Battery
Role
In the Heliopolitan creation myth, Atum was considered to be the first god, having created himself, sitting on a mound (benben) (or identified with the mound itself), from the primordial waters (Nu).[3] Early myths state that Atum created the god Shu and goddess Tefnut from spitting her out of his mouth.[4] Sony VAIO VGN-Z92DS Battery
In the Old Kingdom the Egyptians believed that Atum lifted the dead king's soul from his pyramid to the starry heavens.[5] He was also a solar deity, associated with the primary sun god Ra. Atum was linked specifically with the evening sun, while Ra was associated more with the morning sun.[6] Sony VAIO VGN-Z92JS Battery
In the Book of the Dead, which was still current in the Graeco-Roman period, the sun god Atum is said to have ascended from chaos-waters with the appearance of a snake, the animal renewing itself every morning.[7][8][9]
Atum is the god of pre-existence and post-existence. In the binary solar cycle, Sony VAIO VGN-Z92PS Battery
the serpentine Atum is contrasted with the ram-headed scarab Khepri—the young sun god, whose name is derived from the Egyptian hpr "to come into existence". Khepri-Atum encompassed sunrise and sunset, thus reflecting the entire solar cycle.[10]Sony VAIO VGN-Z92YS Battery
Relationship to other gods
Atum was a self-created deity, the first being to emerge from the darkness and endless watery abyss that girdled the world before creation. A product of the energy and matter contained in this chaos, Sony VAIO VGN-Z93FS Battery
he created divine and human beings through loneliness: alone in the universe, he produced from his own sneeze, or in some accounts, semen, Shu, the god of air, and Tefnut, the goddess of moisture. The brother and sister, curious about the primeval waters that surrounded them went to explore the waters and disappeared into the darkness. Sony VAIO VGN-Z93GS Battery
Unable to bear his loss, Atum sent a fiery messenger to find his children. The tears of joy he shed on their return were the first human beings.[11]
Iconography
He is usually depicted as a man wearing either the royal head-cloth or the dual white and red crown of Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt, reinforcing his connection with kingship. Sony VAIO VGN-Z93HS Battery
Sometimes he also is shown as a serpent, the form which he returns to at the end of the creative cycle, and also occasionally as a mongoose,lion, bull, lizard, or ape.
In Egyptian mythology, Shu[pronunciation?] (meaning emptiness and he who rises up) is one of the primordial gods, apersonification of air, one of the Ennead of Heliopolis. Sony VAIO VGN-Z93VS Battery
Family
He was created by Atum, his father and Iusaaset, his mother in the city of Heliopolis. With his sister Tefnut (moisture), he was the father of Nut and Geb. His daughter, Nut, was the sky goddess whom he held over the Earth (Geb), separating the two. Sony VAIO VGN-Z590NJB Battery
Shu's grandchildren are Osiris, Isis, Set and Nephthys. His great-grandsons are Horus and Anubis.
Myths
As the air, Shu was considered to be cooling, and thus calming, influence, and pacifier. Sony VAIO VGN-Z590UAB Battery
Due to the association with air, calm, and thus Ma'at (truth, justice and order), Shu was portrayed in art as wearing an ostrich feather. Shu was seen with between one and four feathers.
In a much later myth, representing the terrible weather disaster at the end of the Old Kingdom, Sony VAIO VGN-Z591U/B Battery
it was said that Tefnut and Shu once argued, and Tefnut left Egypt for Nubia (which was always more temperate). It was said that Shu quickly decided that he missed her, but she changed into a cat that destroyed any man or god that approached. Thoth, disguised, eventually succeeded in convincing her to return. Sony VAIO VGN-Z59G Battery
He carries an ankh, the symbol of life.
In the Ennead of Egyptian mythology, Nut[pronunciation?] (alternatively spelled Nuit, Newet, and Neuth) was the goddessof the sky. She was seen as a star-covered nude human arching over the earth. Sony VAIO VGN-Z620D Battery
Her name is translated to mean 'sky'[2][3] and she is considered one of the oldest deities among the Egyptian pantheon,[4]with her origin being found on the creation story of Heliopolis. She was originally the goddess of the nighttime sky, but eventually became referred to as simply the sky goddess. Sony VAIO VGN-Z620N/B Battery
Her headdress was the hieroglyphic of part of her name, a pot, which may also symbolize the uterus. Mostly depicted in nude human form, Nut was also sometimes depicted in the form of acow whose great body formed the sky and heavens, a sycamore tree, or as a giant sow, suckling many piglets (representing the stars). Sony VAIO VGN-Z650N/B Battery
Origins
A sacred symbol of Nut was the ladder, used by Osiris to enter her heavenly skies. This ladder-symbol was called maqet and was placed in tombs to protect the deceased, and to invoke the aid of the deity of the dead. Sony VAIO VGN-Z670N/B Battery
Nut is considered an enigma in the world of mythology because she is direct contrast to most other mythologies, which usually evolve into a sky father associated with an earth mother or Mother Nature.
She was married to Geb, the earth god. Sony VAIO VGN-Z690CTO Battery
She appears in the creation myth of Heliopolis which involves several goddesses who play important roles: Tefnut (Tefenet) is a personification of moisture, who mated with Shu (Air) and then gave birth to Sky as the goddess Nut, who mated with her brother Earth, as Geb. Sony VAIO VGN-Z690NAX Battery
From the union of Geb and Nut came, among others, the most popular of Egyptian goddesses, Isis, the mother of Horus, whose story is central to that of her brother-husband, the resurrection god Osiris. Osiris is killed by his brother Set and scattered over the Earth in 14 pieces which Isis gathers up and puts back together. Sony VAIO VGN-Z690PAB Battery
Osiris then climbs a ladder into his mother Nut for safety and eventually becomes king of the dead.[6]
A huge cult developed about Osiris that lasted well into Roman times. Isis was her husband's queen in the underworld and the theological basis for the role of the queen on earth. Sony VAIO VGN-Z690PCB Battery
It can be said that she was a version of the great goddess Hathor. Like Hathor she not only had death and rebirth associations, but was the protector of children and the goddess of childbirth.[7]
Myth of Nut and Ra
Ra, the sun god, was the second to rule the world, according to the reign of the gods. Sony VAIO VGN-Z690PDB Battery
Ra was a strong ruler but he feared anyone taking his throne. When he discovered that Nut was to have children he was furious. He decreed, "Nut shall not give birth any day of the year." At that time, the year was only 360 days. Nut spoke to Thoth, god of wisdom, and he had a plan. Sony VAIO VGN-Z690PEB Battery
Thoth gambled with Khonshu, god of the moon, whose light rivaled that of Ra's. Every time Khonshu lost, he had to give Thoth some of his moonlight. Khonshu lost so many times that Thoth had enough moonlight to make 5 extra days. Since these days were not part of the year, Nut could have her children. Sony VAIO VGN-Z690PFB Battery
She had 5: Osiris, Horus the Elder, Set, Isis, and Nepthys. When Ra found out, he was furious. He separated Nut from her husband Geb for all eternity. Her father, Shu, was to keep them apart. Still, Nut did not regret her decision.
Some of the titles of Nut were: Sony VAIO VGN-Z690YAD Battery
- Coverer of the Sky: Nut was said to be covered in stars touching the different points of her body.
She Who Protects: Among her jobs was to envelop and protect Ra, the sun god.[8] Sony VAIO VGN-Z691Y/B Battery
Mistress of All or "She who Bore the Gods": Originally, Nut was said to be laying on top of Geb (Earth) and continually having intercourse. During this time she birthed four children: Osiris, Isis, Set, and Nephthys.[9] A fifth child named Arueris is mentioned by Plutarch.[10] Sony VAIO VGN-Z691Y/X Battery
He was the Egyptian counterpart to the Greek god Apollo, who was made syncretic with Horus in the Hellenistic era as 'Horus the Elder'.[11] The Ptolemaic temple of Edfu is dedicated to Horus the Elder and there he is called the son of Nut and Geb, brother of Osiris, and the eldest son of Geb.[12] Sony VAIO VGN-Z698Y/X Battery
- She Who Holds a Thousand Souls: Because of her role in the re-birthing of Ra every morning and in her son Osiris's resurrection, Nut became a key god in many of the myths about the after-life.[8]
Role
Nut was the goddess of the sky and all heavenly bodies, a symbol of protecting the dead when they enter the after life. Sony VAIO VGN-Z699JAB Battery
According to the Egyptians, during the day, the heavenly bodies—such as the sun and moon—would make their way across her body. Then, at dusk, they would be swallowed, pass through her belly during the night, and be reborn at dawn.[13] Sony VAIO VGN-Z70B Battery
Nut is also the barrier separating the forces of chaos from the ordered cosmos in the world. She was pictured as a woman arched on her toes and fingertips over the earth; her body portrayed as a star-filled sky. Nut’s fingers and toes were believed to touch the four cardinal points or directions of north, south, east, and west. Sony VAIO VGN-Z71JB Battery
Because of her role in saving Osiris, Nut was seen as a friend and protector of the dead, who appealed to her as a child appeals to its mother: "O my Mother Nut, stretch Yourself over me, that I may be placed among the imperishable stars which are in You, and that I may not die." Sony VAIO VGN-Z73FB Battery
Nut was thought to draw the dead into her star-filled sky, and refresh them with food and wine: "I am Nut, and I have come so that I may enfold and protect you from all things evil."[14]
She was often painted on the inside lid of the sarcophagus, protecting the deceased. Sony VAIO VGN-Z790DKX Battery
The vault of tombs often were painted dark blue with many stars as a representation of Nut. The Book of the Dead says, "Hail, thou Sycamore Tree of the Goddess Nut! Give me of the water and of the air which is in thee. I embrace that throne which is in Unu, and I keep guard over the Egg of Nekek-ur. Sony VAIO VGN-Z46TD/B Battery
It flourisheth, and I flourish; it liveth, and I live; it snuffeth the air, and I snuff the air, I the Osiris Ani, whose word is truth, in peace."
Geb was the Egyptian god of the Earth and a member of the Ennead of Heliopolis. It was believed in ancient Egypt that Geb's laughter were earthquakes and that he allowed crops to grow. Sony VAIO VGN-Z46TD/R Battery
Name
The name was pronounced as such from the Greek period onward and was formerly erroneously read as Seb[1] or as Keb). The original Egyptian was "Gebeb"/"Kebeb", meaning probably: 'weak one', perhaps 'lame one'. It was spelled with either initial -g- (all periods), or with -k-point (gj). Sony VAIO VGN-Z47GD/X Battery
The latter initial root consonant occurs once in the Middle Kingdom Coffin Texts, more often in 21st Dynasty mythological papyri as well as in a text from the Ptolemaic tomb of Petosiris at Tuna el-Gebel or was written with initial hard -k-, as e.g. in a 30th Dynasty papyrus text in the Brooklyn Museum dealing with descriptions of and remedies against snakes. Sony VAIO VGN-Z48GD/X Battery
Role and development
The oldest representation in a fragmentary relief of the god, was as an anthropomorphic bearded being accompanied by his name, and dating from king Djoser's reign, 3rd Dynasty, and was found in Heliopolis. Sony VAIO VGN-Z48TD/X Battery
In later times he could also be depicted as a ram, a bull or a crocodile (the latter in a vignet of the Book of the Dead - papyrus of the lady Heryweben in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo.
Frequently described mythologically as father of snakes Sony VAIO VGN-Z51WG/B Battery
(one of the names for snake was s3-t3 - 'son of the earth' and in a Coffin Texts-spell Geb was described as father of the snake Nehebkau, while his mother was in that case Neith) and therefore depicted sometimes as such. In mythology Geb also often occurs as a primeval divine king of Egypt from whom his sonSony VAIO VGN-Z51XG/B Battery
Osiris and his grandson Horus inherited the land after many contendings with the disruptive god Set, brother and killer of Osiris. Geb could also be regarded as personified fertile earth and barren desert, the latter containing the dead or setting them free from their tombs, metaphorically described as 'Geb opening his jaws', Sony VAIO VGN-Z530N/B Battery
or imprisoning those there not worthy to go to the fertile North-Eastern heavenly Field of Reeds. In the latter case, one of his otherworldly attributes was an ominous jackal-headed stave (called wsr.t) rising from the ground unto which enemies could be bound. Sony VAIO VGN-Z540EBB Battery
In the Heliopolitan Ennead (a group of nine gods created in the beginning by the one god Atum or Ra), Geb is the husband of Nut, the sky or visible daytime and nightly firmament, the son of the earlier primordial elements Tefnut (moisture) and Shu ('emptiness'), Sony VAIO VGN-Z540NLB Battery
and the father to the four lesser gods of the system -Osiris, Seth, Isis and Nephthys. In this context, Geb was believed to have originally been engaged in eternal sex with Nut, and had to be separated from her by Shu, god of the air.[2] Consequently, in mythological depictions, Sony VAIO VGN-Z540NMB Battery
Geb was shown as a man reclining, sometimes with his phallus still pointed towards Nut.
As time progressed, the deity became more associated with the habitable land of Egypt and also as one of its early rulers. Sony VAIO VGN-Z550N/B Battery
As a chthonic deity he (like Min) became naturally associated with the underworld and with vegetation -barley being said to grow upon his ribs- and was depicted with plants and other green patches on his body.
His association with vegetation, and sometimes with the underworld and royalty brought Geb the occasional interpretation that he was the husband of Renenutet, Sony VAIO VGN-Z55F Battery
a minor goddess of the harvest and also mythological caretaker (the meaning of her name is 'nursing snake') of the young king in the shape of a cobra, who herself could also be regarded as the mother of Nehebkau, a primeval snake god associated with the underworld. He is also equated by classical authors as the GreekTitan Cronus. Sony VAIO VGN-Z55TG/B Battery
Goose
Some Egyptologists, (specifically Jan Bergman, Terence Duquesne or Richard H. Wilkinson) have stated that Geb was associated with a mythological divine creator goose who had laid a cosmic egg from which the sun and/or the worldhad sprung. Sony VAIO VGN-Z56GG/B Battery
This theory is assumed to be incorrect and to be a result of confusing the divine name "Geb" with that of a Whitefronted Goose (Anser albifrons), also called originally gb(b): 'lame one, stumbler'.[3]
This bird-sign is used only as a phonogram in order to spell the name of the god (H.te Velde, in: Lexikon der Aegyptologie II, lemma: Geb). Sony VAIO VGN-Z56GG/E Battery
An alternative ancient name for this goose species was trp meaning similarly 'walk like a drunk', 'stumbler'. The Whitefronted Goose is never found as a cultic symbol or holy bird of Geb. The mythological creator 'goose' referred to above, was called Ngg wr 'Great Honker' and always depicted as a Nilegoose/Foxgoose Sony VAIO VGN-Z56GGX Battery
(Alopochen aegyptiacus) who ornitologically belongs to a separate genus and whose Egyptian name was smn, Coptic smon. A coloured vignet irrefutably depicts a Nile Goose with an opened beak (Ngg wr!) in a context of solar creation on a mythological papyrus dating from the 21st Dynasty.[4] Sony VAIO VGN-Z56TG/B Battery
Similar images of this divine bird are to be found on temple walls (Karnak, Deir el-Bahari), showing a scene of the king standing on a papyrus raft and ritually plucking papyrus for the Theban god Amun-Re-Kamutef. The latter Theban creator god could be embodied in a Nilegoose, but never in a Whitefronted Goose. Sony VAIO VGN-Z56TG/E Battery
In Underworld Books a diacritic goose-sign (most probably denoting then an Anser albifrons) was sometimes depicted on top of the head of a standing anonymous male anthropomorphic deity, pointing to Geb's identity. Geb himself was never depicted as a Nile Goose, as later was Amun, called on someNew Kingdom stelae explicitly:'Amun, the beautiful smn-goose (Nile Goose).[5]Sony VAIO VGN-Z56TG/R Battery
The only clear pictorial confusion between the hieroglyphs of a Whitefronted Goose (in the normal hieroglyphic spelling of the name Geb, often followed by the additional -b-sign) and a Nile Goose in the spelling of the name Geb occurs in the rock cut tomb of the provincial governor Sarenput II (12th Dynasty, Sony VAIO VGN-Z570N/B Battery
Middle Kingdom) on the Qubba el-Hawa desert-ridge (opposite Aswan), namely on the left (southern) wall near the open doorway, in the first line of the brightly painted funerary offering formula. This confusion is to be compared with the frequent hacking out by Ekhnaton's agents of the sign of the Pintail Duck (meaning 'son') Sony VAIO VGN-Z57G Battery
in the royal title 'Son of Re', especially in Theban temples, where they confused the duck sign with that of a Nilegoose regarded as a form of the then forbidden god Amon. Sony VAIO VGN-Z57GG/X Battery
Osiris ( /oʊˈsaɪərɨs/; Ancient Greek: Ὄσιρις, also Usiris; the Egyptian language name is variously transliteratedAsar, Asari, Aser, Ausar, Ausir, Wesir, Usir, Usire or Ausare) was an Egyptian god, usually identified as the god of the afterlife, the underworld and the dead. Sony VAIO VGN-Z57GGX Battery
He was classically depicted as a green-skinned man with a pharaoh's beard, partially mummy-wrapped at the legs, wearing a distinctive crown with two large ostrich feathers at either side, and holding a symbolic crook and flail.
Osiris was at times considered the oldest son of the Earth god Geb,[1] Sony VAIO VGN-Z57TG/X Battery
and the sky goddess Nut, as well as being brother and husband of Isis, with Horus being considered his posthumously begotten son.[1] He was also associated with the epithet Khenti-Amentiu, which means "Foremost of the Westerners" — a reference to his kingship in the land of the dead.[2] Sony VAIO VGN-Z58GG/X Battery
As ruler of the dead, Osiris was also sometimes called "king of the living", since the Ancient Egyptians considered the blessed dead "the living ones".[3]
Osiris is first attested in the middle of the Fifth dynasty of Egypt, although it is likely that he was worshipped much earlier;[4] Sony VAIO VGN-Z58GGX Battery
the term Khenti-Amentiu dates to at least the first dynasty, also as a pharaonic title. Most information we have on the myths of Osiris is derived from allusions contained in the Pyramid Texts at the end of the Fifth Dynasty, later New Kingdom source documents such as the Shabaka Stone and the Contending of Horus and Seth, Sony VAIO VGN-Z35/B Battery
and much later, in narrative style from the writings of Greek authors including Plutarch[5] and Diodorus Siculus.[6]
Osiris was considered not only a merciful judge of the dead in the afterlife, but also the underworld agency that granted all life, including sprouting vegetation and the fertile flooding of the Nile River. Sony VAIO VGN-Z35TN/B Battery
He was described as the "Lord of love",[7] "He Who is Permanently Benign and Youthful"[8] and the "Lord of Silence".[9] The Kings of Egypt were associated with Osiris in death — as Osiris rose from the dead they would, in union with him, inherit eternal life through a process of imitative magic. Sony VAIO VGN-Z36GD Battery
By the New Kingdom all people, not just pharaohs, were believed to be associated with Osiris at death, if they incurred the costs of the assimilation rituals.[10]
Through the hope of new life after death, Osiris began to be associated with the cycles observed in nature, in particular vegetation and the annual flooding of the Nile, Sony VAIO VGN-Z36GD/B Battery
through his links with Orion and Sirius at the start of the new year.[8]Osiris was widely worshiped as Lord of the Dead until the suppression of the Egyptian religion during the Christian era.
Osiris is represented in his most developed form of iconography wearing the Atefcrown, Sony VAIO VGN-Z36GD/J Battery
which is similar to the White crown of Upper Egypt, but with the addition of two curling ostrich feathers at each side (see also Atef crown (hieroglyph)). He also carries the crook and flail. The crook is thought to represent Osiris as a shepherd god. Sony VAIO VGN-Z36TD/B Battery
The symbolism of the flail is more uncertain with shepherds whip, fly-whisk, or association with the god Andjety of the ninth nome of Lower Egypt proposed.[8]
He was commonly depicted as a green (the color of rebirth) or black (alluding to the fertility of the Nile floodplain) complexioned pharaoh, in mummiform Sony VAIO VGN-Z36TD/J Battery
(wearing the trappings of mummification from chest downward).[13] He was also depicted rarely as a lunar god with a crown encompassing the moon.
Early mythology
The Pyramid Texts describe early conceptions of an afterlife in terms of eternal travelling with the sun god amongst the stars.Sony VAIO VGN-Z37D Battery
Amongst these mortuary texts, at the beginning of the 4th dynasty, is found: "An offering the king gives and Anubis". By the end of the 5th dynasty, the formula in all tombs becomes "An offering the king gives and Osiris".[14] Sony VAIO VGN-Z37D/B Battery
Father of Horus
Osiris is the mythological father of the god Horus, whose conception is described in the Osiris myth, a central myth in ancient Egyptian belief. The myth described Osiris as having been killed by his brother Set, who wanted Osiris' throne. Sony VAIO VGN-Z37GD Battery
Isis briefly brought Osiris back to life by use of a spell that she learned from her father. This spell gave her time to become pregnant by Osiris before he again died. Isis later gave birth to Horus. As such, since Horus was born after Osiris' resurrection, Horus became thought of as a representation of new beginnings and the vanquisher of the evil Set. Sony VAIO VGN-Z37GD/X Battery
Ptah-Seker (who resulted from the identification of Ptah as Seker), who was god of re-incarnation, thus gradually became identified with Osiris, the two becoming Ptah-Seker-Osiris. As the sun was thought to spend the night in the underworld, and subsequently be re-incarnated, Ptah-Seker-Osiris was identified as both king of the underworld, and god of reincarnation. Sony VAIO VGN-Z39D Battery
Ram god
Osiris' soul, or rather his Ba, was occasionally worshipped in its own right, almost as if it were a distinct god, especially in the Delta city of Mendes. This aspect of Osiris was referred to asBanebdjedet, which is grammatically feminine (also spelt "Banebded" or "Banebdjed"),Sony VAIO VGN-Z39D/X Battery
literally "the baof the lord of the djed, which roughly means The soul of the lord of the pillar of stability. The djed, a type of pillar, was usually understood as the backbone of Osiris, and, at the same time, as the Nile, the backbone of Egypt.
The Nile, supplying water, and Osiris (strongly connected to the vegetation) who died only to be resurrected, represented continuity and stability. Sony VAIO VGN-Z41MD/B Battery
As Banebdjed, Osiris was given epithets such as Lord of the Sky and Life of the (sun god) Ra, since Ra, when he had become identified with Atum, was considered Osiris' ancestor, from whom his regal authority isinherited. Ba does not mean "soul" in the western sense, and has to do with power, reputation, force of character, especially in the case of a god. Sony VAIO VGN-Z41WD/B Battery
Since the ba was associated with power, and also happened to be a word for ram in Egyptian, Banebdjed was depicted as a ram, or as Ram-headed. A living, sacred ram, was kept at Mendes and worshipped as the incarnation of the god, and upon death, the rams were mummified and buried in a ram-specific necropolis. Sony VAIO VGN-Z45GD/B Battery
Banebdjed was consequently said to be Horus' father, as Banebdjed was an aspect of Osiris.
Regarding the association of Osiris with the ram, the god's traditional crook and flail are the instruments of the shepherd, which has suggested to some scholars also an origin for Osiris in herding tribes of the upper Nile. Sony VAIO VGN-Z45TD/B Battery
The crook and flail were originally symbols of the minor agricultural deity Andjety, and passed to Osiris later. From Osiris, they eventually passed to Egyptian kings in general as symbols of divine authority.
Mythology
The cult of Osiris (who was a god chiefly of regeneration and re-birth) had a particularly strong interest toward the concept of immortality. Sony VAIO VGN-Z46GD/B Battery
Plutarch recounts one version of the myth in which Set (Osiris' brother), along with the Queen of Ethiopia, conspired with 72 accomplices to plot the assassination of Osiris.[15] Set fooled Osiris into getting into a box, which Set then shut, sealed with lead, and threw into the Nile Sony VAIO VGN-Z46GD/U Battery
(sarcophagi were based onthe box in this myth). Osiris' wife,Isis, searched for his remains until she finally found him embedded in a tree trunk, which was holding up the roof of a palace in Byblos on the Phoenician coast. She managed to remove the coffin and open it, but Osiris was already dead. Sony VAIO VGN-Z46MD/B Battery
In one version of the myth, she used a spell learned from her father and brought him back to life so he could impregnate her. Afterwards he died again and she hid his body in the desert. Months later, she gave birth to Horus. While she raised Horus, Set was hunting one night and came across the body of Osiris. Sony VAIO VGN-Z46SD/B Battery
Enraged, he tore the body into fourteen pieces and scattered them throughout the land. Isis gathered up all the parts of the body, less the phallus (which was eaten by a catfish) and bandaged them together for a proper burial. The gods were impressed by the devotion of Isis and resurrected Osiris as the god of the underworld. Sony VAIO VGN-Z21VN/X Battery
Because of his death and resurrection, Osiris was associated with the flooding and retreating of the Nile and thus with the crops along the Nile valley.
Diodorus Siculus gives another version of the myth in which Osiris was described as an ancient king who taught the Egyptians the arts of civilization, Sony VAIO VGN-Z21WN/B Battery
including agriculture, then travelled the world with his sister Isis, the satyrs, and the nine muses, before finally returning to Egypt. Osiris was then murdered by his evil brother Typhon, who was identified with Set. Typhon divided the body into twenty-six pieces, Sony VAIO VGN-Z21XN Battery
which he distributed amongst his fellow conspirators in order to implicate them in the murder. Isis and Hercules (Horus) avenged the death of Osiris and slew Typhon. Isis recovered all the parts of Osiris' body, except the phallus, and secretly buried them. Sony VAIO VGN-Z21ZN/X Battery
She made replicas of them and distributed them to several locations, which then became centres of Osiris worship.[16][17]
Death and institution as god of the dead
Plutarch and others have noted that the sacrifices to Osiris were "gloomy, solemn, and mournful..." (Isis and Osiris, 69) Sony VAIO VGN-Z25 Battery
and that the great mystery festival, celebrated in two phases, began at Abydos on the 17th of Athyr[21] (November 13) commemorating the death of the god, which was also the same day that grain was planted in the ground. "The death of the grain and the death of the god were one and the same: Sony VAIO VGN-Z25/B Battery
the cereal was identified with the god who came from heaven; he was the bread by which man lives. The resurrection of the god symbolized the rebirth of the grain." (Larson 17) The annual festival involved the construction of "Osiris Beds" formed in shape of Osiris, filled with soil and sown with seed.[22] Sony VAIO VGN-Z25TN/B Battery
The germinating seed symbolized Osiris rising from the dead. An almost pristine example was found in the tomb of Tutankhamun by Howard Carter.[23]
The first phase of the festival was a public drama depicting the murder and dismemberment of Osiris, the search of his body by Isis, Sony VAIO VGN-Z26TN/B Battery
his triumphal return as the resurrected god, and the battle in which Horus defeated Set. This was all presented by skilled actors as a literary history, and was the main method of recruiting cult membership. According to Julius Firmicus Maternus of the fourth century, Sony VAIO VGN-Z27 Battery
this play was re-enacted each year by worshippers who "beat their breasts and gashed their shoulders.... When they pretend that the mutilated remains of the god have been found and rejoined...they turn from mourning to rejoicing." (De Errore Profanorum).Sony VAIO VGN-Z27/B Battery
The passion of Osiris was reflected in his name 'Wenennefer" ("the one who continues to be perfect"), which also alludes to his post mortem power.[13]
Parts of this Osirian mythology have prompted comparisons with later Christian beliefs and practices. Sony VAIO VGN-Z27TN/X Battery
Egyptologist E. A. Wallis Budge suggests possible connections or parallels in Osiris' resurrection story with those found in Christianity:
The Egyptians of every period in which they are known to us believed that Osiris was of divine origin, Sony VAIO VGN-Z29N Battery
that he suffered death and mutilation at the hands of the powers of evil, that after a great struggle with these powers he rose again, that he became henceforth the king of the underworld and judge of the dead, and that because he had conquered death the righteous also might conquer death... Sony VAIO VGN-Z29N/X Battery
In Osiris the Christian Egyptians found the prototype ofChrist, and in the pictures and statues of Isis suckling her son Horus, they perceived the prototypes of the Virgin Mary and her child.
Biblical scholar Bruce M. Metzger notes that in one account of the Osirian cycle he dies on the 17th of the month of AthyrSony VAIO VGN-Z31MN/B Battery
(approximating to a month between October 28 and November 26 in modern calendars), is revivified on the 19th and compares this to Christ rising on the "third day" but he thinks "resurrection" is a questionable description.[25]
Egyptologist Erik Hornung observes that Egyptian Christians continued to mummify corpses (an integral part of the Osirian beliefs) Sony VAIO VGN-Z31VN/X Battery
until it finally came to an end with the arrival of Islam, and argues for an association between the passion of Jesus and Osirian traditions, particularly in the apocryphal gospel of Nicodemus and Christ's descent into Hades. He concludes that whilst Christianity rejected anything "pagan" it did so only at a superficial level and that early Christianity was "deeply indebted" to Ancient Egypt."[26] Sony VAIO VGN-Z31WN/B Battery
David J. MacLeod argues that the resurrection of Osiris differs from Jesus Christ, saying:
Perhaps the only pagan god for whom there is a resurrection is the Egyptian Osiris. Close examination of this story shows that it is very different from Christ's resurrection. Sony VAIO VGN-Z31ZN/X Battery
Osiris did not rise; he ruled in the abode of the dead. As biblical scholar, Roland de Vaux, wrote, 'What is meant of Osiris being "raised to life?" Simply that, thanks to the ministrations of Isis, he is able to lead a life beyond the tomb which is an almost perfect replica of earthly existence. Sony VAIO VGN-Z35 Battery
But he will never again come among the living and will reign only over the dead. This revived god is in reality a "mummy" god.'... No, the mummified Osiris was hardly an inspiration for the resurrected Christ... As Yamauchi observes, 'Ordinary men aspired to identification with Osiris as one who had triumphed over death. Sony VAIO VGN-Z11MN/B Battery
But it is a mistake to equate the Egyptian view of the afterlife with the biblical doctrine of resurrection. To achieve immortality the Egyptian had to meet three conditions: First, his body had to be preserved by mummification. Second, nourishment was provided by the actual offering of daily bread and beer. Sony VAIO VGN-Z11VN/X Battery
Third, magical spells were interred with him. His body did not rise from the dead; rather elements of his personality - his Ba and Ka - continued to hover over his body.'
Saint Augustine wrote "that the Egyptians alone believe in the resurrection, as they carefully preserved their dead bodies."[28]Sony VAIO VGN-Z11WN/B Battery
A. J. M. Wedderburn further argues that resurrection in Ancient Egypt differs from the "very negative features" in Judaeo-Christian tradition, as the Ancient Egyptians conceived of the afterlife as entry into the glorious kingdom of Osiris.[29] Sony VAIO VGN-Z11XN/B Battery
Marvin Mayer notes that some scholars regard the idea of dying and rising deities in the mystery religions as being fanciful but suggests this may be motivated by apologetic concerns, attempting to keep Christ's resurrection as a unique event. Sony VAIO VGN-Z15 Battery
In contrast he argues that the ancient story of dying and rising in the divine, human and crops, (with Osiris as an example), is vindicated and reaches a conclusion in Christianity.[30]
Ikhernofret Stela
Much of the extant information about the Passion of Osiris can be found on the Ikhernofret Stela at Abydos erected in the 12th Dynasty by Ikhernofret Sony VAIO VGN-Z15N Battery
(also I-Kher-Nefert), possibly a priest of Osiris or other official during the reign of Senwosret III (Pharaoh Sesostris, about 1875 BC). The Passion Plays were held in the last month of the inundation (the annual Nile flood), coinciding with Spring, Sony VAIO VGN-Z17 Battery
and held at Abydos/Abedjou which was the traditional place where the body of Osiris/Wesir drifted ashore after having been drowned in the Nile.[31]
The part of the myth recounting the chopping up of the body into 14 pieces by Set is not recounted in this particular stela. Sony VAIO VGN-Z17N Battery
Although it is attested to be a part of the rituals by a version of the Papyrus Jumilhac, in which it took Isis 12 days to reassemble the pieces, coinciding with the festival of ploughing.[32]Some elements of the ceremony were held in the temple, while others involved public participation in a form of theatre. Sony VAIO VGN-Z19 Battery
The Stela of I-Kher-Nefert recounts the programme of events of the public elements over the five days of the Festival:
The First Day, The Procession of Wepwawet: A mock battle was enacted during which the enemies of Osiris are defeated. A procession was led by the god Wepwawet ("opener of the way").Sony VAIO VGN-Z19N Battery
- The Second Day, The Great Procession of Osiris: The body of Osiris was taken from his temple to his tomb. The boat he was transported in, the "Neshmet" bark, had to be defended against his enemies.
The Third Day, Osiris is Mourned and the Enemies of the Land are Destroyed. Sony VAIO VGN-Z21MN/B Battery
- The Fourth Day, Night Vigil: Prayers and recitations are made and funeral rites performed.
The Fifth Day, Osiris is Reborn: Osiris is reborn at dawn and crowned with the crown of Ma'at. A statue of Osiris is brought to the temple.[31] Sony VAIO VPCZ125GX/S Battery
Wheat and clay rituals
Contrasting with the public "theatrical" ceremonies sourced from the I-Kher-Nefert stele, more esoteric ceremonies were performed inside the temples by priests witnessed only by chosen initiates. Sony VAIO VPCZ127FC Battery
Plutarch mentions that two days after the beginning of the festival "the priests bring forth a sacred chest containing a small golden coffer, into which they pour some potable water...and a great shout arises from the company for joy that Osiris is found (or resurrected). Sony VAIO VPCZ128GC Battery
Then they knead some fertile soil with the water...and fashion therefrom a crescent-shaped figure, which they cloth and adorn, this indicating that they regard these gods as the substance of Earth and Water." (Isis and Osiris, 39). Yet his accounts were still obscure, for he also wrote, Sony VAIO VPCZ12M9E/B Battery
"I pass over the cutting of the wood" - opting not to describe it, since he considered it as a most sacred ritual (Ibid. 21).
In the Osirian temple at Denderah, an inscription (translated by Budge, Chapter XV, Osiris and the Egyptian Resurrection) Sony VAIO VPCZ13M9E/B Battery
describes in detail the making of wheat paste models of each dismembered piece of Osiris to be sent out to the town where each piece is discovered by Isis. At the temple of Mendes, figures of Osiris were made from wheat and paste placed in a trough on the day of the murder, Sony VAIO VPCZ13V9E/X Battery
then water was added for several days, until finally the mixture was kneaded into a mold of Osiris and taken to the temple to be buried (the sacred grain for these cakes were grown only in the temple fields). Molds were made from the wood of a red tree in the forms of the sixteen dismembered parts of Osiris, Sony VAIO VPCZ13Z9E/X Battery
the cakes of 'divine' bread were made from each mold, placed in a silver chest and set near the head of the god with the inward parts of Osiris as described in the Book of the Dead (XVII).
On the first day of the Festival of Ploughing, where the goddess Isis appeared in her shrine where she was stripped naked, Sony VAIO VPCZZZHJ Battery
paste made from the grain were placed in her bed and moistened with water, representing the fecund earth. All of these sacred rituals were "climaxed by the eating of sacramental god, the eucharist by which the celebrants were transformed, in their persuasion, into replicas of their god-man" (Larson 20). Sony VAIO VPZ117 Battery
Judgment
The idea of divine justice being exercised after death for wrong-doing during life is first encountered during the Old Kingdom, in a 6th dynasty tomb containing fragments of what would be described later as the Negative Confessions. Sony VAIO VPZ118 Battery
With the rise of the cult of Osiris during the Middle Kingdom the “democratization of religion” offered to even his most humblest followers the prospect of eternal life, with moral fitness becoming the dominant factor in determining a person's suitability. Sony VAIO VPZ119 Battery
At death a person faced judgment by a tribunal of forty-two divine judges. If they led a life in conformance with the precepts of the goddess Ma'at, who represented truth and right living, the person was welcomed into the kingdom of Osiris. If found guilty, the person was thrown to a "devourer" and didn't share in eternal life.[34] Sony VPCM11M1E/B Battery
The person who is taken by the devourer is subject first to terrifying punishment and then annihilated. These depictions of punishment may have influenced medieval perceptions of the inferno in hell via early Christian and Coptic texts.[35] Sony VPCM11M1E/W Battery
Purification for those who are considered justified may be found in the descriptions of "Flame Island", where they experience the triumph over evil and rebirth. For the damned, complete destruction into a state of non-being awaits, but there is no suggestion of eternal torture.[36][37] Sony VPCM12M1E/L Battery
Divine pardon at judgement was always a central concern for the Ancient Egyptians.[38]
During the reign of Seti I, Osiris was also invoked in royal decrees to pursue the living when wrongdoing was observed, but kept secret and not reported. Sony VPCM12M1E/P Battery
Hellenisation
Eventually, in Egypt, the Hellenic pharaohs decided to produce a deity that would be acceptable to both the local Egyptian population, and the influx of Hellenic visitors, to bring the two groups together, rather than allow a source of rebellion to grow.Sony VPCM12M1E/W Battery
Thus Osiris was identified explicitly with Apis, really an aspect of Ptah, who had already been identified as Osiris by this point, and a syncretism of the two was created, known as Serapis, and depicted as a standard Greek god.
Destruction of cult
The cult of Osiris continued until the 6th century AD on the island of Philae in Upper Nile. Sony VPCM13M1E/L Battery
The Theodosian decrees of the 390s, to destroy all pagan temples, were not enforced there. The worship of Isis and Osiris was allowed to continue at Philae until the time of Justinian, by treaty between the Blemmyes-Nobadae and Diocletian. Sony VPCM13M1E/P Battery
Every year they visited Elephantine, and at certain intervals took the image of Isis up river to the land of the Blemmyes fororacular purposes. The practices ended when Justinian sent Narses to destroy sanctuaries, arrest priests, and seize divine images, which were taken to Constantinople. Sony VPCM13M1E/W Battery
Isis (Ancient Greek: Ἶσις, original Egyptian pronunciation more likely Aset) is a goddess in Ancient Egyptianreligious beliefs, whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. She was worshipped as the ideal mother and wife as well as the patron of nature and magic. Sony VAIO VPCZ116GX/S Battery
She was the friend of slaves, sinners, artisans, and the downtrodden, and she listened to the prayers of the wealthy, maidens, aristocrats, and rulers.[1] Isis is often depicted as the mother ofHorus, the hawk-headed god of war and protection (although in some traditions Horus's mother was Hathor), Sony VAIO VPCZ117 Battery
and she is depicted suckling him in an attitude similar to that of the Virgin Mary with the Child Jesus.[2] 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. Sony VAIO VPCZ117FC/B Battery
The pharaoh was depicted as her child, who sat on the throne she provided. Hercult was popular throughout Egypt, but the most important sanctuaries 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. Sony VAIO VPCZ118 Battery
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 by him. Isis was instrumental in the resurrection of Osiris when he was murdered by Set. Sony VAIO VPCZ118GC/B Battery
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.[3]
This myth became very important during the Greco-Roman period. Sony VAIO VPCZ118GX/S Battery
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. Sony VAIO VPCZ119 Battery
The name Isis is the Greek version of her name, with a final -s added to the original Egyptian form because of the grammatical requirements of the Greek language (-s often being a marker of the nominative case in ancient Greek).
The Egyptian name was recorded as ỉs.t or ȝs.t and meant "(She of the) Throne".Sony VAIO VPCZ119FJ/S Battery
The true Egyptian pronunciation remains uncertain, however, because hieroglyphs do not indicate vowels. Based on recent studies which present us with approximations based on contemporary languages (specifically, Greek) and Coptic evidence, the reconstructed pronunciation of her name is *Usat[*ˈʔyːsəʔ]. Sony VAIO VPCZ119GC/X Battery
Osiris's name, *Usir also starts with the throne glyph ʔs.[5]
For convenience, Egyptologists arbitrarily choose to pronounce her name as "ee-set". Sometimes they may also say "ee-sa" because the final "t" in her name was a feminine suffix, which is known to have been dropped in speech during the last stages of the Egyptian language. Sony VAIO VPCZ119L Battery
Origins
Most Egyptian deities first 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. Sony VAIO VPCZ119R/B Battery
The origins of the cult of Isis are uncertain, but it is believed that she was originally an independent and popular deity in predynastic times, prior to 3100 BCE, at Sebennytos in the Nile delta.[3]
The first written references to Isis date back to the Fifth dynasty of Egypt. Sony VAIO VPCZ119R/S Battery
Based on the association of her name with the throne, some early Egyptologists believed that Isis's original function was that of throne-mother. However, more recent scholarship suggests that aspects of that role came later by association. In many African tribes, Sony VAIO VPCZ11AFJ Battery
the throne is known as the mother of the king, and that concept fits well with either theory, possibly giving insight into the thinking of ancient Egyptians.
Classical Egyptian period
During the Old Kingdom period, Isis was represented as the wife or assistant to the deceased pharaoh. Sony VAIO VPCZ11AGJ Battery
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. Sony VAIO VPCZ11AVJ Battery
But in addition, Isis was also represented as the mother of the "four suns 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.[6] Sony VAIO VPCZ11CGX/X Battery
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, the role of Isis as a mother deity had displaced that of the spouse. Sony VAIO VPCZ11DGX/SJ Battery
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. Sony VAIO VPCZ11FHX/XQ Battery
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. Sony VAIO VPCZ11V9R/B Battery
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. Sony VAIO VPCZ11X9E/B Battery
This reconciliation of themes led to the evolution of the myth of Isis and Osiris.[6]
Late antiquity
The cult of Isis became very prominent in late antiquity, when it began to absorb the cults of many other goddesses with strong cult centers. Like other Egyptian deities, the cult of Isis spread outside Egypt, Sony VAIO VPCZ11Z9E/B Battery
and became the focus of a centralized cult in the Hellenistic period. This is when the cult of Osiris became widespread as well. Temples to Isis began to be built outside of Egypt. In many locations, devotees of Isis considered the local goddess to be Isis, but under a different name. Sony VAIO VPCY119FJ/S Battery
Thus other Mediterranean goddesses, such as Demeter, Astarte, and Aphrodite, were identified with her.[7] Throughout the Greco-Roman world, the cult of Isis became one of the most significant of the mystery religions, and many classical writers refer to her temples, cults, and rites. Sony VAIO VPCY11AFJ Battery
Due to her attributes as a protector and mother, as well as a lusty aspect gained when she absorbed some aspects of Hathor, she became the patron goddess of sailors, who spread her worship with the trading ships circulating the Mediterranean Sea. Sony VAIO VPCY11AGJ Battery
During the formative centuries of Christianity, the religion of Isis drew converts from every corner of the Roman Empire. In Italy itself, Egyptian religion was an important force. At Pompeii, archaeological evidence reveals that the cult of Isis was prominent. In Rome, temples were built and obelisks erected in her honour. Sony VAIO VPCY11AHJ Battery
In Greece, traditional centres of worship in Delos, Delphi, Eleusis and Athens were taken over by followers of Isis, and this occurred in northern Greece as well. Harbours of Isis were to be found on the Arabian Sea and the Black Sea. Inscriptions show followers in Gaul, Sony VAIO VPCY11AVJ Battery
Spain, Pannonia, Germany, Arabia, Asia Minor, Portugal and many shrines even in Britain.[8]
Temples and priesthood
Temples to Isis were built in Iraq, Greece and Rome, with a well preserved example discovered in Pompeii. Sony VAIO VPCY11M1E/S Battery
On the Greek island of Delos a Doric Temple of Isis was built on a high over-looking hill at the beginning of the Roman period to venerate the familiar trinity of Isis, the Alexandrian Serapis and Harpocrates. The creation of this temple is significant as Delos is particularly known as the birthplace of the Greek Sony VAIO VPCY11S1E Battery
gods Artemis and Apollo who had temples of their own on the island long before the temple to Isis was built.
The cult of Isis and Osiris continued up until the 6th century CE on the island of Philae in Upper Nile. Sony VAIO VPCY11V9E/S Battery
The Theodosian decree (in about 380 CE) to destroy all pagan temples was not enforced there until the time of Justinian. This toleration was due to an old treaty made between the Blemyes-Nobadae and Diocletian. Sony VAIO VPCY218EC/BI Battery
Every year they visited Elephantine and at certain intervals took the image of Isis up river to the land of the Blemyes for oracular purposes before returning it. Justinian sent Narses to destroy the sanctuaries, with the priests being arrested and the divine images taken to Constantinople.[9] Sony VAIO VPCY218EC/G Battery
Philae was the last of the ancient Egyptian temples to be closed.
Little information on Egyptian rituals for Isis survives; however, it is clear there were both priests and priestesses officiating at her cult throughout its history. By the Greco-Roman era, Sony VAIO VPCY218EC/L Battery
many of them were considered healers, 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. Sony VAIO VPCY218EC/P Battery
Associations
Due to the association between knots and magical power, a symbol of Isis was the tiet or tyet (meaning welfare/life), also called the Knot of Isis, Buckle of Isis, or the Blood of Isis, which is shown to the right. Sony VAIO VPCY21S1E/L Battery
In many respects the tyet resembles an ankh, except that its arms point downward, and when used as such, seems to represent the idea of eternal life or resurrection. The meaning of Blood of Isis is more obscure, but the tyet often was used as a funerary amulet made of red wood, stone, or glass, so this may simply have been a description of the appearance of the materials used. Sony VAIO VPCY21S1E/P Battery
The star Sopdet (Sirius) is associated with Isis. The appearance of the star signified the advent of a new year and Isis was likewise considered the goddess of rebirth and reincarnation, and as a protector of the dead. The Book of the Dead outlines a particular ritual that would protect the dead, Sony VAIO VPCY21S1E/SI Battery
enabling travel anywhere in the underworld, and most of the titles Isis holds signify her as the goddess of protection of the dead.
Probably due to assimilation with the goddesses Aphrodite (Venus), during the Roman period, the rose was used in her worship.Sony VAIO VPCZ110 Battery
The demand for roses throughout the empire turned rose production into an important industry.
Depictions
In art, originally Isis was pictured as a woman wearing a long sheath dress and crowned with the hieroglyphic sign for a throne.Sony VAIO VPCZ110GB/BI Battery
Sometimes she was depicted as holding a lotus, or, as a Sycamore tree. One pharaoh, Thutmose III, was depicted in his tomb as nursing from a sycamore tree that had a breast.
After she assimilated many of the roles of Hathor, Isis's headdress is replaced with that of Hathor: Sony VAIO VPCZ112GD/S Battery
the horns of a cow on her head, with the solar disk between them. Sometimes she also was represented as a cow, or a cow's head. Usually, however, she was depicted with her young child, Horus (the pharaoh), with a crown, and a vulture. Occasionally she was represented as a kite flying above the body of Osiris or with the dead Osiris across her lap as she worked her magic to bring him back to life. Sony VAIO VPCZ112GX/S Battery
Most often Isis is seen holding only the generic ankh sign and a simple staff, but in late images she is seen sometimes with items usually associated only with Hathor, the sacred sistrum rattle and the fertility-bearing menat necklace. In The Book of Coming Forth By Day Isis is depicted standing on the prow of the Solar Bark with her arms outstretched.[1] Sony VAIO VPCZ114GX/S Battery
Sister-wife to Osiris
During the Old Kingdom period, the pantheons of individual Egyptian cities varied by region. During the 5th dynasty, Isis entered the pantheon of the city of Heliopolis. She was represented as a daughter of Nut and Geb, and sister to Osiris, Sony VAIO VPCZ115 Battery
Nephthys, and Set. The two sisters, Isis and Nephthys, often were depicted on coffins, with wings outstretched, as protectors against evil. As a funerary deity, she was associated with Osiris, lord of the underworld, and was considered his wife.
A later myth, when the cult of Osiris gained more authority, tells the story of Anubis, Sony VAIO VPCZ115FC/B Battery
the god of the underworld. The tale describes how Nephthys was denied a child by Set and disguised herself as the much more attractive Isis to seduce him. The plot failed, but Osiris now found Nephthys very attractive, as he thought she was Isis. They had sex, resulting in the birth of Anubis. Sony VAIO VPCZ115FC/S Battery
Alternatively, Nephthys intentionally assumed the form of Isis in order to trick Osiris into fathering her son.
In fear of Set's retribution, Nephthys persuaded Isis to adopt Anubis, so that Set would not find out and kill the child. Sony VAIO VPCZ116 Battery
The tale describes both why Anubis is seen as an underworld deity (he becomes a son of Osiris), and why he could not inherit Osiris's position (he was not a legitimate heir in this new birth scenario), neatly preserving Osiris's position as lord of the underworld. Sony VAIO VPCW12S1E/W Battery
It should be remembered, however, that this new myth was only a later creation of the Osirian cult who wanted to depict Set in an evil position, as the enemy of Osiris.
The most extensive account of the Isis-Osiris story known today is Plutarch's Greek description written in the 1st century CE, Sony VAIO VPCW213AG/L Battery
usually known under its Latin title De Iside et Osiride.[10]
In that version, Set held a banquet for Osiris in which he brought in a beautiful box and said that whoever could fit in the box perfectly would get to keep it. Set had measured Osiris in his sleep and made sure that he was the only one who could fit the box.Sony VAIO VPCW213AG/P Battery
Several tried to see whether they fit. Once it was Osiris's turn to see if he could fit in the box, Set closed the lid on him so that the box was now a coffin for Osiris. Set flung the box in the Nile so that it would drift far away. Isis went looking for the box so that Osiris could have a proper burial. Sony VAIO VPCW213AG/T Battery
She found the box in a tree in Byblos, a city along the Phoenician coast, and brought it back to Egypt, hiding it in a swamp. But Set went hunting that night and found the box. Enraged, Set chopped Osiris's body into fourteen pieces and scattered them all over Egypt to ensure that Isis could never find Osiris again for a proper burial. Sony VAIO VPCW213AG/W Battery
Isis and her sister Nephthys went looking for these pieces, but could only find thirteen of the fourteen. Fish had swallowed the last piece, his phallus, so Isis made him a new one with magic, putting his body back together after which they conceived Horus. Sony VAIO VPCW215AG/L Battery
The number of pieces is described on temple walls variously as fourteen and sixteen, and occasionally forty-two, one for each nome or district.[12]
Mother of Horus
Yet another set of late myths detail the adventures of Isis after the birth of Osiris's posthumous son, Horus. Sony VAIO VPCW217JC Battery
Isis was said to have given birth to Horus at Khemmis, thought to be located on the Nile Delta.[13] Many dangers faced Horus after birth, and Isis fled with the newborn to escape the wrath of Set, the murderer of her husband. In one instance, Isis heals Horus from a lethal scorpion sting; Sony VAIO VPCW217JC/L Battery
she also performs other miracles in relation to the cippi, or the plaques of Horus. Isis protected and raised Horus until he was old enough to face Set, and subsequently, became the pharaoh of Egypt.
Magic
It was said that Isis tricked Ra (i.e. Amun-Ra/Atum-Ra) into telling her his "secret name, Sony VAIO VPCW217JC/P Battery
" by causing a snake to bite him, for which only Isis had the cure. Knowing the secret name of a deity enabled one to have power of the deity. The use of secret names became central in late Egyptian magic spells, and Isis often is implored to "use the true name of Ra" in the performance of rituals. Sony VAIO VPCW217JC/T Battery
By the late Egyptian historical period, after the occupations by the Greeks and the Romans, Isis became the most important and most powerful deity of the Egyptian pantheon because of her magical skills. Magic is central to the entire mythology of Isis, arguably more so than any other Egyptian deity. Sony VAIO VPCW217JC/W Battery
Isis had a central role in Egyptian magic spells and ritual, especially those of protection and healing. In many spells, she also is completely merged even with Horus, where invocations of Isis are supposed to involve Horus's powers automatically as well.Sony VAIO VPCW218JC Battery
In Egyptian history the image of a wounded Horus became a standard feature of Isis's healing spells, which typically invoked the curative powers of the milk of Isis.[14]
Isis in Greco-Roman literature
Plutarch, a Greek scholar who lived from 46 CE to 120 CE, Sony VAIO VPCW218JC/L Battery
wrote Isis and Osiris,[15] which is considered a main source about the very late myths about Isis.[10]In it he writes of Isis, describing her as: "a goddess exceptionally wise and a lover of wisdom, to whom, as her name at least seems to indicate, knowledge and understanding are in the highest degree appropriate..." Sony VAIO VPCW218JC/P Battery
and that the statue of Athena (Plutarch says "whom they believe to be Isis") in Sais carried the inscription "I am all that has been, and is, and shall be, and my robe no mortal has yet uncovered."[16] At Sais, however, the patron goddess of the ancient cult was Neith, Sony VAIO VPCW218JC/T Battery
many of whose traits had begun to be attributed to Isis during the Greek occupation.
The Roman writer Apuleius recorded aspects of the cult of Isis in the 2nd century CE in his book The Golden Ass. He describes the Navigium Isidis festival. The following paragraph is particularly significant: Sony VAIO VPCW218JC/W Battery
You see me here, Lucius, in answer to your prayer. I am nature, the universal Mother, mistress of all the elements, primordial child of time, sovereign of all things spiritual, queen of the dead, queen of the ocean, queen also of the immortals, the single manifestation of all gods and goddesses that are, Sony VAIO VPCW219AJ/L Battery
my nod governs the shining heights of Heavens, the wholesome sea breezes. Though I am worshipped in many aspects, known by countless names ... some know me as Juno, some as Bellona ... the Egyptians who excel in ancient learning and worship call me by my true name...Queen Isis. Sony VAIO VPCW219AJ/P Battery
In Egypt
Isis was venerated first in Egypt. Isis was the only goddess worshiped by all Egyptians alike,[17] and whose influence was so widespread that she had become completely syncretic with the Greek goddess Demeter.[18] After the conquest of Egypt by Alexander the Great, Sony VAIO VPCW219AJ/W Battery
and the Hellenization of the Egyptian culture initiated by Ptolemy I Soter, Isis eventually became known as Queen of Heaven.[19]
Greco-Roman world
Following the conquest of Egypt by Alexander the Great the worship of Isis spread throughout the Greco-Roman world.[19] Sony VAIO VPCW21AAJ Battery
Tacitus writes that after Julius Caesar's assassination, a temple in honour of Isis had been decreed; Augustus suspended this, and tried to turn Romans back to the Roman deities who were closely associated with the state. Eventually the Roman emperor Caligula abandonedSony VAIO VPCW21AKJ Battery
the Augustan wariness toward what was described as oriental cults, and it was in his reign that the Isiac festival of the Navigium Isidis was established in Rome.[21]
According to Josephus, Caligula donned female garb and took part in the mysteries he instituted, Sony VAIO VPCW21AVJ Battery
and in the Hellenistic age Isis acquired a "new rank as a leading goddess of the Mediterranean world." Vespasian, along with Titus, practised incubation in the Roman Iseum. Domitian built another Iseum along with a Serapeum. Trajan appears before Isis and Horus, presenting them with votive offerings of wine, Sony VAIO VPCY115FGS Battery
in a bas-relief on his triumphal arch in Rome.[21] Hadriandecorated his villa at Tibur with Isiac scenes. Galerius regarded Isis as his protector.[22]
Roman perspectives on cults were syncretic, seeing in new deities, merely local aspects of a familiar one. Sony VAIO VPCY115FX/BI Battery
For many Romans, Egyptian Isis was an aspect of Phrygian Cybele, whose orgiastic rites were long-naturalized at Rome, indeed, she was known as Isis of Ten Thousand Names.
Among these names of Roman Isis, Queen of Heaven is outstanding for its long and continuous history. Sony VAIO VPCY115FXBI Battery
Herodotusidentified Isis with the Greek and Roman goddesses of agriculture, Demeter and Ceres.
In later years, Isis also had temples throughout Europe, Africa and Asia. An alabaster statue of Isis from the 3rd century BCE, found in Ohrid, in the Republic of Macedonia, Sony VAIO VPCY118EC Battery
is depicted on the obverse of the Macedonian 10 denarsbanknote, issued in 1996.[23]
The male first name "Isidore", means in Greek "gift of Isis" (similar to "Theodore", "God's gift"). The name, which became common in Roman times, Sony VAIO VPCY118GX/BI Battery
survived the suppression of the Isis worship and remains popular up to the present – being among others the name of several Christian saints.
The Isis cult in Rome was a template for the Christian Madonna Cult. Sony VAIO VPCW127JC/WZ Battery,Sony VAIO VPCW12AAJ Battery,Sony VAIO VPCW12AKJ Battery
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