2), an icon type present in and around Egypt as early as the eighth century BCE. This type portrays the mother goddess nursing her divine son Horus from her left breast. This example from the ruins of Karanis represents the type of devotional image an Isis cult worshiper would have used for private meditation, as it is a wall mural found in a person’s home. Isis was particularly popular among young women as a protector of girls and women and a role model of how they should live their lives. In this example, deviating a bit from the usual, Horus does not nurse from the breast Isis offers, but instead gestures to his mouth, referencing his role in opening the mouths of the dead for passage of the soul.
Later
In Egyptian Mythology, Osiris was known as the god of the underworld. Osiris was the first child of the two gods; Geb and Nut. Geb was the god of the earth and physically supported the world. Nut was the goddess of the vault of the heavens. Osiris was also well know as Usir in Egypt.
Isis grew in importance as the time progressed and there began to build temples under her name, which means “throne.” The cult of Isis worships an Egyptian goddess, which is the wife of Osiris. There was been many changes of forms over the time. The Egyptian Goddess is worshipped in the Isis cult as the patroness of nature and magic but also as the ideal wife and mother. The Goddess Isis was connected to the
According to Plutarch, Isis represents the female principle as a whole that receives all of the procreation thus, her name Isis named by Plato as the all-receiving and the nurse. Also, Plutarch expresses
Isis gave birth to Osiris’ son, Horus. Thoth told her to hide Horus from Set for his safety. Set accidentally found the box where Osiris was hidden and ripped his body to shreds. Isis and Horus found all of his body parts and magically brought him back to life.
It typically contains a substance such as ointment or fragrances, but significance is held simply because Cleopatra is in the sight of the goddess Isis. It was rare that there is a depiction of, not only a elite woman, but a royal woman being shown face-to-face with a god or goddess of Egypt. It is usually males who are depicted, and even though a male pharaoh is shown, many believe that “Cleopatra is represented as a traditional male pharaoh, wearing the double crown of Upper and Lower Egypt, and a triangular loincloth. Two vases are offered to the goddess Isis, who nurses her baby, Horus” (Bernadette). To have a female ruler encounter the goddess Isis in a commemorative pillar is groundbreaking.
Isis had a very big family. She was the daughter of Geb, god of earth, and Nut, goddess of the sky. She was the sister of Osiris, Set, Nephthys, and Horus. She was the first daughter of Geb. Isis married her brother, Osiris, who was king of Egypt at the time being.
During his lifetime, he was a strong ruler and after his death, he became the god of the dead, of the afterlife and the underworld. The legend about Osiris’s death at the hand of his jealous brother Seth is one of the main reasons why the Egyptians believe in life after death. It is believed that after Isis (Osiris’s wife) found Osiris’s dead body in Phoenicia, so she got his body back to Egypt and buried it. Set (Osiris’s brother and god of storm and violence) came to the place where the body was buried, tore the body up into pieces and scattered those pieces all over the country. After that, Isis again went to find her husband’s scattered pieces and brought them back and buried them in their rightful place.
Osiris became the God of death and rebirth, Mufasa became the God of rain to control the power of the weather in the Pridelands to protect his wife and son from his evil brother Scar. Both Osiris and Mufasa hold the role of kings and pass it down to their sons once they are defeated and killed. This book about Osiris explains his life after death and quotes “Isis had brought Osiris back to life…Osiris was the God of the underworld and judge of death” (Wickersham) This quote shows the significance of Osiris’ kingship in his story and what was led after his death. These lines show Osiris was never forgotten but instead was restored as something better for the people of Egypt.
In Egypt, Isis was essentially the mother goddess who used magic spells to protect her son, Horus, while Osiris was the god of the dead, as well as ruler of the Underworld. In Egypt, Isis was worshipped simply for her magical powers which protected Horus, because people sought to use similar powers for themselves. “Soon the force of ‘magic’ comes to serve highly egoistic and aggressive purposes, especially in love charms, and the magician thinks nothing of threatening the
