Isis

Patricia Podzorski on Isis

Isis is the sister-wife of Osiris. A goddess of magic, she is the symbolic mother of the king. Her written name contains the glyph for throne, indicating the important role she plays in the transmission of the kingship in Egypt. In the tale of the Hidden Name of Ra, she is called "craftier than a million men". She is depicted as a queenly woman wearing on her head either the "throne" symbol, or a crown with two cow's horns supporting the disc of the sun. Her special amulet is the tyet, a girdle with a loop or knot. This amulet seems to be connected with the ankh, the sign for life, symbol of divine and royal power. Her titles include "The Throne', 'Great of Magic', 'Mother of the Gods'. In her role as mother, she is often depicted as a white sow. She can also be seen as a cow.

There are many stories about Isis establishing her as a faithful wife having great tenacity in avenging her husband's murder. She is a goddess of many means and guile, having obtained magic of the sun god Re to use in the revival of Osiris. She is the last goddess of Egypt to be worshipped in Egypt, with a center still active in Philae at the First Cataract, where the last hieroglyphs were carved in 394 a.d. She was beloved by the Greeks and Romans, and worshipped beyond Egypt, throughout the Mediterranean world. Isis was the epitome of a selfless woman, and what she stole from Re, she gave to mankind. She was considered by Egyptians to be a fertile plain, the life-giving waters, and a voice for justice.