At certain times in rituals or processions adherents would shake it to make a noise. This object was a traditional ritual object from Egypt. Called the Tyet, this knot was a symbol of Isis and may have symbolised eternity or immortality, or even power over fate. Her dress was light, presumably made of cotton (according to Herodotus, Egyptian priests wore cotton and considered it purer than wool). The clothes largely followed Greek style. Her hair was often portrayed as curly looks. In the Greek images this could sometimes be small, like a petite tiara. On her head she would wear a crown of cow horns and moon disk. The most common portrayal of Isis in the Greco-Roman world was of a young woman.
A late Kingdom Isis nursing a baby Horus (now missing) (Louvre) What did Isis look like? The temple of Isis-Thermouthis at Medinet Madi was previously a temple to Rentuet. The major Ptolemaic temple of Isis at Philae was an expansion of an early pharaonic temple of Hathor. This iconography suggest that Isis had a particular role for women and mothers, but the Isis-Lactans amulettes were probably symbolically powerful in a more universal way.īy the Ptolemaic period Isis had become the preeminent goddess of the Egyptian pantheon. This is a relatively late development, as Isis only took over Hathor’s mythic position as mother of Horus in this period.
The most common iconography of the Late Period are images of Isis nursing the baby Horus. From this period on she is often portrayed with a headdress of the cow horns and moon disk. In the New Kingdom Isis had taken over the iconographic attributes of Hathor. Isis was long associated as the sister and wife of Osiris, the Egyptian god of the dead himself a complex figure in Egyptian theology. Her hieroglyphic contains a throne (as does Osiris’) and her first divine attribute was a throne resting on her head. She was not however as ancient as the other gods of the Egyptian Parthenon. The goddess Isis was ancient, even in the Greek times. She was the last pagan god worshipped in the Roman Empire.Anubis and Horus was worshipped in Britian.She was mentioned by St Paul in the New Testament.She had temples in Egypt, Athens, Rome and Pompeii.Isis-Lactans (or possibly Beset-Lactans) from Louvre On this page you will find out more about Isis, including: Many Emperors were followers of her religion and built temples.īut for a chance of history, we might all be followers of her cult. She was an immensely powerful female queen with power over fate itself. She was worshipped across the Greek and Roman world along with her family Serapis, Anubis and Horus. Could worship of the Egyptian gods have been the dominant religion in much of the world? At one point, the main “competitor” to Christianity in the Roman Empire was the religion of Isis the ancient Egyptian Goddess of love.