© 2012 Yozzer Hughes
ISIS is the goddess of Egyptian magic, nature and motherhood. Not only was
she worshipped as a central goddess in Egypt, but her influence spread to other countries including Britain (yes really!), Italy (Pompeii), France, Spain, Germany, Greece and Asia.
ISIS is believed to have originated from the Nile delta area, specifically Sebennytos
(Ancient Egyptian: Tjebnutjer. (Contemporary Samannud)). During the 5th Dynasty (2494-
2345 BC) ISIS was amalgamated into the Ennead of Heliopolis (a group of 9 major deities) as
there was a shift from individual deities inhabiting a single city to spanning all of Egypt.
ISIS is an Anglicized transliteration of the Greek corruption of the Ancient Egyptian.
This means that the original word for the goddess was IST which was put into
hieroglyphs and later corrupted into ISIS. The true sound of the word is still not clear as hieroglyphs do not have vowels in them so we have to take our most educated guess. Her name originally meant ‘She of the Throne’ and hence her wearing a throne on her head. ISIS was also portrayed with falcon wings.
ISIS’ parents were Geb (god of Earth) and Nut (goddess of the sky) whilst Set, Horus, Nephthys and Osiris (brother / Husband) were siblings.
One of ISIS’s many names was ‘she who knows all the names’ which was an extension of her magical abilities referring to the Osiris / ISIS legend (on the next page). Ra had grown old (silver bones) and ISIS manipulated him into revealing his ‘secret name’, so Ra would impart his magic to her so she has power over life and death. The thinking was that magic spells and incantation were only effective if all of the individuals names were known to the caster. If you name that everyone knew was Yozzer-Hotep but your secret name was Ahmose then spells would not be effective. ISIS however was ‘she who knows all the names’ and therefore if invoked could unleash magic upon the victim.
ISIS is an Anglicized transliteration of the Greek corruption of the Ancient Egyptian.
This means that the original word for the goddess was IST which was put into
hieroglyphs and later corrupted into ISIS. The true sound of the word is still not clear as hieroglyphs do not have vowels in them so we have to take our most educated guess. Her name originally meant ‘She of the Throne’ and hence her wearing a throne on her head. ISIS was also portrayed with falcon wings.
ISIS’ parents were Geb (god of Earth) and Nut (goddess of the sky) whilst Set, Horus, Nephthys and Osiris (brother / Husband) were siblings.
One of ISIS’s many names was ‘she who knows all the names’ which was an extension of her magical abilities referring to the Osiris / ISIS legend (on the next page). Ra had grown old (silver bones) and ISIS manipulated him into revealing his ‘secret name’, so Ra would impart his magic to her so she has power over life and death. The thinking was that magic spells and incantation were only effective if all of the individuals names were known to the caster. If you name that everyone knew was Yozzer-Hotep but your secret name was Ahmose then spells would not be effective. ISIS however was ‘she who knows all the names’ and therefore if invoked could unleash magic upon the victim.
ISIS in Hieroglyphs
