Egyptian Symbols antiqued silver coin series reaches new highs with the Goddess Isis

Isis is an ancient Egyptian goddess, associated with the earlier goddess Hathor, who became the most popular and enduring of all the Egyptian deities. Her name comes from the Egyptian Eset, (“the seat”) which referred to her stability and also the throne of Egypt as she was considered the mother of every pharaoh through the king’s association with Horus, Isis’ son. Her symbols are the scorpion (who kept her safe when she was in hiding), the kite (a kind of falcon whose shape she assumed in bringing her husband back to life), the empty throne, and the sistrum. She is regularly portrayed as the selfless, giving, mother, wife, and protectress, who places other’s interests and well-being ahead of her own. She was also known as Weret-Kekau (“the Great Magic”) for her power and Mut-Netjer, “Mother of the Gods” but was known by many names depending on which role she was fulfilling at the moment. As the goddess who brought the yearly inundation of the Nile which fertilized the land she was Sati, for example, and as the goddess who created and preserved life she was Ankhet, and so on.

In time, she became so popular that all gods were considered mere aspects of Isis and she was the only Egyptian deity worshiped by everyone in the country. She and her husband and son replaced the Theban Triad of Amon, Mut, and Khons, who had been the most popular trinity of gods in Egypt. Osiris, Isis, and Horus are referred to as the Abydos Triad. Her cult began in the Nile Delta and her most important sanctuary was there at the shrine of Behbeit El-Hagar, but worship of Isis eventually spread to all parts of Egypt. Both men and women served Isis as clergy and no doubt rituals concerning her worship were conducted along the lines of other deities: a temple was built as her earthly home which housed her statue and this image was reverently cared for by the priests and priestesses. The people of Egypt were encouraged to visit the temple to leave offerings and make supplications but no one except the high priest or priestess was allowed into the sanctuary where the statue of the goddess resided.

She is depicted in some stories and inscriptions as a homeless woman, an old woman, a wife searching for and mourning her lost husband, a mother mourning a missing child, a woman fighting for her family, and all of these stories identified her with the common people of Egypt and their darkest moments; because of this, Isis became the goddess of all the people of Egypt, male and female, royal and common, alike. Along with her husband Osiris, he taught humans the arts of agriculture and medicine and instituted the practice of marriage.

Eventually, she became associated with the sea and was a protectress of sailors and merchants who wore talismans honoring her and invoked her aid in times of trouble (attested to by archaeological evidence). Unlike the other gods of Egypt, Isis transcended national borders and was worshiped by the Greeks and the Romans who believed in her as the supreme deity who created the world. Her cult in Rome was the greatest rival to the young religion of Christianity, which drew upon the image of Isis and the child-god Horus for the depiction of the Madonna with the Christ child. Her cult would remain one of the most popular in the ancient Mediterranean until Christianity triumphed over the pagan faiths in the 4th-6th centuries CE, and worship of Isis was outlawed along with that of the other pagan gods.