Editing Isis (section)

===Worship===

====Relationship with royalty====
Despite her significance in the Osiris myth, Isis was originally a minor deity in the ideology surrounding the living king. She played only a small role, for instance, in the [[Dramatic Ramesseum Papyrus]], the script for royal rituals performed in the reign of [[Senusret I]] in the Middle Kingdom.<ref>{{harvnb|Frankfort|1978|pp=43–44, 123, 137}}</ref> Her importance grew during the New Kingdom,<ref>{{harvnb|Lesko|1999|p=170}}</ref> when she was increasingly connected with Hathor and the human queen.<ref>{{harvnb|Troy|1986|p=70}}</ref>

The early first millennium BCE saw an increased emphasis on the family triad of Osiris, Isis, and Horus and an explosive growth in Isis's popularity. In the fourth century BCE, [[Nectanebo I]] of the [[Thirtieth Dynasty of Egypt|Thirtieth Dynasty]] claimed Isis as his patron deity, tying her still more closely to political power.<ref>{{harvnb|Bricault|Versluys|2014|pp=30–31}}</ref> The [[Kingdom of Kush]], which ruled Nubia from the eighth century BCE to the fourth century CE, absorbed and adapted the Egyptian ideology surrounding kingship. It equated Isis with the ''[[kandake]]'', the queen or [[queen mother]] of the Kushite king.<ref>{{harvnb|Morkot|2012|pp=121–122, 124}}</ref>

The [[Ptolemaic dynasty|Ptolemaic]] Greek kings, who ruled Egypt as pharaohs from 305 to 30 BCE, developed an ideology that linked them with both Egyptian and [[List of Greek deities|Greek deities]], to strengthen their claim to the throne in the eyes of their Greek and Egyptian subjects. For centuries before, [[Colonies in antiquity#Greek colonies|Greek colonists]] and visitors to Egypt had drawn parallels between Egyptian deities and their own, in a process known as ''[[interpretatio graeca]]''.<ref>{{harvnb|Pfeiffer|2008|pp=387–388}}</ref> [[Herodotus]], a Greek who wrote about Egypt in the fifth century BCE, likened Isis to [[Demeter]], whose mythical search for her daughter [[Persephone]] resembled Isis's search for Osiris. Demeter was one of the few Greek deities to be widely adopted by Egyptians in Ptolemaic times, so the similarity between her and Isis provided a link between the two cultures.<ref>{{harvnb|Thompson|1998|pp=699, 704–707}}</ref> In other cases, Isis was linked with [[Aphrodite]] through the sexual aspects of her character.<ref>{{harvnb|Solmsen|1979|pp=56–57}}</ref> Building on these traditions, the first two Ptolemies promoted the cult of the new god [[Serapis]], who combined aspects of Osiris and [[Apis (deity)|Apis]] with those of Greek gods such as [[Zeus]] and [[Dionysus]]. Isis, portrayed in a [[Hellenized]] form, was regarded as the consort of Serapis as well as of Osiris. [[Ptolemy II]] and his sister and wife [[Arsinoe II]] developed a [[ruler cult]] around themselves, so that they were worshipped in the same temples as Serapis and Isis, and Arsinoe was likened to both Isis and Aphrodite.<ref>{{harvnb|Pfeiffer|2008|pp=391–392, 400–403}}</ref> Some later Ptolemaic queens identified themselves still more closely with Isis. [[Cleopatra III]], in the second century BCE, used Isis's name in place of her own in inscriptions, and [[Cleopatra VII]], the last ruler of Egypt before it was annexed by [[ancient Rome|Rome]], used the epithet "the new Isis".<ref>{{harvnb|Plantzos|2011|pp=389–396}}</ref>

====Temples and festivals====
[[File:David Roberts Temple Island Philae.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|right|alt=Painting of an island seen from across a river channel. On the island stand a series of stone buildings, gateways, and colonnades.|[[Philae]] as seen from [[Bigeh|Bigeh Island]], painted by [[David Roberts (painter)|David Roberts]] in 1838]]
Down to the end of the New Kingdom, Isis's cult was closely tied to those of male deities such as Osiris, Min, or Amun. She was commonly worshipped alongside them as their mother or consort, and she was especially widely worshipped as the mother of various local forms of Horus.<ref>{{harvnb|Münster|1968|pp=189–190}}</ref> Nevertheless, she had independent priesthoods at some sites<ref>{{harvnb|Lesko|1999|p=169}}</ref> and at least one temple of her own, at Osiris's cult center of [[Abydos, Egypt|Abydos]], during the late New Kingdom.<ref>{{harvnb|Münster|1968|pp=165–166}}</ref>

The earliest known major temples to Isis were the Iseion at [[Behbeit el-Hagar]] in northern Egypt and Philae in the far south. Both began construction during the Thirtieth Dynasty and were completed or enlarged by Ptolemaic kings.<ref>{{harvnb|Wilkinson|2003|p=149}}</ref> Thanks to Isis's widespread fame, Philae drew pilgrims from across the Mediterranean.<ref>{{harvnb|Dijkstra|2008|pp=186–187}}</ref> Many other temples of Isis sprang up in Ptolemaic times, ranging from [[Alexandria]] and [[Canopus, Egypt|Canopus]] on the Mediterranean coast to [[Triakontaschoinos|Egypt's frontier with Nubia]].<ref>{{harvnb|Dunand|Zivie-Coche|2004|pp=236–237, 242}}</ref> A series of temples of Isis stood in that region, stretching from Philae south to [[Maharraqa]], and were sites of worship for both Egyptians and various Nubian peoples.<ref>{{harvnb|Dijkstra|2008|pp=133, 137, 206–208}}</ref> The Nubians of Kush built their own temples to Isis at sites as far south as [[Wad ban Naqa]],<ref>{{harvnb|Yellin|2012a|p=245}}</ref> including one in their capital, [[Meroe]].<ref>{{harvnb|Yellin|2012b|pp=133}}</ref>

The most frequent temple rite for any deity was the daily offering ritual, in which priests clothed the deity's [[cult image]] and offered it food.<ref>{{harvnb|Dunand|Zivie-Coche|2004|pp=89–91}}</ref> In Roman times, temples to Isis in Egypt could be built either in Egyptian style, in which the cult image was in a secluded sanctuary accessible only to priests, and in a Greco-Roman style in which devotees were allowed to see the cult image.<ref name="Dunand & Zivie-Coche 300">{{harvnb|Dunand|Zivie-Coche|2004|pp=300–301}}</ref> Greek and Egyptian culture were highly intermingled by this time, and there may have been no ethnic separation between Isis's worshippers.<ref>{{harvnb|Naerebout|2007|pp=541, 547}}</ref> The same people may have prayed to Isis outside Egyptian-style temples and in front of her statue inside Greek-style temples.<ref name="Dunand & Zivie-Coche 300"/>

Temples celebrated many festivals in the course of the year, some nationwide and some very local.<ref>{{harvnb|Dunand|Zivie-Coche|2004|p=93}}</ref> An elaborate series of rites were performed all across Egypt for Osiris during the month of [[Khoiak]],<ref>{{harvnb|Assmann|2005|p=363}}</ref> and Isis and Nephthys were prominent in these rites at least as early as the New Kingdom.<ref name="Lesko 172">{{harvnb|Lesko|1999|pp=172–174}}</ref> In Ptolemaic times, two women acted out the roles of Isis and Nephthys during Khoiak, singing or chanting in mourning for their dead brother. Their chants are preserved in the [[Festival Songs of Isis and Nephthys]] and [[Lamentations of Isis and Nephthys]].<ref name="Lesko 172"/><ref>{{harvnb|Smith|2009|pp=96–98, 103}}</ref>

Festivals dedicated to Isis eventually developed. In Roman times, Egyptians across the country celebrated her birthday, the Amesysia, by carrying the local cult statue of Isis through their fields, probably celebrating her powers of fertility.<ref>{{harvnb|Frankfurter|1998|pp=56, 61, 103–104}}</ref> The priests at Philae held a festival every ten days when the cult statue of Isis visited the neighboring island of [[Bigeh]], which was said to be Osiris's place of burial, and the priests performed funerary rites for him. The cult statue also visited the neighboring temples to the south, even during the last centuries of activity at Philae when those temples were run by Nubian peoples outside Roman rule.<ref>{{harvnb|Dijkstra|2008|pp=202–210}}</ref>

[[Christianity]] became the dominant religion in the Roman Empire, including Egypt, during the fourth and fifth centuries CE. [[Decline of ancient Egyptian religion|Egyptian temple cults died out]], gradually and at various times, from a combination of lack of funds and Christian hostility.<ref>{{harvnb|Frankfurter|1998|pp=18–20, 26–27}}</ref> Isis's temple at Philae, supported by its Nubian worshippers, still had an organized priesthood and regular festivals until at least the mid-fifth century CE, making it the last fully functioning temple in Egypt.<ref name="Dijkstra 342">{{harvnb|Dijkstra|2008|pp=342–347}}</ref>{{refn|group="Note"|Scholars have traditionally believed, based on the writings of [[Procopius]], that Philae was closed in about AD 535 by a military expedition under [[Justinian I]]. Jitse Dijkstra has argued that Procopius's account of the temple closure is inaccurate and that regular religious activity there ceased shortly after the last date inscribed at the temple, in 456 or 457 CE.<ref name="Dijkstra 342"/> Eugene Cruz-Uribe suggests instead that during the fifth and sixth centuries the temple lay empty most of the time, but Nubians living nearby continued to hold periodic festivals there until well into the sixth century.<ref>{{harvnb|Cruz-Uribe|2010|pp=504–506}}</ref>}}

====Funerary====
[[File:Isis and Nepthys as kites by the bier.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.35|Isis, left, and [[Nephthys]] as [[kite (bird)|kites]] near the bier of a [[mummy]], thirteenth century BCE]]
In many spells in the Pyramid Texts, Isis and Nephthys help the deceased king reach the afterlife. In the Coffin Texts from the Middle Kingdom, Isis appears still more frequently, though in these texts Osiris is credited with reviving the dead more often than she is. New Kingdom sources such as the [[Book of the Dead]] describe Isis as protecting deceased souls as they face the dangers in the Duat. They also describe Isis as a member of the divine councils that judge souls' moral righteousness before admitting them into the afterlife, and she appears in vignettes standing beside Osiris as he presides over this tribunal.<ref>{{harvnb|Lesko|1999|pp=163–164, 166–168}}</ref>{{CSS image crop|Image=Toutankamon-expo 36 cercueil-ext.JPG|bSize=330|cWidth=240|cHeight=200|oTop=65|oLeft=30|Description=Isis with her wings spread on the footend of the outer coffin of [[Tutankhamun]].}}Isis and Nephthys took part in funeral ceremonies, where two wailing women, much like those in the festival at Abydos, mourned the deceased as the two goddesses mourned Osiris.<ref>{{harvnb|Hays|2010|pp=4–5}}</ref> Isis was frequently shown or alluded to in funerary equipment: on sarcophagi and [[canopic chest]]s as one of the four goddesses who protected the Four Sons of Horus, in tomb art offering her enlivening milk to the dead, and in the ''tyet'' amulets that were often placed on mummies to ensure that Isis's power would shield them from harm.<ref>{{harvnb|Lesko|1999|pp=175, 177–179}}</ref> Late funerary texts prominently featured her mourning for Osiris, and one such text, one of the [[Books of Breathing]], was said to have been written by her for Osiris's benefit.<ref>{{harvnb|Smith|2009|pp=54–55, 462}}</ref> In Nubian funerary religion, Isis was regarded as more significant than her husband, because she was the active partner while he only passively received the offerings she made to sustain him in the afterlife.<ref>{{harvnb|Yellin|2012b|p=137}}</ref>

====Popular worship====
Unlike many Egyptian deities, Isis was rarely addressed in prayers,<ref>{{harvnb|Dunand|Zivie-Coche|2004|p=137}}</ref> or invoked in [[theophoric name|personal names]], before the end of the New Kingdom.<ref>{{harvnb|Kockelmann|2008|p=73}}</ref> From the Late Period on, she became one of the deities most commonly mentioned in these sources, which often refer to her kindly character and her willingness to answer those who call upon her for help.<ref>{{harvnb|Kockelmann|2008|pp=38–40, 81}}</ref> Hundreds of thousands of amulets and votive statues of Isis nursing Horus were made during the first millennium BCE,<ref>{{harvnb|Wilkinson|2003|p=146}}</ref> and in Roman Egypt she was among the deities most commonly represented in household religious art, such as figurines and panel paintings.<ref>{{harvnb|Mathews|Muller|2005|pp=5–6}}</ref>

Isis was prominent in magical texts from the Middle Kingdom onward. The dangers Horus faces in childhood are a frequent theme in magical healing spells, in which Isis's efforts to heal him are extended to cure any patient. In many of these spells, Isis forces Ra to help Horus by declaring that she will stop the sun in its course through the sky unless her son is cured.<ref>{{harvnb|Pinch|2006|pp=29, 144–146}}</ref> Other spells equated pregnant women with Isis to ensure that they would deliver their children successfully.<ref>{{harvnb|Pinch|2006|pp=128–129}}</ref>

Egyptian magic began to incorporate Christian concepts as Christianity was established in Egypt, but Egyptian and Greek deities continued to appear in spells long after their temple worship had ceased.<ref>{{harvnb|Meyer|1994|pp=27–29}}</ref> Spells that may date to the sixth, seventh, or eighth centuries CE invoke the name of Isis alongside Christian figures.<ref>{{harvnb|Frankfurter|2009|pp=230–231}}</ref>