Editing Isis (section)

===Roles===
[[File:Marble statue of Isis, the goddess holds a situla and sistrum, ritual implements used in her worship, from 117 until 138 AD, found at Hadrian's Villa (Pantanello), Palazzo Nuovo, Capitoline Museums (12945630725).jpg|thumb|alt=Marble staue of a woman holding a rattle in one hand and a pitcher in the other.|Roman statue of Isis, first or second century CE. She holds a [[sistrum]] and a pitcher of water, although these attributes were added in a seventeenth-century renovation.{{sfn|Tiradritti|2005|pp=21, 212}}]]
Isis's cult, like others in the Greco-Roman world, had no firm [[dogma]], and its beliefs and practices may have stayed only loosely similar as it diffused across the region and evolved over time.{{sfn|Beard|North|Price|1998|pp=248–249, 301–303}}{{sfn|Alvar|2008|pp=216–217}} Greek [[aretalogies]] that praise Isis provide much of the information about these beliefs. Parts of these aretalogies closely resemble ideas in late Egyptian hymns like those at Philae, while other elements are thoroughly Greek.{{sfn|Žabkar|1988|pp=135–137, 159–160}} Other information comes from [[Plutarch]] ({{circa|46}}–120 CE), whose book ''On Isis and Osiris'' interprets the Egyptian deities based on his [[Middle Platonist]] philosophy,{{sfn|Alvar|2008|pp=39–40}} and from several works of [[Greek literature|Greek]] and [[Latin literature]] that refer to Isis's worship, especially a novel by [[Apuleius]] ({{circa|125}}–180 CE) known as ''Metamorphoses'' or ''[[The Golden Ass]]'', which ends by describing how the main character has a vision of the goddess and becomes her devotee.{{sfn|Donalson|2003|pp=17–18}}

Elaborating upon Isis's role as a wife and mother in the Osiris myth, aretalogies call her the inventor of marriage and parenthood. She was invoked to protect women in childbirth and, in [[ancient Greek novel]]s such as the ''[[Ephesian Tale]]'', to protect their virginity.{{sfn|Heyob|1975|pp=48–50, 66–70}} Some ancient texts called her the patroness of women in general.{{sfn|Heyob|1975|p=53}}{{sfn|Kraemer|1992|p=74}} Her cult may have served to promote women's autonomy in a limited way, with Isis's power and authority serving as a precedent, but in myth she was devoted to, and never fully independent of, her husband and son. The aretalogies show ambiguous attitudes toward women's independence: one says Isis made women equal to men, whereas another says she made women subordinate to their husbands.{{sfn|Kraemer|1992|pp=76–77}}{{sfn|Alvar|2008|pp=190–192}}

Isis was often characterized as a moon goddess, paralleling the solar characteristics of Serapis.{{sfn|Sfameni Gasparro|2007|p=43}} She was also seen as a cosmic goddess more generally. Various texts claim she organized the behavior of the sun, moon, and stars, governing time and the seasons which, in turn, guaranteed the fertility of the earth.{{sfn|Pachis|2010|pp=307–313}} These texts also credit her with inventing agriculture, establishing laws, and devising or promoting other elements of human society. This idea derives from older Greek traditions about the role of various Greek deities and [[culture heroes]], including Demeter, in establishing civilization.{{sfn|Solmsen|1979|pp=34–35, 40–43}}

She also oversaw seas and harbors. Sailors left inscriptions calling upon her to ensure the safety and good fortune of their voyages. In this role she was called ''Isis Pelagia'', "Isis of the Sea", or ''Isis Pharia'', referring to a sail or to the island of Pharos, site of the [[Lighthouse of Alexandria]].{{sfn|Donalson|2003|pp=68, 74–75}} This form of Isis, which emerged in Hellenistic times, may have been inspired by Egyptian images of Isis in a barque, as well as by Greek deities who protected seafaring, such as Aphrodite.{{sfn|Alvar|2008|pp=296–300}}{{sfn|Legras|2014|pp=96–97}} ''Isis Pelagia'' developed an added significance in Rome. Rome's food supply was dependent on [[Cura Annonae|grain shipments from its provinces]], especially Egypt. Isis therefore guaranteed fertile harvests and protected the ships that carried the resulting food across the seas—and thus ensured the [[salus|well-being of the empire]] as a whole.{{sfn|Pachis|2010|pp=283–286}} Her protection of the state was said to extend to Rome's armies, much as it was in Ptolemaic Egypt, and she was sometimes called ''Isis Invicta'', "Unconquered Isis".{{sfn|Donalson|2003|pp=177–178}} Her roles were so numerous that she came to be called ''myrionymos'', "one with countless names," and ''panthea'', "all-goddess".{{sfn|Donalson|2003|p=10}}

Both Plutarch and a later philosopher, [[Proclus]], mentioned a [[veil of Isis|veiled statue]] of the Egyptian goddess [[Neith]], whom they conflated with Isis, citing it as an example of her universality and enigmatic wisdom. It bore the words "I am all that has been and is and will be; and no mortal has ever lifted my mantle."{{sfn|Griffiths|1970|pp=131, 284–285}}{{refn|group="Note"|The statue was at a temple in [[Sais]], Neith's cult center. She was largely conflated with Isis in Plutarch's time, and he says the statue is of "Athena [Neith], whom [the Egyptians] consider to be Isis". Proclus' version of the quotation says "no one has ever lifted my veil," implying that the goddess is virginal.{{sfn|Assmann|1997|pp=118–119}} This claim was occasionally made of Isis in Greco-Roman times, though it conflicted with the widespread belief that she and Osiris together conceived Horus.{{sfn|Griffiths|1970|p=284}} Proclus also adds "The fruit of my womb was the sun", suggesting that the goddess conceived and gave birth to the sun without the participation of a male deity, which would mean it referred to Egyptian myths about Neith as the mother of Ra.{{sfn|Assmann|1997|pp=118–119}} }}

Isis was also said to benefit her followers in the afterlife, which was not much emphasized in Greek and Roman religion.{{sfn|Beard|North|Price|1998|pp=289–290}} ''The Golden Ass'' and inscriptions left by worshippers of Isis suggest that many of her followers thought she would guarantee them a better afterlife in return for their devotion. They characterized this afterlife inconsistently. Some said they would benefit from Osiris's enlivening water while others expected to sail to the [[Fortunate Isles]] of Greek tradition.{{sfn|Gasparini|2016|pp=135–137}}

As in Egypt, Isis was said to have power over fate, which in traditional Greek religion was a power not even the gods could defy. Valentino Gasparini says this control over destiny binds together Isis's disparate traits. She governs the cosmos, yet she also relieves people of their comparatively trivial misfortunes, and her influence extends into the realm of death, which is "individual and universal at the same time".{{sfn|Gasparini|2011|pp=700, 716–717}}