As we continue finding the scattered bits of Isis lore, today I bring you a dream. Not my dream. An ancient dream. A dream of the king Nectanebos II—it is a dream of Isis, of course.

Nectanebo II with Isis

But first, a bit about Nectanebos himself.

There were two Nectanebos. The dreamer was Nectanebos II, and he was the last native ruler of Egypt, before Egypt fell to Persia (again). His Egyptian name was Nakht-hor-hebyt, meaning Victorious is Horus of Hebyt. He was the grandson of Nectanebis I (yes, there’s a slight difference in the Greek spelling of the names).

Persia had conquered Egypt in 525 BCE, but Egypt regained independence in 404 BCE. The intervening years featured alliances with Greeks to keep the Persians out, as well as both internal and external struggles. Nectanebos II repelled the Persians several times during his reign and became a hero to his people. But ultimately, his alliances with some Greek cities failed and he and his army were defeated, making Nectanebos the last native ruler of Egypt. With defeat, he fled to Upper Egypt and finally to Nubia, where he tried to reestablish power, but was unsuccessful.

Isis receiving offerings from the king at Isiopolis

The dream that Nectanebos had is sometimes thought to have been a prophetic one, revealing Egypt’s eventual defeat by Persia.

Nectanebos was an Isis devotee and he contributed construction to Her temple at Philae and was the one who originally commissioned Isis’ temple at Isiopolis (Benbeit el-Hagar).

I’ve actually told the tale of Nectanebos’ dream before, since it has to do with Isiopolis. Here’s a link to that story. But I also want you to have translations of the actual texts in which we find this story, so you can see them for yourself.

A Greek version was found in the writings of Apollonios, who lived in seclusion in the Sarapeum of Memphis, Egypt. He only included the beginning of the story, however. We also have some bits of the tale in Demotic from a temple library.

Here’s Apollonios version, in which we find Our Lady Isis:

Year 16 in the night of Pharmouthi 21st to the 22nd , in the divine reckoning by the full moon, King Nectanebos was in Memphis and performed a sacrifice, asking the gods to reveal to him the impending future. In a dream he saw a boat made of papyrus – what they call rhops in Egyptian – come to anchor at Memphis. On it was a great throne, and upon that was seated Isis, glorious benefactress of crops, queen of gods, and all the gods in Egypt stood beside her to her right and left. One of them, called Onouris in Egyptian and Ares in Greek, and generally thought of as being thirty-one and a half feet tall, stepped forward, prostrated himself on his stomach, and said:

“Come to me, Goddess of Goddesses, mightiest in power, ruler of the universe, saviour of all the Gods, O Isis, be gracious and hear me. Just as you ordered, I have preserved the land perfectly, and while King Nectanebo has exercised every care for me up to the present, Samaus whom you installed in the priesthood has neglected my temple and has resisted my commands. I am thrust out of my own temple and everything in the inner shrine is half-finished on account of the villainy of the priest in charge.”

The Queen of the Gods heard the aforesaid but made no answer.

After seeing this prophetic dream he awoke and gave orders to send in haste to Sebennytos, to the high priest and priest of Onouris. When they appeared at his court the king asked them what work was unfinished in the inner shrine, the one called Pherso. They said that everything was finished except the inscribing of the hieroglyphs being carved on stone, and he ordered them to write with dispatch to the famous shrines throughout Egypt for hieroglyph carvers.

When these had arrived as ordered, the king asked who was the most skillful one among them, the one best able to complete the unfinished work in the inner shrine called Pherso. In response the one from Aphroditepolis in the Aphroditepolite nome, whose name was Peteēsios son of Ergeus, stepped forward and said that he could finish all the work in a few days. The king questioned the others as well, and they all stated that Peteēsios spoke the truth and that there was no one in all the land who could even pretend to be like him. Accordingly, the king assigned the aforementioned work to him at a lavish rate of pay, at the same time urging him by reason of the god’s will to pursue the task to completion in a few days, as he had undertaken to do.

Peteēsios took the big bundle of cash and departed for Sebennytos, where he decided, being a souse by nature, to take a holiday before tackling the job. And as he was walking about in the southern part of the temple he happened to notice the daughter of a perfume maker, who was the most beautiful girl he had ever come across in that . . .

Here are the small bits from the temple library at Tebtunis:

It happened in year 18 of the reign [of king Nectanebos, who was a beneficent king of the entire land,] Egypt being [united with all good things in his time] . . . He saw [himself in a dream . . . upon . . . A great god went [into the middle] . . . strangled (?) by him . . . time . . . Egypt . . . Nectanebos . . . [He] awoke [from the dream, these being the things that he had seen] . . .

And this one:

It happened in the 16th regnal year of the reign of king Nectanebos II, who was a beneficent king in the entire land, and [in] whose reign Egypt was overflowing with [all] good things. It happened one day that pharaoh said: “I am sad because of the terrible things that have happened to Petesis, son of Hergeus, the skilled sculptor of Aphroditopolis, in the temple of Sebennytos. [I] have given orders [to] find out the length of the time in which the said things will take place. I have given orders to find out the might of the foreigners that will come after me. I have given orders to find out the need which they will cause while they dwell in Egypt. May my preparation be made according to the journey which I to Wenkhem, that I might make my burnt offerings and my offering gifts between Letopolis and Phersôs {Per-Shu}.”

The preparation of the fleet of pharaoh was made. Pharaoh went on board the fleet. He did not delay to go to Wenkhem. He went to the temple [of Wenkhem] between Letopolis and Phersôs. He presented burnt offering and libation before Haroeris . . .

Golden Isis by Jane Marin. Jane no longer has this art on her site, but see other work here.