Isis: The History and Legacy of the Ancient Egyptian God of the Dead

by Charles River Editors, Markus Carabas

*Includes pictures *Includes ancient accounts *Includes online resources and a bibliography for further reading *Includes a table of contents Africa may have given rise to the first human beings, and Egypt probably gave rise to the first great civilizations, which continue to fascinate modern societies across the globe nearly 5,000 years later. From the Library and Lighthouse of Alexandria to the Great Pyramid at Giza, the Ancient Egyptians produced several wonders of the world, revolutionized architecture and construction, created some of the world’s first systems of mathematics and medicine, and established language and art that spread across the known world. With world-famous leaders like King Tut and Cleopatra, it’s no wonder that today’s world has so many Egyptologists. To the ancient Egyptians, as was the case with any society made up of inquiring humans, the world was a confusing and often terrifying place of destruction, death and unexplained phenomena. In order to make sense of such an existence, they resorted to teleological stories. Giving a phenomenon a story made it less horrifying, and it also helped them make sense of the world around them. Unsurprisingly, then, the ancient Egyptian gods permeated every aspect of existence. Isis first appears during the period of Old Kingdom (ca. 2660-2190 BCE) but only later does she take on her most famous role of being a sister-wife of Osiris. Originally, she is simply the mother of Horus and the details surrounding his conception are more obscure. Her absence in the original myths about Osiris is confirmed by the fact that her appearances at Abydos, a famous cult center of Osiris, are scarce until the New Kingdom (ca. 1549-1069 BCE). In fact, Isis had no known cult center throughout the majority of ancient Egyptian dynastic history, though it didn’t seem to have a negative effect on her worship. Isis was one of the nine principal deities of the Egyptian pantheon called the Ennead and her hieroglyph was the throne, a glyph that would later connect her with Osiris, whose hieroglyph was a throne and an eye, and royalty in general. In fact, as the goddess of the throne, she came to represent the “mother” of all the kings of Egypt. Regardless of her royal attributes, however, Isis was fundamentally a healer and a peacemaker. Nevertheless, as time went on and Egypt became more influenced by the outside world, Greece and Rome in particular, Isis came to be seen as the wrathful protector of Egypt and its kings. According to the sources, she was “cleverer than millions of gods” and more capable of protecting the country than “millions of soldiers.” What is most fascinating about Isis is the agency she has in her myths, particularly the most famous, that of the death and rebirth cycle of Osiris. In this myth she even demonstrates traits of the female trickster, which is considerably less common in world mythology than the male equivalent. According to one New Kingdom source, Isis transformed herself into an old woman in order to fool the divine ferryman between the worlds of the living and the dead, and she also turned herself into a young woman in order to get Seth to admit that his claim for power was unjust. All the while, she created cultural and geographical mainstays – such as the Nile – while being worshipped as a helper goddess. It is curious that, until the 30th Dynasty, Isis was worshipped in the temples of other gods as she did not have a dedicated cult center of her own. During the 30th Dynasty, this changed with two large temples built in her honor in the Nile Delta.

Genres: Nonfiction, Egypt, Mythology, History, Religion

81 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 11, 2018

About the author

Charles River Editors is an independent publisher of thousands of ebooks on Kindle, Nook, Kobo, and Apple iBookstore & provider of original content for third parties.

Reviews

[Lucia Bradley · Rating 1 out of 5]

Book Type: Audible
Length: 1h 50m

Sometimes shorter is not better.

I picked up this book because I wanted to learn more about Isis, the Egyptian Mother Goddess. I thought maybe it would be beneficial that the book was so short, they would cut to the details.

I was wrong...

The book spends more time comparing her to Greek and Roman culture/gods/goddesses that I felt we didn't get any sort of real information. I felt like it was just reading the Wikipedia page, except Wikipedia has more detail on her than this book.

The narration of the audiobook was horrible as well. The droning monotony was very hard to sit through, fortunately it was less than two hours so it only took me about 3 hours to listen as I listened multiple times to portions after realizing had had daydreamed away from the book.

I suspect Charles River Editors are very basic in all their books. They seem to have a lot of short books based on multiple historical subjects. I might try one more to see if I should avoid them at all costs (I ended up picking up their book about the Vandals and Goths).

Either way though this book is bad. Not even entertaining bad. I recommend you save your money (fortunately I got mine for cheap) and just go read the wikipedia page. Less chance of falling asleep or being frustrated.

[James Crawford · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book says that the Egyptian civilization basically constructed itself, having no models to pattern itself after. This included their art and architecture and the development of their own gods and goddesses. Isis appeared in Egyptian mythology around 2660BCE.

She was seen as a healer, a peacemaker and a protector of Egypt. Her worship lasted through the Roman occupation of Egypt.

She's also involved in the story of what happened to Osiris when he was killed then cut into pieces so his brother could take over the thrown. Isis found Osiris and was able to bring him back to life, sort of, and ended up getting pregnant by him.

Yes, it's a myth and in myths lots of strange things can happen.

The book also covers Egyptian dynasties, the creation story, the Book of the Dead and the Pyramid Texts. The Egyptian gods were not omnipresent and omnipotent. The book also goes into how the Egyptian calendar ended up being 365 days long.

The book also includes online resources and a bibliography.

[Daryl · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Mother Goddess Isis

An enlightening review of the history of Isis and what she meant to her many believers for thousands of years, and as she continues to inspire today! It was also interesting to note many of the similarities of her story and the story of many Christian stories today.

[Charles · Rating 3 out of 5]

I went in with fairly low expectations since it's such a short little read but I honestly learned a few things from this. Yes, most of the info concerns the Roman era but that is when Isis came into prominence across the world.

[Lee Ann Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting read..

Informative and short. Give interesting comparisons for Goddess worship. Great research material. Historical images clear and colorful and fits into context.