Cult of Gods

Isis

Egyptian tradition. See the whole pantheon.

Domains
magic, protection, motherhood
Symbols and attributes
Throne headdress; knot of Isis; wings
Parents (per the sources used)
Geb and Nut
Partner
Osiris
Children
Horus
Papyrus of Ani, British Museum (New Kingdom), a Book of the Dead.
Papyrus of Ani, British Museum (New Kingdom), a Book of the Dead.

Key myth

She gathered the pieces of Osiris and, with her sister Nephthys, restored him. She conceived Horus and raised him in hiding. Her cult spread across the Roman empire, with temples as far as Britain.

Primary sources

  • Pyramid Texts
  • Plutarch, De Iside 14-19

All sources for the Egyptian pantheon

Lineage in the sources used: Geb, Shu, Atum, Nun, Tefnut, Nut.

Place in the family graph

Choose a deity to see where it comes from. Dashed lines are links the sources describe that are not parent and child.

NunAtumRaAmunShuTefnutMaatHathorSekhmetPtahGebNutAnubisThothSobekOsirisIsisSethNephthysHorus

More traditions

Odin rides to Hel, W. G. Collingwood, after the Poetic Edda.NorseA chaos monster and a sun god, drawn by L. Gruner for A. H. Layard's Monuments of Nineveh.MesopotamianVishvarupa Vishnu, Kashmir or Himachal, in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art collection.HinduFolio 309r of the Book of Kells (Trinity College Dublin), c. 800.Celtic (Irish)

Elsewhere in the world

Deities in other traditions who share a theme with Isis: death and the underworld, wisdom, writing and divination. This is overlap in one area only.

Norse

Odin

wisdom, poetry, war

Norse

Frigg

foresight, marriage, motherhood

Norse

Baldr

light, beauty, mercy

Norse

Hel

the dead who die of sickness or age

Norse

Freyja

love, desire, magic (seiðr)

Norse

Rán

drowning, the sea's net

Mesopotamian

Enki / Ea

fresh water, wisdom, craft

Compare across cultures