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Like other deities throughout Egyptian history, Isis had many forms in her individual cult centers, and each cult center emphasized different aspects of her character. Local Isis cults focused on the distinctive traits of their deity more than on her universality, whereas some Egyptian hymns to Isis treat other goddesses in cult centers from ...
The mysteries of Isis were religious initiation rites performed in the cult of the Egyptian goddess Isis in the Greco-Roman world. They were modeled on other mystery rites , particularly the Eleusinian mysteries in honor of the Greek goddesses Demeter and Persephone , and originated sometime between the third century BCE and the second century CE .
Plutarch described the statue of a seated and veiled goddess in the Egyptian city of Sais. [45] [46] He identified the goddess as "Athena, whom [the Egyptians] consider to be Isis." [45] However, Sais was the cult center of the goddess Neith, whom the Greeks compared to their goddess Athena, and could have been the goddess that Plutarch spoke ...
In Roman Egypt, Menouthis was widely known as an oracular and healing cult centre of the Ancient Egyptian goddess Isis [4] and it drew devotees from a wide region. [5] The temple of Isis in the city contained religious statues and was decorated with hieroglyphs. [6]
These "Festival Songs of Isis and Nephthys" were ritual elements of many such Osirian rites in major ancient Egyptian cult centers. As a mortuary goddess like Isis, Neith, and Serqet, Nephthys was one of the protectresses of the canopic jars of Hapi. Hapi, one of the sons of Horus, guarded the embalmed lungs.
Isis grew more popular as a goddess of protection, magic, and personal salvation, and became the most important goddess in Egypt. [ 137 ] In the 4th century BC, Egypt became a Hellenistic kingdom under the Ptolemaic dynasty (305–30 BC), which assumed the pharaonic role, maintaining the traditional religion and building or rebuilding many temples.
Plutarch identified the goddess as "Athena, whom [the Egyptians] consider to be Isis." [1] Sais was the cult center of the goddess Neith, whom the Greeks compared to their goddess Athena. In Plutarch's time Isis was the preeminent goddess among ancient Egyptian deities, and was frequently syncretized with Neith, and he equates the two. [3]
The Egyptian goddess Isis was a representative of the imperial cult, comparable to the position of Venus in the Julian imperial house. In this context, bricks with military brick stamps found on site suggest that a building had been erected on behalf of the Emperor for the purpose of cult practice promoted by the Emperor.