Ísis

Ísis, also written Isis, is a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion. In Egyptian myth she is the wife and sister of Osiris and the mother of Horus. She embodies motherhood, magic, healing, and protective power, and she plays a central role in the afterlife and in the legitimacy of the pharaoh.

According to myth, Osiris is murdered by his brother Seth. Ísis uses her magical skills to resurrect Osiris long enough to conceive Horus, after which she protects and nurses the infant god. As a result, she becomes a patron of kingship and of the dead, and her spells and rituals were used to secure protection in life and in the afterlife.

Isis was worshiped throughout ancient Egypt and later spread into the Greco-Roman world, where she was identified with other goddesses and featured in temples and cults. Iconography often shows Isis with a throne-shaped crown on her head, symbolizing her name, or with outstretched wings around the living or the dead, and sometimes nursing Horus.

Her cult persisted into late antiquity. In art and literature she influenced the portrayal of motherhood, magic, and funerary practices, and she influenced later religious and magical traditions in the Mediterranean world.

Name notes: the spelling Ísis appears in some languages (notably Portuguese); in English the common form is Isis. The name is distinct from the modern acronym ISIS, which refers to a different organization.