17.ISIS. There is so often mention made in Scripture of the Gods of Egypt, that we can scarce dispense with ourselves from saying something here of Isis, the principal of these Deities. Isis, according to the Theology of the Egyptians, was the same as Io, beloved by Jupiter, who having been metamorphosed into a cow, through the hatred of Juno, withdrew into Egypt, where Jupiter restored her to her first form. Here she married Osiris king of the country: Osiris and Isis governed with so much gentleness and wisdom, and were so remarkably serviceable to Egypt, that the Egyptians paid divine honours to them. Some say she taught them the art of spinning wooll, and working it up; the art of cultivating land, of gathering in corn, and making bread of it. She likewise gave them laws, and settled their polity.
Plutarch. de Iside & Osiride.Others say, that Osiris was brother and husband to Isis, in like manner as Juno was sister and wife to Jupiter. Eusebius Euseb. Præp. l. iii. c. 5. Lactant. l. i. c. 21.affirms, that Osiris was husband, brother, and son to Isis. Lactantius and Minutius Felix maintain, that Osiris was the son of Isis. As to the father of Isis, they who confound her with Io say, she was the daughter of Inachus King of Argos. Others tell us Neptune was her father, and Callirhoe her mother. Others suppose her to be the daughter of Argus and Ismene. Others of Mercury or Prometheus. Herodotus says, that the Egyptians took Isis for Ceres, and believed Apollo and Diana to be her children; that Latona was their nurse and deliverer. Apollo was called Orus in the Egyptian language; Ceres, Isis; and Diana, Bubastis.
If any one would collect the opinions of all the several Authors who have written concerning Isis and Osiris, he will find, that these two Deities include all the Heathen Gods. Isis according to them is Ceres, Juno, the Moon, the Earth, or Nature, Minerva, Proserpine, Thetis, the mother of the Gods or Cybele, Venus, DianaApul. l. xi. Metamorph., Bellona, Hecate, Ramnusia. In a word, she was firnamed Myrionyma, that is to say, the Goddess with a thousand names. Upon an ancient marble at Capua she is styled Goddess Isis, who art all things, te tibi, una quæ es omnia Dea Isis; and in the city of Sais there were the following Plutarch. de Iside & Osiride.words to be seen, by Plutarch’s relation, upon the pavement of a Temple dedicated to Minerva, who is the same as Isis, I am every thing that has been, that is, and will be; and no one among mortals has hitherto taken off my veil.
Herod. in Euterpe, c. 41. Philostrat. vita Appol. Thyan. l. i. c. 24. Apul. Metam. l. xi.Apuleius introduces Isis speaking in these terms: I am Nature, parent of all things, mistress of the elements, the beginning of ages, the Sovereign of the Gods, Queen of the souls of the deceased, the first of the celestial Natures, the uniform face of Gods and Goddesses. It is I who govern the bright sublimity of the Heavens, the salutary winds of the sea, the mournful silence of children; my Divinity which is single, tho represented in several forms, is honoured by different nations, and under different names. The Phrygians call me the Pessinuntian, mother of the Gods; the Athenians, the Cecropian Minerva; those of Cyprus, the Paphian Venus; those of Crete, the Dyctean Diana; the Sicilians, a people who speak three languages, the Stygian Proserpine; the Eleusinians, the old Goddess Ceres; others, Juno; others, Bellona; some Hecate; many call me Rhamnusia; the eastern Æthiopians, the Arians, they who are instructed in the ancient doctrine, I mean, the Egyptians, honour me with ceremonies which are peculiar to me, and call me by my real name, Queen Isis.
The Egyptians represented Isis with the head of a cow, or at least with horns, or with a crescent on her head; and between the horns of the crescent they generally place a globe, which denotes the world. She is represented likewise with a bird upon her head, which is thought to be the Ibis. She is to be seen often with a key, a cross, or a whip in her hand. The worship of her was famous throughout Egypt, but principally at Bubastus, Coptos, and Alexandria.
The ancient Germans likewise adored Isis; but their Isis was different from that of the Egyptians. Some maintained that she had been wife to Mannus, the son of Thuiscon, from whom the Germans pretend to derive their original. Some learned men have asserted, that under the names of Mannus and Isis these ancient people meant Adam and Eve. Mannus in German signifies Man, as well as Adam in Hebrew; and Isis is the same name as Ischa, or Ischat, the name which our first Parent gave Eve, hæc vocabitur Virago; in the Gen. ii. 23. Hæc vocabitur Virago. אישהHebrew, Ipsa vocabitur Ischa. The same has been believed of Isis and Osiris, adored by the Egyptians.
The question at present is, whether the Israelites worshipped Isis, and what name they gave her. It is worth observing, in the first place, that the Hebrews have no name to signify a Goddess. 2. That since Isis was represented with the head and horns of an Ox, it is credible enough that this may be she, whom the Sacred Books call the golden Calf, or as the Septuagint read, the golden heifers. Several of the fathers speaking of the adoration of the golden calf, have said that the Israelites adored a calf’s head. 3. As the Jews worshipped the Sun and Earth under different names, such as Gad, Meni, Baal, Astaroth, the King and Queen and all the host of Heaven, it is credible, that under these different names they paid their honours to Isis and Osiris.