Precinct of Isis

Isis was a mother and wife goddess: wife to Osiris, ruler of the dead, and mother of Horus, the god of the sky and war. Hers is a tragic story, with her husband brutally murdered and dismembered by his brother Set, but ultimately triumphant as she brings her beloved Osiris (mostly) back from the dead. As an agent of rebirth and mother, she was a goddess of both fertility and protection; many revered her as a patron. Under the Ptolemaic dynasty and later, under Roman occupation, the cult of Isis thrived. This partly stemmed from the belief that it was her tears for the fallen Osiris that caused the Nile to rise with such reliable regularity. Her greatest temples were located in the Nile delta and at the island complex of Philae, although the cult later spread through the Roman Mediterranean. It is also possible to perceive a distant echo of Isis and her son Horus in some stylised portrayals of the Virgin Mary and baby Jesus.