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Cult of Isis Essay

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Cult of Isis

The purpose of my paper is to construct a picture in your mind of the cult of Isis during the fourth century. In an attempt, I will describe Isis, the cult ceremonies, and the society around them dealing with the cult
Isis was known to be the goddess of fertility and motherhood. Egyptians say that she was the daughter of the god Keb (Earth) and the goddess Nut (Sky), wife and sister of Osiris, the sister of Seth, Nepythys, and the mother of Horus, the god of day. Isis shown in many photographs with miniature thrones or horns from her head and sometimes with a solar disc between the cows horns like Hathor. She was known to have taught Osiris all the aspects to agriculture. She taught the women to spin, weave, and flax …show more content…

The sistrum was a musical instrument with the form of a tennis racket. These priests led the special ceremonies, the sacra aegyptiaca, celebrated from 28 October until 1 November. Becoming one with the gods was the main aspiration in these mystery of the cult. The cult pleased the tastes of a cosmopolitan, urban, and sophisticated society, satisfying the intellectual and spiritual needs of their members. Which god to serve was a matter of personal choice. In other words, one did not belong to a mystery religion by birth, but rather by initiation. They were appealing in the turbulent times of the Roman Empire because they also claimed to save their adherents from the worst that fate could throw at them in this world while promising immortality in the next. To achieve immortality and union with god required a period of preparation in which the initiate followed the religion’s precepts in an effort to become holy. Once this period was over, the initiate performed a ritual, usually one of great emotional intensity, in which he or she was baptized into a new life. Ultimately this led to unity with the religion's god who had died and risen from the dead. Cult is said to have started or begun after their brother Seth had killed Osiris. It is said that Seth tricked Osiris to go into a golden coffin and closed it. Seth then through the coffin into the Nile river to float away. Osiris was found dead at the in Byblos were it had been carried by river

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