ISIS. 



lofry. According to Herodotus and all the ancients, Ofiris 

 and Ifis wore the two great divinities of tlic Egyptians, and 

 the moft generally worftiipped in the whole coufitry ; and, 

 indeed, almoll the whole mythology of tliofe ancient people 

 is comprehended under what theii^priells fabled about the:r. 

 The Greek and Latin authors extend flill fartlicr this 

 Egyptian mytholoiry concerning Ifis and Oiiris, fince, ac- 

 cording to them, they comprehended all nature, and all the 

 gods of that ancient people. According to Herodotus, the 

 Egyptians took Ifis for Ceres, and believed that Apollo 

 and Diana were her children, and that Latona had only 

 been their nurfe ; differing from the Greeks, who regarded 

 her as their mother,. According to the fame author, Apollo 

 and Orus, Diana and Eubaflis, Ceres and Ifis, are the 

 fame ; and hence it is, he fays, that iEfchylus makes Diana 

 the daughter of Ceres. Moreover, the mythologills afiert, 

 that Ifis and Ofiris included, under different names, all the 

 gods of paganifm ; fince, according to them, Ifis is Terra, 

 Ceres, Juno, the Moon, Minerva, Cybele, Venvis, Diana, 

 and, in one word, all nature : and hence, as they pretend, 

 this goddefs was called Myrionyma, that is, who has a thou- 

 fand names. Ofiris alfo, in their opinion, is Bacchus or 

 Dionyfius, the Sun, Scrapis, Pluto, Ammon, Pan, Apis, 

 Adonis, &c. It IS difficult to afcertain the real origi.i of 

 Ifis amidft thefe mythological fabler. Some have pretended 

 that the fable of Ifis came originally from Greece ; and they 

 have confounded that goddefs with lo, the daughter of 

 Inachus, king of Argos. The fable of lo is recited by 

 Ovid in his " Metamorphofis," (1. 38.) and this fable has 

 been differently underftood and explained by various authors. 

 It is allowed that there was in Greece a princefs named lo, 

 the daughter of Inachus, or, as Paufanias fays, of Jafus ; 

 and the Greeks took occafion to confound Ifis and lo, in 

 confequence of the introduftion of the worfhip of Ifis into 

 Greece, efpecially into the city of Argos. Inachus taught 

 the Greeks to pay honour to Ifis, and hence they looked 

 upon her as his daughter. Jab!on(ki fays, that the Egyp- 

 tians, from remote antiquity; worfhipped the moon, under 

 her proper name of •' loh," which, in the Egyptian lan- 

 guage, fignifies the moon ; and that Inachus, the firft king 

 of Argos, carried this worfliip into Greece, nearly 300 

 years before the birth of Mofes It is there, fays Euita- 

 thius, that a cow is the fymbol of lo, or the moon ; for in 

 the Argian language, the moon is called lo. The Grecian 

 fable, on the ether hand, makes lo crofs the fea from 

 Greece, metamorphofed into a cow, and condudls her into 

 Egypt, where flie receives the name of Ifis Accordingly, 

 Lucian, well verfed in ancient mythology, puts thefe words 

 into tiie mouth of Jupiter, " Conduct lo to the barks of 

 the Nile, acrofs the waves of the fea. Let her become Ifis : 

 let her be the goddefs of the Egyptians ; let her augment 

 the waters of the river, and let loofe the winds." As the 

 Nile began to incrcafe at the new moon which follows the 

 folftice, the Egyptian priells, who regarded this planet as 

 the mother of the winds, decreed to her the honour of this 

 phenomenon. " Ifis," fays Servius, (Obf. on the j5ineid. 

 1. 8.) " is the genius of the Nile. The fiflrum (hx; bears in 

 lier hand indicates the increafe and the flowing of the waters ; 

 the vafe (lie holds in her left marks their abundance in all the 

 canals." Temples were erefted to her in the different pro- 

 vinces, and Ihe had altars and facrifices tliroughout the whole 

 country. " Coptos,'' fays Eullathius, " is a city of the 

 Thebais, where lo is adored under the name of Ifis. It is 

 an her feltivals that they celebrate with the fiilrum the in- 

 creafe of the Nile." The people, from the allegorical lan- 

 guage of the priells, imagined that they owed tliis bounty 

 U) the tears of that divinity. TIio Egyptians, according to 



Paufanias, were perfuaded that the tears of Ifis had the 

 virtue to augment the Nile, and to make it rife up into the 

 country. Savary, in his " Letters on Egypt," fays, that 

 the Copts are not yet cured of this fuperitition. 



Notwithftanding the fabulous pretenfions of the Greeks 

 with regard to the origin of Ifis, and their attempts to iden- 

 tify her with their lo, the Egyptians, according io Dio- 

 dorus Siculus (1. i.) and Plutarch De If. et Ofir.) affert that 

 this princefs was born in their country ; that Ihe married 

 Ofiris, that they lived together in perfect harmony, and that 

 they concurred in their endeavours to polifii and civilize their 

 fubjefts, to teach them agriculture, and feveral other necef- 

 fary arts of life. Diodorus adds, that Ofiris, determining on 

 an expedition lo India for purpof s of civilization, fettled 

 Ifis regent nf his kingdom. (See B.iccnus.) On his »e». 

 turn to Egypt he found that his brother Typhon had formed 

 a party againil the government. Typhor., however, refilled 

 the gentle means ufed by Ofiris for fubduing his ambitious 

 fpirit, and, under a pretence of hofpitality, confined hi.;i in a 

 cheft exquifitely wrought, and threw it into the Nile. When 

 Ifis heard of her hufaand's tragical end, fhe made diligent 

 fearch for the corpfe, and liaving found it in Phoenicia, was 

 allured by the king of Byblos to carry it off to Egypt. 

 Having kmented over it, (he at length caufed it be inferred 

 at Abydos, a town fituated to the well of the Nile. In 

 the mean time Typhon was contrivirg to fecure ):is new em- 

 pire, but Ifis, being recovered from her diftrcls, co lefted 

 her troops, and placed them under the cendu*t of Orus, her 

 fon, who purfued the tyrant, and vanquifned him in two 

 pitched battles. (See Typhon) Ifis having died fome time 

 after her fou's vitlory over Typhon, the Egyptians paid 

 adoration to her witii her hufband Ofiris, as to divinities; and 

 bccaufe they had applied themfelves, during their reign, to 

 teach agriculture, the ox a;id the cow became their fymbols. 

 Fellivals were inliituted to their honour, in which feveral 

 infamous rites were afterwards introduced. There the infa- 

 mous image of the Phallus which Ifis had confecrated, was 

 carried m proceiTion, aiid it became the fymbol of fruit- 

 fulnefs, though in its original inftitution it had only been the 

 mark of Ifii's pafiion for Ofiris her hufband. Diodorus Si- 

 culus has recorded the following infcription on an ancient 

 monument, by which Ifis was charaCicrized. "I, Ifis, am 

 the queen of this country. And I had Mercury for my 

 prime miniller. None had power to hinder the execution 

 of my orders. I am the eldell daughter of Saturn, the 

 youngell of the gods. I am the filler and the wife of king 

 Ofiris. I am the mother of king Orus. I am fhe whore- 

 fides in the dog-ftar. The city of Bubailis was built in 

 honour to me. Rejoice, O EgyjJt, thou that haft been to 

 me inllead of a nurfe, and mother." The following infcrip- 

 tion, according to Plutitrih (De If. et Ofir.) was engraved 

 upon the pavement of Minerva's temple. " I am all that 

 has bee::, that is, and that Ihall be, and none among mortals 

 has hitherto taken off my veil." 



The Egyptains, having called the moon Ifis, or the caufe 

 of abundance, applied this epithet to the earth, us the mo- 

 ther of f.-uits. We know, fays Macrobius (Saturn. 1. i.),that 

 Ofiris is the fun, and Ifis the earth. Ifis, in the Egyptian 

 language, adds Servius, means the earth. In this point of 

 view, (he has a llriking affinity to the Ceres of the Greeks ; 

 and this agrees with the account given of her by Herodotus 

 (1. ii.). Plutarch informs us, that the priefts honoured only 

 with tlie name of Ifis that part of Egypt which was wa- 

 tered by the Nile, and in ailulion only to her fecundity : he 

 adds, that, in the facred language, they termed the inun- 

 dation, the marriage of Ofiris with Ifis. 



Ifis is reported by Diodorus Siculus to have invented many 



exccOeiil 



