Dictionary Of God And Godedesses

ISIS 141IšaraGoddess of marriage and childbirth. Mesopotamian(Babylonian-Akkadian) and westernSemitic. Also a deity concerned with theenforcing of oaths. Known chiefly from earlyinscriptions and some Akkadian texts. HerMesopotamian cult center was the Babyloniantown of Kisurra, but she is also thought to havebeen worshiped across a wide area among Syrians,Canaanites and Hittites. Her symbol is the scorpion.Also Ešara.IsdesChthonic god of death. Egyptian. Known fromthe Middle Kingdom onward he is one of theminor deities concerned with the judgment of thedead. He became syncretized with ANUBIS.Ishi-Kori-DomeGod(dess) of stone cutters. Shinto [Japan]. Ofambiguous gender, this deity created the stonemold into which the bronze was cast tomake the perfect divine mirror. It was used sothat AMATERASU, the sun goddess, could see herglorious reflection and so be enticed from thedark cave where she had hidden herself toescape the excesses of the god SUSANO-WO.Ishi-Kori-Dome is also the tutelary deity ofmirror makers and was one of the escorts forPrince NINIGI when he descended from heavento earth. Generally invoked beside fire andsmith KAMIS.IsimudMessenger god. Mesopotamian (Sumerian).Readily identified by possessing two faces lookingin opposite directions, Isimud is the messengerof the god ENKI. Also Isinu; Usumu(Akkadian).ISISORIGIN Egyptian. Mother goddess.KNOWN PERIOD OF WORSHIP Early dynasticperiod (circa 2700 BC) and probably earlier untilthe end of Egyptian history (circa AD 400).SYNONYMS none.CENTER(S) OF CULT universal throughout areasof Egyptian influence, but particularly at Gizaand at Behbeit el-Hagar in the Nile delta. Alsoat Thebes on the west bank, at Dendara and inthe temple of Seti I at Abydos. A GrecoRomansanctuary existed on Philae (now moved toAgilqiya).ART REFERENCES monumental carving; contemporarysculptures; wall paintings and reliefs.LITERARY SOURCES Pyramid Texts; the GreatHymn to Isis from the stele of Amenemose(Louvre); etc.Isis is one of the great deities of the Egyptianpantheon and, with OSIRIS, probably maintainedthe most universal appeal outside Egypt. Greco-Roman culture was particularly enamored of herand called her the Stella Maris (star of the sea),represented in the heavens by the north star. Anoffspring of GEB and NUT in the Heliopolisgenealogy, Isis is the mother of the god kings ofEgypt and both elder sister and consort of Osiris.The other siblings include SETH and NEPHTHYS.Isis is depicted in human form, but usually wearinga crown in the form of a throne or cow hornsencircling a sun disc (see HATHOR). She may alsobe depicted, wholly or in part, as a hawk. Fromthe New Kingdom (circa 1500 BC) onward she isalso associated with a device not dissimilar to theankh symbol and known as the “Isis knot.” Thesymbol was incorporated into a bloodstoneamulet known as the tyet.In legend she is responsible twice for restoringOsiris, once after Seth has thrown his body intothe Nile and again after Seth has dismembered it.She impregnates herself from his corpse as he is