Isis

Isis was a goddess in Ancient Egyptian religious beliefs, whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. She was worshipped as the ideal mother and wife, patron of nature and magic; friend of slaves, sinners, artisans, the downtrodden, as well as listening to the prayers of the wealthy, maidens, aristocrats and rulers. Shortly after 2,500 B.C., during the fifth dynasty, the first written records concerning the worship of Isis appear. The Romans would spread her worship to the farthest reaches of their empire through cultural contact with the Egyptians, and particularly after Egypt was annexed to the Roman state in 30 B.C. This followed the invasion of Egypt by Alexander the Great and a Greek occupation for three hundred years beginning in 330 B.C. Although by differing degrees, the Greeks and the Romans adopted deities from the Egyptian pantheon and often interpreted some of their own gods as having a parallel with some of the Egyptian deities. This had the effect of giving Roman and Greek deities an earlier history —and could serve to imply a longer history for themselves. Many of the Egyptian deities were merged and renamed with those of the Greeks and Romans, but a few ... More about Isis