Isis

The tale of Isis

Isis was the wife and sister of Osiris, the good king who taught the Egyptians to farm, to make laws and to honour the gods. Their brother Set, god of the desert and of storms, hated Osiris and wanted his throne.

Set had a beautiful chest made to the exact size of Osiris's body and brought it to a feast. Whoever fits the chest, he laughed, may keep it. One guest after another lay down in it, and none fitted, until Osiris tried. At once Set and his men slammed the lid, sealed it with lead and threw it into the Nile.

The great search

Isis cut her hair and searched the whole land in mourning. The chest had floated out to sea and as far as Byblos, where a tree grew around it and a king made the tree a pillar of his palace. Isis found it, brought the body of her husband home and hid it in the marshes.

But Set, out hunting by moonlight, found it again. This time he tore Osiris into fourteen pieces and scattered them across Egypt. Isis did not give up. With her sister Nephthys she sailed the length of the Nile in a papyrus boat and gathered every piece she could find. With the help of Anubis she bound them together in linen, and then Isis, who knew more magic than any other god, spread her wings over the body and fanned the breath of life back into it. Osiris lived again, long enough for Isis to conceive their son Horus, and then went down to rule the land of the dead.

The mother of the king

Isis hid the baby Horus in the papyrus marshes of Chemmis, guarding him from Set's scorpions and snakes, healing him when he was stung, until he was grown and strong enough to fight his uncle for the throne of Egypt and win. That is why every pharaoh was "Horus", and why Isis was called the mother of the king.

She was also called Great of Magic. Once she even tricked Ra himself: she made a snake that bit the sun god and would heal him only if he told her his secret name.

Isis in Battle of Myths

Isis is a cost 5 Egyptian mystic and guardian. Her ability, Wings of Isis, spreads her wings over every ally on the board, healing them and wrapping them in a shield. With every Egyptian hero she shares the Sun Cycle: by day the Egyptians strike faster, and at nightfall they are shielded.

Did you know?

• Her worship spread across the whole Roman Empire, from Britain to the Black Sea.
• Her temple on the island of Philae was one of the last places where the old Egyptian gods were worshipped, until the sixth century AD.
• Statues of Isis nursing the baby Horus were among the most loved images of the ancient world.