Why was the worship of Isis so popular in the Ancient World?
Not only was she worshiped in her native Egypt, but elsewhere as well.
Romans began worshiping her around the time Cleopatra & Mark Antony were an item (she may have introduced it to Rome, or her entourage might have), but worship of her continued into & after Caesar Augustus’ reign, when that would have been viewed as politically suspect.
But the worship of Isis spread to Greece, too. The Greeks rarely took up Egyptian Deities, but they prayed to Isis.
Her worship spread into what is today Armenia. Certain rituals to the Virgin Mary, practiced there today, seem to be derived from Isis worship, especially those using of the Egyptian Sistrum, a symbol of Isis.
It certainly reached the Roman garrisons in the British Isles.
It likely traveled much, much farther.
So, what were these rituals like, & why was her worship so popular?
Syncretism, I suppose. Isis would have been identifiable with any mother-goddess anywhere. And the Romans made a regular practice of adopting as their own, and building temples in Rome to, the gods of those they conquered (e.g., Bona Dea/Cybele, a goddess originally foreign to Rome); the notable exception being the Yahweh of the Jews.
Well, not to be crude, but that has got to be some good, um, stuff to be able to bring a dismembered brother back from the dead and conceive a child on him.
I think Isis worship was so popular because of the resurrection story and because so many different groups could pray to her (IIRC, it ran the gamut between the wealthy and poor and everyone in between). The resurrection myth, though, along with her tears creating the Nile floods (bringing new life to Egypt every year) was pretty powerful in her day though. Kind of the same thing that Christianity drew upon, the common feeling of humans to want to continue on after death.
Well, SOME historians (beginning with Herodotus) believe that the Greek gods were originally borrowed from Egypt. IF that’s true, then Isis is unique ONLY in the sense that she retained her original Egyptian name and identity, as opposed to other Egyptian deities who were given newer Greek names.
Beyond that, remember that to an ancient pagan, you could NEVER have too many gods on your side.
BrainGlutton, sometimes you scare me. I was really honestly going to write pretty much what you wrote. Not word for word, but… my goodness. We must have read the same books or something.
Isis was a very influential deity in the original pantheon. While Ra was ascendent, she was still not subordinate. According to one myth, she used her magic to steal power from the aging Ra. Eventually, she was able to convince him to give her his true name. This represents something that seems unique to me.
Are there other examples of a Mother Goddess conquering a Father God?
Fertility gods/goddesses were generally well received for obvious reasons, and IIRC Isis was particularly well behaved compared to… ah… some of her contemporaries. Good ideas spread, especially if you think you can worship them and improve your life