Also called Isis Pelagia, Isis Fortuna.
Their story
Isis came to Italy from Egypt through trade, and by the late Republic she had a following in Rome despite repeated bans by the Senate in the 50s and 40s BC. Under the emperors she gained a large temple in the Campus Martius, the Iseum Campense. At the Navigium Isidis in March a ship was launched to open the sailing season. Apuleius's Golden Ass ends with Lucius restored from donkey to man by Isis and initiated into her mysteries.
Best times to give to them
- Navigium Isidis, 5 March
- Isia, late October to early November
What they like being given
- Fresh water
- White flowers
- Myrrh or frankincense
- Milk
How to honour them
- Light a lamp at dusk as her worshippers did.
- Wear white linen or clean clothes for prayer.
- Float a small paper boat in March for safe journeys.
How they can help you
- Hope and renewal
- Safe voyages
- Mothers
Symbols
- sistrum
- knotted mantle
- moon
- ship
Isis is Egyptian; this entry covers only her Roman cult.
Sources
- Apuleius, Metamorphoses 11
- Josephus, Jewish Antiquities 18.65-80
- Beard, North and Price, Religions of Rome (1998)
More Roman goddesses
- Juno Queen of heaven and protector of women
- Minerva Patron of craftworkers, teachers and healers
- Venus Mother of the Roman people and goddess of love
- Diana Lady of the woodland grove and the moon
- Vesta The living flame at the heart of home and Rome
- Ceres Mother of the grain and friend of the common people
- Luna The moon, shining through the night
- Libera Partner of Liber in the Aventine triad