Hymns to Isis in her Temple at Philae
Jun. 20th, 2012 06:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ikhet_sekhmetMuch of interest! In late Egypt Isis is theologically elevated to the highest status, recalling Inanna's elevation by Enheduanna. Absorbing the attributes of other goddesses, Isis becomes the creator and sustainer of the cosmos, the head of the triad she forms with Osiris and Horus, and not just the Eye of Re but the female Ra. I can't help wondering if, had the process continued, she would have absorbed (or eclipsed) the male creator god himself and become a truly universal goddess.
Particularly of interest to my Sachmisiac heart, of course, are Isis' characterisation as a "bellicose goddess" and her connections to Sekhmet and Menhyt. (More on this in a subsequent posting.)
When Hymn IV refers to Isis' b3, it makes a sort of pun on the word for "leopard", b3, using a leopard determinant. Louis Žabkar suggests this indicates her protective / punishing power. Hymn VIII addresses Isis as "You whom the gods have propitiated after (her) rage". Hymn V, which characterises her as Re's protecting uraeus aboard his barque; it calls her "Mightier than the mighty" and "Mistress of flame", and has her lopping off millions of enemy heads and destroying Apep "in an instant". Another inscription at Philae describes her as "more effective than millions of soldiers"; and in another, in which she is explicitly identified with "Sekhmet, the fiery goddess", she tells the king: "I cause your strength to be as that of the raging lion, your power like my power."
A Roman-era hymn at Philae also calls her "Sekhmet, the fiery one", as well as "Mistress of battle, Montu of conflict / One to whom one cries out on the day of encounter". As Žabkar remarks, "in order to save those she loves [she] does not hesitate to step into the thickness of the battle itself."
Žabkar points out the political meaning of a warlike Isis authorising the king to fight, especially given Philae's position on the border (the huge figures displayed on the temples' walls must have at least impressed the Nubians). Other examples of this warrior Isis occur at Abydos, and at Aswan, where she's given the title "vanguard of the army" - the opposite of Inanna's position at the back of the fight, egging the soldiers on. :)
The ferocious hymns are thrilling, but even with the inevitable slight clunkiness of translation, the quieter ones lift up my heart: "She is the one who pours out the Inundation / That makes all people live and green plants grow." Ah. :)
__
Žabkar, Louis V. Hymns to Isis in her temple at Philae. Hanover, NH : Published for Brandeis University Press by University Press of New England, 1988.
Particularly of interest to my Sachmisiac heart, of course, are Isis' characterisation as a "bellicose goddess" and her connections to Sekhmet and Menhyt. (More on this in a subsequent posting.)
When Hymn IV refers to Isis' b3, it makes a sort of pun on the word for "leopard", b3, using a leopard determinant. Louis Žabkar suggests this indicates her protective / punishing power. Hymn VIII addresses Isis as "You whom the gods have propitiated after (her) rage". Hymn V, which characterises her as Re's protecting uraeus aboard his barque; it calls her "Mightier than the mighty" and "Mistress of flame", and has her lopping off millions of enemy heads and destroying Apep "in an instant". Another inscription at Philae describes her as "more effective than millions of soldiers"; and in another, in which she is explicitly identified with "Sekhmet, the fiery goddess", she tells the king: "I cause your strength to be as that of the raging lion, your power like my power."
A Roman-era hymn at Philae also calls her "Sekhmet, the fiery one", as well as "Mistress of battle, Montu of conflict / One to whom one cries out on the day of encounter". As Žabkar remarks, "in order to save those she loves [she] does not hesitate to step into the thickness of the battle itself."
Žabkar points out the political meaning of a warlike Isis authorising the king to fight, especially given Philae's position on the border (the huge figures displayed on the temples' walls must have at least impressed the Nubians). Other examples of this warrior Isis occur at Abydos, and at Aswan, where she's given the title "vanguard of the army" - the opposite of Inanna's position at the back of the fight, egging the soldiers on. :)
The ferocious hymns are thrilling, but even with the inevitable slight clunkiness of translation, the quieter ones lift up my heart: "She is the one who pours out the Inundation / That makes all people live and green plants grow." Ah. :)
__
Žabkar, Louis V. Hymns to Isis in her temple at Philae. Hanover, NH : Published for Brandeis University Press by University Press of New England, 1988.
