Isis Nursing Horus - Egyptian Museum, Cairo. 19th Dynasty 1300 B.C.
Egyptian Museum, Cairo. 19th Dynasty 1300 B.C.
The name Isis means "seat" or "throne". She was regarded as the symbolical mother of the King. In myth, she sought her dead husband and brother, Osiris, conceived her son Horus by him, buried and mourned him together with her sister Nephtys. Isis was regarded as the "Eye of Ra" and was worshipped as the "Great of Magic" who had protected her son Horus from snakes, predators and other dangers: thus she would protect mortal children also. Isis is here depicted as a mother suckling her young son Horus and it is in this aspect that the Goddess was regarded as the vital link between Deities and Royalty, since the King was regarded as the living Horus on the throne of Egypt. In the pyramid texts it';s stated that the ruler drinks divine milk from the breast of his mother Isis: This is the imagery of the plethora of statuettes of Isis seated on a throne suckling the young Horus who sits in her lap.