Isis, Demeter, and The Golden Bough

The Golden Bough is a classic text that studies the relationship between magic and religion. According to the Golden Bough, written by Sir James George Frazer (1922), Isis was so loved in Egypt that, “Her attributes and epithets were so numerous that in the hieroglyphics she is called “the many-named,” “the thousand-named,” and in Greek inscriptions “the myriad-named.” Also, “Amongst the epithets by which Isis is designated in the inscriptions are “Creatress of green things,” “Green goddess, whose green colour is like unto the greenness of the earth,” “Lady of Bread,” “Lady of Beer,” “Lady of Abundance.” This is certainly an interesting fact, when Isis was a sky goddess. In fact, this description implies that Isis was not only a sky goddess, but the goddess of all things and of all that existed between the heavens and the earth.

Many religions adapted Isis and merged her with their own system of beliefs. When the Greeks later embraced Isis as one of their own goddesses, they associated her with the goddess Demeter:

The Greeks conceived of Isis as a corn-goddess, for they identified her with Demeter. In a Greek epigram she is described as “she who has given birth to the fruits of the earth,” and “the mother of the ears of corn”; and in a hymn composed in her honour she speaks of herself as “queen of the wheat-field,” and is described as “charged with the care of the fruitful furrow’s wheat-rich path.” Accordingly, Greek or Roman artists often represented her with ears of corn on her head or in her hand (The Golden Bough, Chapter 41).

Isis was easily associated with Demeter, because the tales of the two goddesses were so similar. For instance, Demeter grieved the loss of Persephone when she was taken by Hades into the underworld and searched the world for her, whereas, Isis mourned the loss of her beloved Osiris and searched the world for his body parts after he was dismembered by Seth.


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