Worship of Isis (Aset) was established in the Nile delta by 3500 BCE, spreading prominently throughout the Greco-Roman world — as far as Asia Minor and Britain, absorbing numerous other goddess cults, lasting until Christianity stamped out paganism. Isis was goddess of magic, motherhood, fertility, and children. She protected the dead, sailors, “slaves, sinners, artisans, and the downtrodden.”
Her name is usually pronounced ee-set or ee-sa and means (she of the) throne. The pharaoh was shown as her child, sitting on the throne of her headdress.
As the first daughter of the Earth god Geb and the Sky goddess Nut, Isis was an immensely powerful goddess. As sister and wife to Osiris, who was killed by his evil brother Set, she magically restored Osiris to life long enough to conceive their son, Horus, and, after further calamity, she was well-respected for hunting down and respectfully burying almost all of the pieces of her husband. There are various versions of the story; it became extremely important with the rise of the Cult of Osiris, and Isis was thus highly honored for her actions towards Osiris.
