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Goddess Isis nursing Horus |
It is in this aspect that the goddess was regarded as the vital link between gods and royalty, since the king was the living
Horus on the throne of Egypt. In the Pyramid Texts it is stated that the rule drinks divine milk from the boobs of his mother
Isis. This is the mental imagery of the plethora of statuettes of Isis sat on a throne, suckling the young Horus who sits on her lap. The goddess was thought to have given birth to her son at Khemmis in the Delta, rewarding the connexion with the monarchy since the place name in its ancient Egyptian form of Akh-bity substance papyrus thicket of the king of Lower Egypt. Her part as a goddess protective royal births is got in the
Middle Kingdom account in the Papyrus Westcar promising a dynastic change: Isis takes into her arms all of the first three pharaohs of the
Dynasty V as Ruddedet makes them birth.
Isis intends to bring up Horus in secret so that he might eventually avenge the character assassination of his father. This close holding of Horus from danger gets a frequent point of reference in magical texts concerning cures for children's ailments leading from hazards like scorpion bites, or accidental scalds. Isis visited great of magic is evoked to come to the child's aid as if it were Horus himself. A spell against a fire, e.g. is recited over a concoction of human milk, gum and cat hairs, to be applied to the separated child: in it Isis, narrated that her son lies in the desert hurt from a burn with no water to clear him, gives the assurances that her saliva and piss (which she euphemistically addresses the River Nile flood between my thighs) feature the power to ease the pain.