Julia Domna AR Denarius. IVLIA AVGVSTA, draped bust right / SAECVLI FELICITAS, Isis, wearing polos on head, standing right, left foot on prow, holding Horus; behind, rudder. RIC 577, RSC 174, BMC 75 This variety differs to RIC 645 due to the two ends of the ship. They are of differing heights on RIC 577 as opposed same height on RIC 645. Great mother Isis, the goddess of healing and magic, was crucial to ancient Egyptian religious beliefs. She is known today by her Greek name Isis; however, the ancient Egyptians called her Aset. Her name translates to “Queen of the Throne” which is reflected in her headdress, According to the most widely held myth of Horus's birth, he was the son of Isis and Osiris. Isis conceived him by magic after her brother and her husband Osiris had been murdered by the evil Seth. Isis hid herself in the marshes of the Nile River delta and gave birth to Horus. The god Horus was the archetypal divine child, a special form of an important god for the specific needs of children and their parents. Child gods and their mythical exploits could also help humanize the sometimes remote and forbidding gods that the Egyptians worshipped. Horus is represented as a naked boy with his finger to his mouth, a hieroglyph attends to this. Misunderstanding this gesture, the later Greeks and Roman poets made Harpocrates, their version of Horus, the god of silence and secrecy.
