ISIDORE OF SEVILLE

isidore of seville, or isidorus hispalensis (c. 560-636), spanish encyclopaedist and historian, was the son of severianus, a distinguished native of cartagena, who came to seville about the time of the birth of isidore. leander, bishop of seville, was his elder brother. left an orphan while still young, isidore was educated in a monastery, and soon distinguished himself in controversies with the arians. in 599, on the death of his brother, he was chosen archbishop of seville, and acquired high renown by his successful administration of the episcopal office, as well as by his numerous theological, historical and scientific works. he founded a school at seville, and taught in it himself. in the provincial and national councils he played an important part, notably at toledo in 610, at seville in 619 and in 633 at toledo, which profoundly modified the organization of the church in spain. his great work, however, was in another line. profoundly versed in the latin as well as in the christian literature, his indefatigable intellectual curiosity led him to condense and reproduce in encyclopaedic form the fruit of his wide reading. his works, which include all topics--science, canon law, history or theology--are unsystematic and largely uncritical, merely reproducing at second hand the substance of such sources as were available. yet in their inadequate way they served to keep alive throughout the dark ages some little knowledge of the antique culture and learning. the most elaborate of his writings is the _originum sive etymologiarum libri xx_. it was the last of his works, written between 622 and 633, and was corrected by his friend and disciple braulion. it is an encyclopaedia of all the sciences, under the form of an explanation of the terms proper to each of them. it was one of the capital books of the middle ages. on the _libri differentiarum sive de proprietate sermonum_--of which the first book is a collection of synonyms, and the second of explanations of metaphysical and religious ideas--see a. mace's doctoral dissertation, rennes, 1900. mommsen has edited the _chronica majora_ or _chronicon de sex aetatibus_ (from the creation to a.d. 615) and the "historia gothorum, wandalorum, sueborum," in the _monumenta germaniae historica, auctores antiqitissimi: chronica minora ii_. the history of the goths is a historical source of the first order. the _de scriptoribus ecclesiasticis_ or better _de viris illustribus_, was a continuation of the work of st jerome and of gennadius (cf. g. von dzialowski in _kirchengeschichtliche studien_, iv. (1899). especially interesting is the _de natura rerum ad sisebutum regem_, a treatise on astronomy and meteorology, which contained the sum of physical philosophy during the early middle ages. the _regula monachorum_ of isidore was adopted by many of the monasteries in spain during the 7th and 8th centuries. the collection of canons known as the _isidoriana_ or _hispalensis_ is not by him, and the following, attributed to him, are of doubtful authenticity: _de ortu ac obitu patrum qui in scriptura laudibus efferuntur_; _allegoriae scripturae sacrae et liber numerorum_; _de ordine creaturarum_. the edition of all of isidore's works by f. orevalo (rome, 1797-1803, 7 vols.), reproduced in migne, _patrologia latina_, 81-84, is carefully edited. see also c. canal, _san isidoro, exposicion de sus obras e indicaciones a cerca de la influencia que han ejercido en la civilizacion espanola_ (seville, 1897). a list of monographs is in the _bibliographie_ of ulysse chevalier. isinglass (probably a corruption of the dutch _huisenblas_, ger. _hausenblase_, literally "sturgeon's bladder"), a pure form of commercial gelatin obtained from the swimming bladder or sound of several species of fish. the sturgeon is the most valuable, various species of which, especially _acipenser stellatus_ (the seuruga), _a. ruthenus_ (the sterlet) and _a. guldenstadtii_ (the ossetr), flourish in the volga and other russian rivers, in the caspian and black seas, and in the arctic ocean, and yield the "russian isinglass"; a large fish, _silurus parkerii_, and probably some other fish, yield the "brazilian isinglass"; other less definitely characterized fish yield the "penang" product; while the common cod, the hake and other _gadidae_ also yield a variety of isinglass. the sounds, having been removed from the fish and cleansed, undergo no other preparation than desiccation or drying, an operation needing much care; but in this process the sounds are subjected to several different treatments. if the sound be unopened the product appears in commerce as "pipe," "purse" or "lump isinglass"; if opened and unfolded, as "leaf" or "honeycomb"; if folded and dried, as "book," and if rolled out, as "ribbon isinglass." russian isinglass generally appears in commerce as leaf, book, and long and short staple; brazilian isinglass, from para and maranham, as pipe, lump and honeycomb; the latter product, and also the isinglass of hudson's bay, penang, manila, &c., is darker in colour and less soluble than the russian product. the finest isinglass, which comes from the russian ports of astrakhan and taganrog, is prepared by steeping the sounds in hot water in order to remove mucus, &c.; they are then cut open and the inner membrane exposed to the air; after drying, the outer membrane is removed by rubbing and beating. as imported, isinglass is usually too tough and hard to be directly used. to increase its availability, the raw material is sorted, soaked in water till it becomes flexible and then trimmed; the trimmings are sold as a lower grade. the trimmed sheets are sometimes passed between steel rollers, which reduce them to the thickness of paper; it then appears as a transparent ribbon, "shot" like watered silk. the ribbon is dried, and, if necessary, cut into strips. the principal use of isinglass is for clarifying wines, beers and other liquids. this property is the more remarkable since it is not possessed by ordinary gelatin; it has been ascribed to its fibrous structure, which forms, as it were, a fine network in the liquid in which it is disseminated, and thereby mechanically carries down all the minute particles which occasion the turbidity. the cheaper varieties are more commonly used; many brewers prefer the penang product; russian leaf, however, is used by some scottish brewers; and russian long staple is used in the worcestershire cider industry. of secondary importance is its use for culinary and confectionery purposes, for example, in making jellies, stiffening jams, &c. here it is often replaced by the so-called "patent isinglass," which is a very pure gelatin, and differs from natural isinglass by being useless for clarifying liquids. it has few other applications in the arts. mixed with gum, it is employed to give a lustre to ribbons and silk; incorporated with water, spanish liquorice and lamp black it forms an indian ink; a solution, mixed with a little tincture of benzoin, brushed over sarsenet and allowed to dry, forms the well-known "court plaster." another plaster is obtained by adding acetic acid and a little otto of roses to a solution of fine glue. it also has valuable agglutinating properties; by dissolving in two parts of pure alcohol it forms a diamond cement, the solution cooling to a white, opaque, hard solid; it also dissolves in strong acetic acid to form a powerful cement, which is especially useful for repairing glass, pottery and like substances. isis (egyptian _ese_), the most famous of the egyptian goddesses. she was of human form, in early times distinguished only by the hieroglyph of her name [symbol] upon her head. later she commonly wore the horns of a cow, and the cow was sacred to her; it is doubtful, however, whether she had any animal representation in early times, nor had she possession of any considerable locality until a late period, when philae, behbet and other large temples were dedicated to her worship. yet she was of great importance in mythology, religion and magic, appearing constantly in the very ancient pyramid texts as the devoted sister-wife of osiris and mother of horus. in the divine genealogies she is daughter of keb and nut (earth and sky). she was supreme in magical power, cunning and knowledge. a legend of the new kingdom tells how she contrived to learn the all-powerful hidden name of re' which he had confided to no one. a snake which she had fashioned for the purpose stung the god, who sent for her as a last resort in his unendurable agony; whereupon she represented to him that nothing but his own mysterious name could overcome the venom of the snake. much egyptian magic turns on the healing or protection of horus by isis, and it is chiefly from magical texts that the myth of isis and osiris as given by plutarch can be illustrated. the metternich stela (xxxth dynasty), the finest example of a class of prophylactic stelae generally known by the name of "horus on the crocodiles," is inscribed with a long text relating the adventures of isis and horus in the marshes of the delta. with her sister nephthys, isis is frequently represented as watching the body of osiris or mourning his death. isis was identified with demeter by herodotus, and described as the goddess who was held to be the greatest by the egyptians; he states that she and osiris, unlike other deities, were worshipped throughout the land. the importance of isis had increased greatly since the end of the new kingdom. the great temple of philae was begun under the xxxth dynasty; that of behbet seems to have been built by ptolemy ii. the cult of isis spread into greece with that of serapis early in the 3rd century b.c. in egypt itself isea, or shrines of isis, swarmed. at coptos isis became a leading divinity on a par with the early god min. about 80 b.c. sulla founded an isiac college in rome, but their altars within the city were overthrown by the consuls no less than four times in the decade from 58 to 48 b.c., and the worship of isis at rome continued to be limited or suppressed by a succession of enactments which were enforced until the reign of caligula. the isiac mysteries were a representation of the chief events in the myth of isis and osiris--the murder of osiris, the lamentations of isis and her wanderings, followed by the triumph of horus over seth and the resurrection of the slain god--accompanied by music and an exposition of the inner meaning of the spectacle. these were traditional in ancient egypt, and in their later development were no doubt affected by the eleusinian mysteries of demeter. they appealed powerfully to the imagination and the religious sense. the initiated went through rites of purification, and practised a degree of asceticism; but for many the festival was believed to be an occasion for dark orgies. isis nursing the child horus (harpokhrates) was a very common figure in the deltaic period, and in these later days was still a favourite representation. the isis temples discovered at pompeii and in rome show that ancient monuments as well as objects of small size were brought from egypt to italy for dedication to her worship, but the goddess absorbed the attributes of all female divinities; she was goddess of the earth and its fruits, of the nile, of the sea, of the underworld, of love, healing and magic. from the time of vespasian onwards the worship of isis, always popular with some sections, had a great vogue throughout the western world, and is not without traces in britain. it proved the most successful of the pagan cults in maintaining itself against christianity, with which it had not a little in common, both in doctrine and in emblems. but the destruction of the serapeum at alexandria in a.d. 397 was a fatal blow to the prestige of the graeco-egyptian divinities. the worship of isis, however, survived in italy into the 5th century. at philae her temple was frequented by the barbarous nobatae and blemmyes until the middle of the 6th century, when the last remaining shrine of isis was finally closed. see g. lafaye, art. "isis" in daremberg et saglio, _dictionnaire des antiquites_ (1900); _id. hist. du culte des divinites d'alexandrie hors de l'egypte_ (1883); meyer and drexler, art. "isis" in roscher's _lexicon der griech. und rom. mythologie_ (1891-1892) (very elaborate); e. a. w. budge, _gods of the egyptians_, vol. ii. ch. xiii.; ad. rusch, _de serapide et iside in graecia cultis_ (dissertation) (berlin, 1906). (the author especially collects the evidence from greek inscriptions earlier than the roman conquest; he contends that the mysteries of isis were not equated with the eleusinian mysteries.) (f. ll. g.)