In ancient Egypt, a name was not merely a label. It was part of a being’s very essence, as real as its body or its shadow. To know someone’s true name was to have power over them. The gods had many names, but the greatest of them, the sun god Ra, had one secret name that he had never revealed to anyone, not even to the other gods. It was the source of his power.
One goddess, Isis, determined to learn it. With cunning, patience, and a little cruelty, she tricked Ra into telling her — and became the most powerful magician in the universe.
The story is preserved in a magical papyrus from the Nineteenth or Twentieth Dynasty (c. 1300–1100 BCE), now in Turin (Papyrus Turin 1993), with another copy in the Chester Beatty Papyrus XI. It was not written simply as a story. It was a spell against scorpion stings and snake bites: the healer recited the myth, identifying the patient with Ra and invoking the power of Isis to heal him.
Isis the Clever
The story begins by describing Isis: “Isis was a clever woman. Her heart was more rebellious than millions of men. She was more clever than millions of gods. She was more intelligent than millions of spirits. There was nothing she did not know in heaven or on earth, like Ra.” Except one thing: his secret name.
Isis wanted his knowledge — and his power.
The Aging Sun God
As in other Egyptian myths, Ra in this story is old. He travels across the sky each day and across the earth, but he has grown feeble. His mouth trembles, and saliva drips from his lips onto the ground.
Isis saw her chance. She gathered up the spittle that had fallen from his mouth, mixed it with the earth on which it had fallen, and moulded it into a serpent, shaped like a spear or a dart. She did not bring it to life with her own power; it was made of Ra’s own substance, and so it could harm him. She placed it at a crossroads on the path that Ra walked every day as he travelled through his kingdom.
The Bite
The next day, Ra passed along the road with his company of gods. The serpent bit him. A burning fire entered his body. The venom spread through his flesh like the Nile flood. He cried out, and his cry reached the heavens. The gods around him asked what was wrong, but he could not answer. His jaws trembled, and his limbs shook.
When he could speak, he described his agony: “Something painful has stung me. My heart does not know it. My eyes have not seen it. My hand did not make it. I do not recognize it among all the things I have created. I have never felt such pain. Nothing is more painful than this.”
Ra was baffled because he believed himself to be the creator of all things. He did not know what this creature was. It was not his own creation — or rather, it was made of his substance by another’s hands.
He described himself: “I am the prince, the son of a prince, the seed of a god… My father and mother told me my name, and I have hidden it in my body since my birth, so that no magician or sorceress would have power over me.” He called on all the gods, and all the magicians, to come and help him.
Isis Offers Her Help
All the gods came, weeping. And Isis came too, “with her magic, her mouth full of the breath of life, her spells that drive away pain, her word that gives life to the throat that is stifled.”
She asked innocently: “What is it, divine father? Has a serpent bitten you? Has one of your children raised his head against you? I will overthrow it with my magic.”
Ra described his suffering. He was colder than water, hotter than fire; his limbs sweated, his body trembled, and his eyes could no longer see the sky.
Isis said: “Tell me your name, divine father. For a person lives when he is called by his name.”
The False Names
Ra did not want to reveal his secret name. Instead, he recited a long list of his other names and titles: “I am the one who made heaven and earth, who knotted the mountains, who created what is upon them. I am the one who made the waters… I am the one who made the bull for the cow… I am the one who opens his eyes and there is light, who closes his eyes and there is darkness… I am Khepri in the morning, Ra at noon, and Atum in the evening.”
But the poison did not leave him. Isis said: “Your name is not among those you have told me. Tell it to me, and the poison will leave you. A person lives when his name is spoken.”
The pain grew greater. The poison burned more fiercely than fire.
The Secret Revealed
At last, Ra could bear it no longer. He said: “Come to me, Isis. Let my name pass from my body into your body.” He hid himself from the other gods, and his place in the boat of millions of years was empty.
He told Isis that she could pass the name on only to her son Horus, binding him with an oath of the gods.
The text never reveals the name. It remains secret.
The Healing
Having learned the name, Isis spoke the spell of healing: “Flow out, poison! Come out of Ra… It is I who act, I who send forth. Fall to the ground, O mighty poison! Ra lives, the poison is dead!” And Ra was healed.
The papyrus then explains its purpose: the spell should be recited over images of Atum, Horus, and Isis, and the words written on linen, and the patient should drink it dissolved in beer or water. “It has been proved millions of times.”
Isis Mistress of Magic
With Ra’s secret name, Isis became the Great of Magic (Weret-Hekau), the most powerful magician among the gods. Her magic would later allow her to restore her murdered husband Osiris to life, to conceive Horus, and to protect the infant Horus from scorpions and snakes (see Isis and Osiris).
She could pass on the name only to Horus — and through Horus, the pharaohs, who were his earthly form, could share in its power.
The Power of Names
The myth reflects a fundamental belief in Egyptian religion and magic:
- Names were part of the soul. The Egyptians believed that each person consisted of several parts, including the body, the heart, the ka (life force), the ba (personality), the shadow, and the ren — the name. As long as a person’s name was spoken, they would continue to exist.
- Erasing names was a kind of killing. When pharaohs such as Hatshepsut and Akhenaten fell out of favour, their names were chiselled off monuments to erase them from existence.
- Knowing a name gave power. In the Book of the Dead, the deceased must know the names of the gates, the guardians, and even the parts of the boat, in order to pass. Magical spells often invoke secret names of gods.
The idea is widespread in world folklore. In the European tale of Rumpelstiltskin, a woman defeats a magical creature by guessing his secret name. In many cultures, people use nicknames to hide their true names from evil spirits.
Isis as Trickster
The myth shows a side of Isis that modern readers may find surprising. She is usually remembered as a devoted wife and mother. Here she is ambitious, cunning, and willing to cause great suffering to achieve her goals. In ancient Egypt, these qualities were not seen as contradictory. Magic (heka) was a divine force, and cleverness in using it was admired. Isis’s trickery was ultimately in the service of order: she would use her power to restore Osiris and establish Horus on the throne.
Last reviewed: September 2026.