The Isis is the name given to the part of the
River Thames above
Iffley Lock which flows through the city of
Oxford. The name is especially used in the context of
rowing at the
University of Oxford. Historically, and especially in
Victorian times, gazetteers and cartographers insisted that the river Thames was correctly named the River Isis,
Camden's Britannia, 1586. Translated into English, with additions and improvements by Dr Edmund Gibson, 1722. from its source until
Dorchester-on-Thames, where the river meets the
River Thame and becomes the "Thame-isis" (from which the Latin (or pre-Roman Celtic) name
Tamesis is derived), subsequently abbreviated to Thames; current
Ordnance Survey maps still label the Thames as
"River Thames or Isis" until
Dorchester. However since the early 20th century this distinction has been lost in common usage even in Oxford, and some historians s.v.
Isis suggest the name Isis is nothing more than part of Tamesis, the Latin name for the Thames.
A number of rowing regattas are held on the Isis, including
Eights Week, the most important
Oxford University regatta, in the
Trinity term (summer),
Torpids in the
Hilary term (spring) and
Christ Church Regatta for novices in the
Michaelmas term (autumn). Because the width of the river is restricted at Oxford, rowing eights normally have a staggered start near
Donnington Bridge and must then aim to "
bump" the eight in front (i.e.,...
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