National Geographic History - 03.2020 - 04.2020

ISIS AND APHRODITEThe features of this statue of Isis date it to

a.d.

150

. Her nudity links her with

Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love and childbirth. She wears the

calathos,

a headdress often worn by Greco-Egyptian divinities, emblazoned with a solar disk and horns. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

ISIS AND CERESIn one hand, this marble statue from the second century

a.d.

carries a

jug, and in the other are sheaves of grain, associated with Ceres, Roman goddess of the harvest. This figure is also associated with Fortuna, the Roman goddess of luck. National Archaeological Museum, Naples

ISIS AND PERSEPHONEThis first-century

b.c

. statue from

Crete depicts Isis as Persephone, queen of the underworld in Greek myth. The crescent moon on her forehead and the sistrum, a rattle linked to Isis worship, blend traits of the two goddesses. Heraklion Museum, Crete

METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART/RMN-GRAND PALAIS

PRISMA/ALBUM

SCALA, FLORENCE