Who was the goddess Isis? Isis was an Egyptian goddess known as the wife of Osiris, the god of the dead, and ​as the mother of Horus, who embodied the concept of kingship. For most of Egypt's history, she was a fairly minor goddess, symbolizing regeneration after death—but her cult took on new dimensions in the Hellenistic and Roman periods. As Isis's cult became more popular under the Ptolemies (the Greek rulers of Egypt from 323 to 30 BC) her image also took on new, hybrid forms. In this Ptolemaic carved gem, Isis is depicted in profile with a Classical-style portrait, but her attributes—vulture headdress, cobra uraeus, solar disk flanked by cow horns, and beaded pectoral—are Egyptian. During the Ptolemaic period, Isis was given a new consort named Serapis, and their son was known as Harpokrates (Horus the child). This trio was typically depicted in a Greek style. Isis's cult spread throughout the Mediterranean world and was especially popular for its promise of a life beyond deat...