# @gettymuseum on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/CVY64h1I94U
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/34228868-gettymuseum-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/c4555c5220.jpg
- **Posted:** 2021-10-23T23:21:03.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Getty (@gettymuseum) — https://gondola.cc/gettymuseum

## Caption

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 death.
 
In the cross-cultural environment of Ptolemaic Egypt, Isis was easily equated with the Greek goddess Aphrodite. Sometimes, she was depicted with characteristics of that goddess (in this case, the so-called Venus rings, or folds of flesh, on her neck). She was also a goddess with whom many of the Ptolemaic queens aligned themselves as part of the Ptolemaic ruler cult.

Worship of Isis continued into the Roman period, where temples to her were built at sites like Pompeii. Her cult was versatile and adaptable across cultures, taking on different meanings for different followers.
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🏷 #GettyVilla #GettyMuseum #Antiquities #AncientArt #Mythology #Goddess #Egyptian #Ptolemaic #Art #Jewels #PreciousStones

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## Tags

egyptian, preciousstones, mythology, goddess, ptolemaic, gettymuseum, art, jewels, gettyvilla, ancientart, antiquities

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