Bust of Isis

This bust depicts the goddess Isis wearing pleated garments, armlets, a necklace with a scalloped pendant, beaded choker, earrings, and a jeweled diadem surmounted by two large rosettes and the crown of the goddess. Isis was the most prominent Egyptian goddess, as the wife of the god of the Netherworld, Osiris, and the mother of the sun-god Horus, whose manifestation on earth was the king of Egypt. Her origins are obscure, but she is attested by about 2400 B.C., and her worship in Egypt continued until the 6th century A.D. In time she became a universal goddess, subsuming other deities, and her cult spread throughout the Mediterranean world.