ISIS

Isis was an Egyptian goddess representing the reproductive force of nature, fertility, and marriage; she was wife of Osiris and mother of the falcon-headed god Horus. In the early first century BCE, her cult was imported into Italy and flourish along with the cult of the Egyptian god Serapis, god of the Underworld, the sky, and healing. The Roman cult of Isis involved initiation and promised worshippers a personal redemption. Unlike many of the distant Roman gods, Isis was represented as loving and compassionate toward individuals; the success of her cult is an indication of the Roman willingness to adopt elements of other cultures and merge them with their own. There was a major temple dedicated to Isis and Serapis in the Campus Martius in Rome; you can visit it in Region IX center in VRoma.

This Roman bronze statuette of Isis dates from 50-100 CE; the unusal knots on the front of her dress are characteristic of the goddess. Other symbols associated with Isis are a headdress in the shape of a cobra and a rattle called a sistrum.