Worship of this Egyptian goddess spread from Egypt to England

As the worship of Isis spread throughout the ancient world, artworks showing the goddess adapted to the cultures that were embracing her. Here, a Egyptian panel depicts Isis spreading her protective wings around a pharaoh of the sixth century B.C. Archaeological Civic Museum of Bologna, Italy.

The 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 disc and horns.

In 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.

This 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.