Literary and Visual Depictions of the Egyptian Goddess Isis in the Hellenistic and Roman Imperial Periods

The Egyptian goddess Isis became an enormously popular deity throughout the Mediterranean starting in the Hellenistic Period and extending through the Roman Imperial Period. In this project I will be focusing on three case studies, each of which examines a different aspect of Isis. The first explores how Isis is portrayed throughout Apuleius’ Metamorphoses, in which the main character travels to Egypt to be transformed from an animal to a human through the initiation process of joining the Isiac cult. The second case study looks at visual depictions of Isis in statuettes and votive reliefs, primarily from Greece. The third case study examines the Sanctuary of Isis in Pompeii, where she is most clearly depicted as an Egyptian goddess. This varied evidence provides insight not only into how Isis was envisioned as an Egyptian goddess, but also into what it was about her that made her seem threatening to Greco-Roman society. As a powerful foreign female goddess, Isis was often integrated with traditional Greco-Roman deities to make worshiping her more socially acceptable, but her otherness also made her cult extremely popular. This project explores the variety in ancient attitudes towards Isis’ foreignness.