ISIS-APHRODITE

Isis-Aphrodite combines the attributes of the Egyptian goddess Isis and the Greek goddess Aphrodite…popular in Egypt during the Roman period

symbolizes Fertility: Emphasizes the fertility aspects of Aphrodite Marriage and childbirth: Represents marriage and childbirth &Rebirth: Concerned with rebirth, following pharaonic prototypes

Often depicted nude, with elaborate accessories, wearing a calathos, a crown with a disk and horns of Isis, holding a mirror in her left hand & a blossom or fruit in her right hand…

COPIED FROM THE MET: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/544919

Isis-Aphrodite is a form of the great goddess Isis that emphasizes the fertility aspects associated with Aphrodite. She was concerned with marriage and childbirth and, following very ancient pharaonic prototypes, also with rebirth. Elaborate accessories, including an exaggerated calathos (the crown of Egyptian Greco-Roman divinities) emblazoned with a tiny disk and horns of Isis, heighten the effect of her nudity.

Figures depicting this goddess are found in both domestic and funerary contexts. Popular already in the 3rd to 2nd centuries B.C., they continued to be made in Roman times. Dating technology places this piece in the Roman period, probably about AD 150, and the long narrow face and rather dry expression do not contradict such a date.