Terracotta statuette of Isis or a follower of her cult

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The cult of of the Egyptian goddess Isis spread across the eastern Mediterranean under the influence of the Ptolemies and was introduced into Rome during the Late Republic. It flourished under the Roman Empire, and traces of the cult can be found in almost every province. This figure may represent a priestess rather than Isis herself. She wears an elaborate Egyptian crown and floral garlands over her left shoulder and carries a situla (ritual bucket) in her left hand.

Greek and Roman Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Museum's collection of Greek and Roman art comprises more than thirty thousand works ranging in date from the Neolithic period (ca. 4500 B.C.) to the time of the Roman emperor Constantine's conversion to Christianity in A.D. 312. It includes the art of many cultures and is among the most comprehensive in North America. The geographic regions represented are Greece and Italy, but not as delimited by modern political frontiers: Greek colonies were established around the Mediterranean basin and on the shores of the Black Sea, and Cyprus became increasingly Hellenized. For Roman art, the geographical limits coincide with the expansion of the Roman Empire. The department also exhibits the art of prehistoric Greece (Helladic, Cycladic, and Minoan) and pre-Roman art of Italic peoples, notably the Etruscans.

Metropolitan Museum of Art