After Alexander the Great conquered Egypt in 332 BC, Greek culture began to flow into the country, and Egyptian culture poured out in exchange. This fusion of cultural and religious habits gave birth to the cult of Isis, which spread throughout the Roman Empire in the first century AD.
Key to Isis’ appeal was her ability to morph to fit the cultural ideals and religious habits of different peoples. In doing so she embodied whatever traits were most important. Originally a protector of the Pharaoh, outside of Egypt her roles as a protector of sailors, a bringer of harvests, and goddess of love became paramount. more important.
Isiac devotees considered other goddesses such as Venus, Tyche, and Demeter to be facets of Isis, roles that she carried out in her duty as a goddess. This equivalence between multiple deities was part of a wider phenomenon of , in which Greeks and Romans translated foreign cultures into more familiar forms. However, the beliefs of the Isiac cult went deeper, treating Isis as a
