Description
Plaster cast of a relief depicting the pharaoh Cleopatra VII as the goddess Isis, from the Ptolemaic period. Original is housed in the Dendera temple complex, Egypt, circa 332-30 BCE.
Publication Date
1978
Type of Artwork
Statue
Time Period/Geographical Region
Ancient Egypt
Height (cm/in)
129.54 cm / 51 in
Width (cm/in)
58.42 cm / 23 in
Depth (cm/in)
7.62 cm / 3 in
Disciplines
Ancient History, Greek and Roman through Late Antiquity | Sculpture
Recommended Citation
Morehead State University. Camden-Carroll Library., "Cleopatra as the Goddess Isis" (1978). Metropolitan Museum of Art Cast Collection. 30.
https://scholarworks.moreheadstate.edu/metropolitan_art_collection/30
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Comments
In this image of Cleopatra VII, one of the last Egyptian pharaohs, she wears a crown with a sun disk, horns, and a throne at the top, representing the goddess Isis. Isis was an important goddess, the daughter of Geb, the god of the earth, and Nut, the goddess of the sky. In this relief sculpture, you also see a cartouche. The oval with the horizontal line at one end contains the royal name of Cleopatra. By placing the cartouche next to the image of the pharaoh as Isis, Cleopatra was portraying herself as the most powerful female deity.