Idealized mother figure, great protectress, unsurpassed magician, devoted wife of Osiris: the goddess Isis assumed multiple roles in ancient Egyptian mythology. Verdi's Aida reflects this polysemy. Concordant with its general attention to Egyptological detail (though not without inaccuracies even by the standards of the day), Auguste Mariette's early synopsis for the opera refers to Isis only once, at the beginning of Act III when Aida awaits Radames: ‘May Isis, protectress of love, guide him to her who wants to belong only to him’.