Veil of Isis the motif of the veiled Isis. One was a tradition that linked Isis with nature and the goddess Artemis. European art has a long tradition of personifying nature as a motherly figure. Starting in the 16th century, this motif was influenced by the iconography of the goddess Artemis of Ephesus (also known under the name of her Roman equivalent, Diana). The Ephesian Artemis was depicted with round protuberances on her chest that may originally have been jewelry but came to be interpreted as breasts. Isis was sometimes compared with Artemis, and the Roman writer Macrobius, in the fourth century CE,
Temple of Artemis nothing is known of her cult. The literary accounts that describe it as "Amazonian" refer to the later founder-myths of Greek emigres who developed the cult and temple of "Artemis Ephesia". The wealth and splendor of temple and city were taken as evidence of Artemis Ephesia's power, and were the basis for her local and international prestige: despite the successive traumas of Temple destruction, each rebuilding – a gift and honor to the goddess – brought further prosperity. Large numbers of people came to Ephesus in March and in the beginning of May to attend the main Artemis Procession. Artemis'