Some ancient Greeks saw goddesses such as Demeter and Aphrodite as incarnations of Isis, and during the Roman Empire Isis became an important cult figure, a mother goddess and protector of children, whose tears after the death of her husband caused the flooding of the Nile. A temple for Isis existed in Rome, and some have suggested that popular depictions of Isis nursing the boy Horus influenced similar depictions in the Christian era of Mary nursing the baby Jesus.