The Tosefta tractate Avodah zarah V, 1 enjoins to throw rings with images of the Nursing One or of Sarapis into the Dead Sea, a rabbinic expression meaning that they should be completely destroyed. The Nursing One is no doubt the Egyptian goddess Isis, which is often represented while nursing the child Horus or Harpocrates. Many statues, amulets, scarabs, carved rings represent this scene, which has also been reproduced in non-Egyptian ambient and was imitated in Christian art showing Mary with her child Jesus. The mention of Sarapis leaves no doubt that the Tosefta refers to Isis, often named at that time with Sarapis, the main god of Alexandria. Also Sarapis appears on many scarabs, rings, and Roman coins, and was even worshipped in Jerusalem, certainly in the early 2nd century A.D., as shown by some findings and an inscription. The prohibition of the Tosefta concerned rings or scarabs in particular, because their possession could imply a certain devotion to these heathen deities, while coins with similar images were used just for commercial purposes.
