39. At Rome, Isis and Serapis were united in the same
temple. The precedency which the queen assumed may seem to
betray her unequal alliance with the stranger of Pontus. But
the superiority of the female sex was established in Egypt
as a civil and religious institution (Diodor. Sicul. tom. i.
l. i. [c. 27] p. 31, edit. Wesseling), and the same order is
observed in Plutarch's Treatise of Isis and Osiris; whom he
identifies with Serapis.