Origin: Egypt
Circa: 1600 BC to 600 BC
Dimensions: 1.625" (4.1cm) high
Collection: Egyptian
Style: New Kingdom
Medium: Steatite
The ram was considered sacred to several different deities in the Egyptian pantheon. The Theban god Amun was sometimes depicted with a ram's head, and his temple at Karnak is decorated with ram-headed sphinxes. Khnum, the creator god whose cult was centered at elephantine was almost invariably depicted as a man with a ram's head and is frequently shown fashioning mankind from clay on a potter's wheel. Hershef was another ram-headed divinity. The local deity of Heracleopolis magna (near Fayum) who later became a national deity and was identified with both Amun and Horus. This lovely amulet depicts the sacred ram wearing a long wig with two locks hanging down either shoulder and what appears to be a false beard. The legs of the ram are carved in relief, which is a technique evocative of monumental Egyptian sculpture. This amulet was probably worn or carried to invoke the protection of one of the powerful ram-headed deities in the Egyptian pantheon. - (PF.2993)

Antiquities
Ancient Egyptian